Job Discussion Forums

[jshaw]

I interview candidates for our company.

Interviewing potential job candidates, I find some very qualified but there is often a problem...bad breath! Who likes to work with others with bad breath? Get close and you want to turn away and you often stop thinking about the task at hand and/or never want to work w/them again. How can I hire this kind of individual that would probably ruin the working integrity of our present team?

How can you tell them to get their teeth claened/ maintain good oral hygiene w/o insulting them and/or crossing some legal issue and I get sued for being "offensive... hurting their feeling" when in fact bad breath does not incumber their job description (yet it makes the fellow staff want tro throw up)?

This problem stopped me from hiring a near perfect individual because I did not want the staff complianing later. Maybe I was wrong but I hired another later but it dawned on me how a simple problem can often stop job advancement...personal relationships, etc.

Some input is appreciated. jshaw

[Sashadroogie]

This can be a problem for many learners also. Serious amounts of gunk encrusted on their teeth - breath that would knock an elephant over.

For a job interview though, at least there is no loss of income involved should the applicant take offence. Not unless you live in a litigation-prone land, at least. So here's what I would do. Ask the applicant what sort of needs analysis he'd prepare for, oh say... a class of dentists. What sort of target language would they need to communicate with their patients? What questions regarding oral hygiene would they frequently need to ask? What type of lexical items would be involved in communication between dentists and ... toothpaste salesmen, who sell a wide range of easily affordable breath-freshening products.

Best I can do. About as subtle as a brick, but then so is their halitosis...

[spiral78]

I've run across a couple of students recently with this problem...fortunately I'm in a position to just put a distance. But a job interviewee...that wuold probably put a stop to my hiring him/her as well, I'm afraid. If it offends me, it's going to offend other work colleagues and students as well.
C'mon - even my schnauzer gets his teeth brushed daily - we live in a hygenic world these days, and anyone who's still walking around reeking of whatever body odor has likely got some other problems going on.

[thatsforsure]

How close are you getting to these candidates? I suspect you might be what's known as a "close talker."

Some people have bad breath all the time, and that's a problem. EVERYone has bad breath SOMEtimes, such as right after lunch. That includes you. And people don't often know it when they do. I don't like to stand too close to people, in case I or they have breath issues at that particular moment. I also chew gum any time I'm about to sit down for a one-on-one.

I have a feeling the candidate have left the interview thinking, "What's up with that person getting in my personal space? I hate close talkers. I don't think I'd want to work there."

[cmp45]

Perhaps keep a bowl of extra strength mints handy at the interview?
There is no excuse for bad breath...if you are going to an interview, one should not indulge in foods that will generate bad breath (reek of garlic etc) prior to an interview. If your hungry before an interview, eat an apple!

If you have an exceptional problem why not seek medical advice and do something about it. keep mints and / or a small bottle of mouthwash and use it before you have the interview...lots of ways to prevent this from happening! Brush your teeth once in awhile, works wonders!

I would also not have hired the person either...I have worked with colleagues who had horrible reeking breath as well as students that had major BO and bad breath...it makes it very hard to be around them let alone have a decent conversation...and you don't have to be that close to smell it either!

Yes I am sure mild forms of "bad" breath happen at one time or other, that usually can be fixed with a mint. I think the OP was talking about the type that literally makes you want to gag! But still...at an interview???? In that case, mints probably wouldn't help much either!

[Solar Strength]

How much did you like the teacher and his qualifications?

If he was worth having at your school as a teacher, and there were no other serious problems, then I would have discreetly mentioned to it to him probably after the interview. Based on his response, I'd consider hiring him.

Is it possible that he doesn't know his breath is really that strong? Maybe no one has ever mentioned it to him.

[cmp45]