Humor elegantly framed and sharply focused can be effective and advantageous. But it must come naturally to you.But nothing is as risky as forced humor. Amateurs shouldn’t try this at the office. A half-baked attempt at humor can seriously backfire on you, and if you offend the interviewer.
These kind of funny answers can show a quick exit!
For that reason many job coaches advise against any attempt at humor, sarcasm, or teasing. Just play it straight, they say, and you can’t go wrong.
Some hiring managers welcome humor because it demonstrates you can keep work in a proper perspective. “The ability to laugh at yourself is a great attribute,” says a HR Manager. “It means you don’t take yourself too seriously, which is a very attractive trait.”The goal of using humor is to bond with the interviewer, to use your shared senses of humor as a way to underscore the prospect that you will fit into the organization. Of course, if your perspective and that of the hiring manager seriously differ, then your attempt at humor will go in vain. At the same time, when people laugh, certain physiological changes take place that make people more flexible and relaxed. Humor is also synonymous with wit—and wit is born of intelligence. No wonder recruiters look for candidates with this quality. Let the interviewer set the tone. If the interviewer starts with a joke and seems to be in good humor, you can try for a little self-deprecating humor.
Five Rules for Using Humor
- 1. Poke fun at yourself only, nothing else.
- 2. Follow the interviewer’s lead.
- 3. Don’t force it.
- 4. No sarcasm at any time.
- 5. If in doubt, don’t.
“Humor may be appropriate at the start and finish of interviews, but use it sparingly.”
This is a famous joke among HR chat boards.
Reaching the end of a job interview, the human resources person asked a young engineer fresh out of a tech institute what kind of a salary he was looking for.
Young Engineer : “In the neighborhood of 15L a year, depending on the benefits package.”
HR : “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 brand new jaguar?”
Young Engineer : “Wow! You’re kidding!” the young engineer said.
HR : “Yeah, but you started it.”