Do you carry emotional pepper spray?

As a recruiter and hiring manager, I often feel completely repelled from certain candidates regardless of whether or not they have the skills they need to do the job. You may as well be blasting me with pepper spray when you do the following during the hiring process:

• Exude negativity of any kind
• Bad mouthing a former employer
• Offer long winded responses that fail to answer the questions I am asking
• Show little or no enthusiasm for the position I am trying to fill
• Lack knowledge and information about my company
• Ask more than five questions at the end of the interview
• Show up late
• Fail to follow up with me after the interview
• Reveal unresolved emotions
• Focus too much on the past
• Bring up taboo topics such as age, race, or religion during the interview

These behaviors literally cause me to run screaming in the opposite direction. Put away the pepper spray. I really, truly would love to be drawn to you like a fly to honey.

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