Make fun only for yourself
The only thing you can make fun of is yourself. Everything else, without exception, is off limits. You may think you and the recruiter share a perspective on politics, gender relations, and certain ethnic groups. Don’t go there. No laugh is worth insulting someone. There’s always a risk of humor backfiring. If you think there’s the slightest chance of offending someone, keep the humor to yourself.
So what kinds of self-deprecating joking can pass the humor test? Dialect is too risky. Leave it at home. Sarcasm may be misinterpreted. Deep-six it. Personal anecdotes can sometimes work. But make them personal, short, and to the point. One candidate reports that the following line, delivered tongue in cheek with a broad smile, sometimes led to a laugh and real feedback: How do you like me so far?
A line like this can work, concedes Nancy Levine, VP of client services at San Francisco–based Pacific Firm, but the risks are too high because it is so obviously a line. “If I happen to feel that the candidate and I have created a close rapport, that our senses of humor are on the same wavelength, then it’s great. But there is nothing more irritating to me than someone trying to be funny whom I don’t find funny. Proceed with caution if you want to use humor. And then, use it sparingly, just to add spice, like pepper on the finest filet mignon.”
Another candidate got some mileage out of a similar expression, by finding just the right time in the interview to say, in a dead-on New York City accent:
As Ed Koch used to say,“How’m I doing?” (Ed Koch is a former mayor of New York who managed by walking around the city and offering that phrase in order to get feedback from citizens.) How about jokes? Is it ever useful to tell a joke in a job interview? Jokes are probably too risky, but it may pay to memorize a couple just in case. I know one HR director who is known to ask candidates to tell him a joke as a test of how nimble the candidate’s mind is. Every once in a while—perhaps if the interview is at a more informal setting such as a restaurant—it may make sense to offer a joke. The quasi-social nature of the event might allow for more flexibility. But even here I urge caution.
Some interviewers will tell you a joke, either to break the ice or to illustrate a point. Occasionally, unprepared or unprofessional interviewers tell jokes because they are uncomfortable or don’t know what else to do. In either case, resist the temptation to create a false rapport by exchanging jokes. It doesn’t advance the interview, and little good can come of it. Do listen to the subtext of the joke and come back with a question that indicates the joke gave you a serious insight into the situation:
I appreciate the way you said that. It’s true, isn’t it, that communication breakdowns come in the most unexpected ways.And while it can sometimes be funny, communication breakdowns impose real costs on the organization. Companywide intranets offer real benefits to crossdepartmental communications.At my last job, I led the team that developed . . . If you must tell a joke, make sure it is short and pokes fun at yourself or some general issue of work. If it’s about the job interviewing process, so much the better. Never tell more than one joke, no matter how much you are coaxed. This joke, for example, has made the rounds of the HR chat boards.
Reaching the end of a job interview, the human resources person asked a young engineer fresh out of MIT what kind of a salary he was looking for.
“In the neighborhood of $140,000 a year, depending on the benefits package.”
“Well, what would you say to a package of five weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company-matching retirement fund to 50 percent of salary, and a company car leased every 2 years . . . say, a red Corvette?” “Wow! You’re kidding!” the young engineer said. “Yeah, but you started it.”
Five Rules for Using Humor
- Poke fun at yourself only, nothing else.
- Follow the interviewer’s lead.
- Don’t force it.
- No sarcasm at any time.
- If in doubt, don’t.
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