HTSS News

Insights and advice about jobs and hiring in the Lehigh Valley.

What NOT To Joke About in the Interview

There’s a lot of great places hiring in Allentown, PA and beyond, but there’s often a lot of tough competition for the best jobs. As a savvy professional, you understand the importance of standing out from the crowd, so you’re planning to use humor to get ahead.

In a naturally tense situation — such as a job interview — jokes can lighten the mood and make everyone more comfortable. However, you’ll need to tread lightly, because you know nothing about the other person’s sense of humor.

The best interviewers have a way of making candidates feel at ease, but don’t mistake this as a green light to tell a joke not appropriate for the setting. Anything that even remotely touches on politics, religion, former bosses or explicit content is never suitable. In fact, more topics are off-limits than not, so learn the best way to interject a little comic relief, without ruffling any feathers.

How to Properly Use Humor in a Job Interview

Read Your Audience

Every interviewer responds to humor differently, so assess the situation before cracking a joke. If the person is noticeably stoic, don’t even bother, because your wit will not be well-received. On the other hand, a more laid-back interviewer will probably appreciate some light, appropriate humor. In fact, it might even help show your fit for the company culture.

Make a Point

In a job interview, canned jokes are never a good idea, so use a humorous example from your own life to tell a story relevant to the job. Weave your anecdote into a response to a question in a manner that showcases your skills and ability to take things in stride. This allows you to stay on topic, while showcasing your likeability.

Keep it to a Minimum

Humor can make a job interview less intimidating, but it has a time and place. If you spend the entire meeting cracking jokes, the hiring manager will think you’re not taking the opportunity seriously. No one wants to hire an unprofessional candidate, so when it comes to humor, less is more in this setting.

Finding a great new job is hard work, so let HTSS, Inc. help you get ahead. Just tell our expert recruiters what you’re looking for and we’ll connect you with a top Lehigh Valley employer who meets your needs. Contact us today to get started!

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CEO Letter

As a staffing and recruitment professional for over  30 years, I have seen many changes in the industry. Over that time, I’ve witnessed a transformation in the way organizations view staffing services. Today, we see more and more companies using staffing services as a strategic tool, rather than just for temporary fill-ins.

At HTSS, Inc., our focus is on helping companies create proactive workforce plans. Our goal is to help our clients use staffing strategically to increase capacity, overcome hiring freezes, access specialized talent, better manage increased workloads, and enhance overall productivity.

For our candidates, we help to uncover truly rewarding job opportunities—jobs that are a match to each candidate’s skills, and jobs that offer key experience and growth potential.

We look forward to strengthening our relationships with our current clients and candidates, as well as forming new and exciting partnerships in the future.

Sincerely,

Pat Howells
President
HTSS, Inc.