The Interviewer inadvertently dropped a pencil on the floor. The Candidate applying for a job in Customer Service did not even gesture to pick it up.
Consistency between your behavior (even more so than your words) with the job you want, will send the strongest message to the interviewer. In the case above, you ‘want to help’ the customers of your potential employer, but you would not even pick up a pencil as a courtesy to the person in front of you…
Before stepping into the office of your interviewer, remember what is that he/she is seeking to employ, and be that person. Act that person, dress that person, speak as that person, move as that person, BE that person. Make the transition from you to the person trusted with that job, seamless.
If you ARE that person, then recognizing that fact and giving you the job, is only a matter of justice. It is only natural and fair. ‘Natural and fair’ is the path of less resistance. Just like the curlers in the latest Olympic games, you are sweeping right between you… and the place where you want to be: the job you want to land. You create the path of less resistance to the direction you want to go.
Nothing is casual in a job interview, especially if it feels ‘casual’. The last minute comments or questions, they ‘afterthoughts’ are everything but such. Your show starts the moment you walk into the building and does not stop till you are back at home. How you salute the Assistant on the way out, how you keep your car and how you drive out of the Company’s parking lot: they all count.
This is not to suggest you are somebody you are not. If you need to ‘pretend’ to land the job, don’t bother. You won’t get it or you won’t last. But do not let misconceptions, misinformation, nerves or shyness get on your way either. Emphasize the aspects of your personality that match the job and Company, and put all others in the backburner.
Do not break character, during the entire interview cycle. People lost their chance at jobs by being rude to assistants, park illegally, driving recklessly out of the Company’s parking lot, etc.