Likability and etiquette as vital as qualifications and who you know in getting a job or promotion

WHAT you know and who you know have always been important in the employment stakes but there is something else needed to get a job.

Anna Musson

WHAT you know and who you know have always been important in the employment stakes but it seems likability completes the success trifecta.

More than four in five employers (86 per cent) said a candidate’s lack of likability or interview etiquette would probably cost them a job opportunity, according to a survey by CareerOne and recruitment company Employment Office.

Another 64 per cent said unlikable employees without workplace etiquette would be prevented from promotion.

The Good Manners Company founder Anna Musson said polished etiquette made people more likable in the workplace and in general.

“Good manners is so attractive,” she said.

“If someone speaks well and says ‘after you’, we want to be around those people and promote those people.”

In the workplace, Ms Musson said simple etiquette tips included being punctual, not answering phones in company and responding to messages before the end of the business day.

“Have a good pen, polish your shoes, make eye contact and wait to sit down until you are offered a seat,” she said.

“None of this is rocket science but we need these reminders particularly for people who have been out of the workplace for a long time or haven’t been in a professional environment.

“Just having a training course under your belt is not enough any more.”

Career changer Nikki Sleep attended an etiquette boot camp by Ms Musson as part of her Diploma of Management with education and employment organisation Acquire Learning.

She had been out of the workforce for three years, taking care of a sick child.

“I learned to speak properly and speak in a way that shows we are interested and listening to what people say,” she said.

“I’ve been around children for three years and needed a reminder of how to talk to adults — to say ‘yes’ instead of ‘yeah’ or ‘yep’.”

Ms Sleep has a background in accounting but said she hoped to take her new qualification and likability skills into human resources, public relations or event management.

At an etiquette boot camp ... The Good Manners Company’s Anna Musson shows Nikki Sleep how to enter an interview. Picture: Janine Eastgate

•THIRTY-one per cent of employers said a person’s likability is more important than their performance or resume when applying for a job or promotion.

•FORTY-nine per cent of employers said interrupting the interviewer is the most off-putting candidate trait in a job interview, followed by excessive use of slang or informal language (33 per cent) and lack of eye contact (15 per cent)

•FIFTY-six per cent of employers have interviewed a candidate who has sworn in a job interview.

Source: Employment Office/CareerOne survey

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Read more employment news in today’s CareerOne section in your News Corp Australia newspaper

Originally published as Likability and etiquette as vital as qualifications and who you know in getting a job or promotion