Week 2 EOC: Sweet Charity Interview

Sweet Charity is a movie that deals with a character that endeavors to leave her current job as a taxi dancer and work in an office setting. In one scene she goes before employment agency, during this scene she is interview about her skills and education. There were a few things that she did right and a few things wrong. The first thing she did right was the way she dressed, when she shows up for the interview she is dressed more conservative than normal. However, her style of clothing is in contrast to the rest of the workers. She could have looked at the dress code or just at the way people there dressed. “One researcher estimates that in 85% of the cases, interviewers had made up their minds before the interview even began, based on first impressions the interviewers gleaned from candidates’ applications and personal appearance.” Page 209. During her interview she responds to the questions with a no too quickly. Instead she should have said was willing to learn those skills. “Interviewers who don’t have an accurate picture of what the job entails and what sort of candidate is best for it usually make their decisions based on incorrect impressions or stereotypes of what a good applicant is. They then erroneously match interviewees with their incorrect stereotypes.” page 209. During the termination of the interview when she is being told that she won’t get the job and he thinks this a joke instead of causing a scene she allows herself to leave with a sense of grace. While this was a good choice a better choice she should have taken was to ask about locations to attain the skills needed for the jobs she was being interviewed about; or she could have asked about jobs that would allow her to attain those skills. “In rejecting a candidate, one perennial question is, should you provide an explanation or not? In one study, rejected candidates who received an explanation felt that the rejection process was fairer. Unfortunately, doing so may not be practical. Most employers say little, to avoid pushback and legal problems.” Page 214.

Dessler, Gary. Human Resource Management, 15th Edition. Pearson Learning Solutions, 2016. [The Art Institutes].