Job interviews are never easy for either the interviewer or the interviewee. But here are a few tips from procurement and recruiting professionals on what not to do during a job interview.

Joanna Martinez, CPO at Alliance Bernstein says she was interviewing someone for a procurement job several years ago and as he sat down he took his cell phone out of his pocket and prominently placed it on the table. "I couldn't figure out why," Martinez recalls. "Was he expecting an important call? Was he trying to impress me? That was at least four years ago but I remember that interview to this day. The cell phone so rattled me that I didn't listen very well to his answers."

Safia Ahsan, a recruiter with FPC, provides a few tips on what not to do during a procurement job interview. "While rare, I have seen candidates bring a folder of work they've done or are presently doing at their current employer," she says. "That can be awkward, though. First, it can easily make a candidate look disorganized in rummaging through papers, but more importantly it can be construed as showing confidential proprietary material and being disloyal to your current employer."

And it's best to go easy on the latest supply chain buzz words during an interview. Ahsan points out that a veteran supply chain executive knows a flash in the pan buzzword from a meaningful explanation.

Kevin Rohan of recruiter JP Canon and Associates says some of the worst interviews happen when a candidate comes in that is not really looking for a job, but has been recruited. "So the interviewer asks why they are looking and the response is 'I'm not' which sets things off on the wrong foot," Rohan says. "The candidate may feel he is developing a negotiating position, but instead alienates the hiring manager."?

Rohan says one candidate bragged about knowing a certification test inside and out because he had taken it three times. "The hiring manager asked whether he had passed and the candidate said 'no', "Rohan says. "The candidate thought things went very well and was surprised to hear that an offer would not be forthcoming."