There’s nothing worse than, after weeks of job-searching and hounding employers, winding up ruining your interview with your future employer. Hours of work and research can be washed away by a few simple broaches of etiquette and a lack of confidence. So, what do you do to pass with flying colors? This week, The Leader’s Lucas Romriell speaks with hiring experts to find out which techniques will get you that dream job and which will not.

Most career-services agents have similar advice for what to do during an interview. Most of it is common sense, but it also involves more than keeping your nose clean and polishing your shoes. Looking good for an interview means watching your body language, being careful about what you say, looking confident and knowing what questions to ask.
“On average, an employer looks at three to seven candidates for a position,” said Pavel Ishanov, senior consultant at Russian Connection, a recruitment company. Whereas this is a small number of candidates, competition between them is going to be fierce, so job applicants need to be at their best.

“Sleep well, plan ahead and look good,” said Ishanov. Obviously, this is simple advice, but he said it’s surprising how many candidates show up looking ragged and tired.
Planning ahead means more than just getting up on time and arriving 15 minutes before the interview. It entails researching the company and learning more about the position you are applying for. Asking about the company’s history and background when you arrive is generally unacceptable in the eyes of an employer.
During the interview, it is critical to maintain a “balanced relationship between the interviewer and interviewee,” said Ishanov. He said the best way to spoil an interview is to be “unnatural,” or pretend to know more than you actually do.
“A job interview is a buying and selling process. It’s a mistake for an applicant to try to buy the position before the interviewer has bought him. A level of harmony must be maintained between the two subjects,” he said.

Applicants need to socialize with their potential boss, as much as they strive to answer the questions clearly and accurately. Just giving flat answers and waiting for the next question will never do.
In the same way, a potential applicant has to be careful about the questions he or she asks. Questions should be related to the position, the responsibilities and other details about the job, according to Vyacheslav Volkov of IIPC Executive Search and Selection Agency. He believes that asking questions about salary is a good way to ruin an interview.
“A person should never appear money-driven. He should be interested in the position alone. Money, benefits, all that comes later,” he said.
Of course, some experts disagree, claiming that the more money you ask for, within reason, the more credible you seem.

However, there is one interview faux pas, according to Volkov, that is certain to ruin a successful interview: “Never say anything bad about your employer.”
“When you complain about your employer, you look like a loser. The interviewer is just left wondering why you bothered to apply for the job in the first place,” he said.
His reasoning is typical of most recruiters. Most employers are of the opinion that successful people do not complain: They just do their jobs.
Of course, things do not always go smoothly, and Russian employers are renowned for not understanding exactly how to coordinate an interview.

“Interviews in Western companies are more structured, while Russian companies have a more intuitive approach,” said Ishanov. He claims that Western companies in Russia are usually big firms with established systems for interviewing potential employees. Russian firms, on the other hand, are sometimes confused about what to do.
“They don’t always know hat questions to ask,” said Volkov.
In this situation, experts say the only thing left for an applicant to do is look confident and try not to be too smug. Looking like you know more than your employer is a sure way not to be hired.

There are other subtle secrets to looking good for the interview as well. For instance, drinking coffee or, even worse, alcohol before an interview is a sure way not to be employed, according to industry insiders. Applicants need to smell, as well as look, good.
Overall, it’s all a matter of common sense, according to Ishanov. He says no amount of dressing nice and looking good can make up for silly answers and awkward behavior.
“An intelligent person will know what to do,” he said.