For context, this is the UK where masks are encouraged in public and mandated on public transport. At the time of asking, masks were not compulsory in stores and similar locations.
I have been invited to an in-person interview. Is there an established etiquette surrounding PPE yet, in the same way candidates are expected to look smart and wear suits? Will an interviewer see me badly if I wear a mask without being asked, or if I don't?
The mask is an additional measure on top of social distancing. Presumably, the meeting will take place in a meeting room where the social distance can be maintained.
Having partaken in an interview recently myself, once all participants were seated (at an appropriate distance), I took off my mask since no one was going to come near me anyway. When the meeting ended, I put the mask back on, thanked them and left.
I suspect you'll encounter a similar situation. Should the meeting take place in a room where the recommended distance cannot be preserved, then you can mention that you prefer to keep the mask on and that you hope it's not an issue.
Will an interviewer see me badly if I wear a mask without being asked, or if I don't?
No one can write a one-size-fits-all answer that applies for every interviewer. As the news has shown us, there are those who strongly agree with wearing a mask as well as those who vehemently disagree.
Putting my opinion on these people's opinions aside, you can't know for a fact whether an interviewer lands in either one of these camps.
But wearing a mask is definitely not inappropriate when arriving for and leaving the interview. During the interview, I would personally remove the mask if all other precautions are being observed, but if you would prefer not to then you should communicate that.
In short, any reasonable interviewer shouldn't take offense at you wearing a mask - though if all other precautions are observed I don't quite see the necessity of wearing a mask in a seated meeting when no one comes close to you.
If you end up in a situation where you're forced out of a (currently very reasonable) safety/comfort zone, then I would count that as an indication that this company might not be the right match for you.
Will an interviewer see me badly if I wear a mask without being asked, or if I don't?
If you wear a mask for health reasons, then do not worry about what the interviewer thinks of you wearing a mask. Remember that part of the interview process is for you to interview the company. If you wear a mask for health reasons, would you really want to work for a company that does not appear to value its employees health?
I would recommend to arrive with a mask and only take it off after you know if it's OK.
After your arrival, look out for any signs regarding the pandemic prevention rules which apply on the premise and follow them. When you can not find any, then observe and mimic the behaviour of the employees. If people on the corridors wear masks, keep yours on. If nobody wears a mask, take it off. If the behaviour is mixed, keep it on until the interview and ask the interviewers if they would prefer for you to conduct the interview with the mask or without it.
Remember, we are not wearing masks for our own protection, we are wearing them for the protection of others.
Wear a mask anywhere you think it makes you safer and wherever it is mandatory.
Until WHO or your government's health officials proclaim that the pandemic is over, no one can reasonably blame you for wearing a mask.
If the company or its management are encouraging unsafe behaviour, it is either not your company, or you are one of those risky types and the company is a private army. If they have a culture of neglecting people's safety and health (no matter if it is for money or just because), one can bet it is not limited to covid19.
p.s. Choosing a mask that doesn't interfere with your speech and/or combines better with your clothing style is not forbidden and may be an important part of the impression you make.
Wear a mask.
The recommendation from public health officials is to wear a mask. This is to curb the spread of the disease during this pandemic and help people safe. Not wearing a mask anywhere is poor etiquette because it shows a disregard for health and safety.
It doesn't matter what others do. It doesn't matter if it an interview or a trip to the grocery store. Wear a mask because it's the right thing to do.
Some people may think "it's all over" and you are a bit paranoid, yet given the current situation that shouldn't harm your application. Other people will consider imprudent from your part to enter their building not wearing a mask.
You should wear a mask to the interview, and wait for their instructions before taking it off. When you first meet the people there, acknowledge that we are in a strange situation and outside the normal customs.
For example: “Hello. It seems odd not to handshake you. And I would have never expected to attend to an interview masked. How are you handling interviews these covid times?”
I would expect that their reply to be something like: “Yes, we all need to get used to these. Don't worry, we will be heading to a large room, where will be able to take it off and talk comfortably while keeping the required separation. Right now a colleague is sanitizing it after the previous interview. Please use the hand sanitizer that is here beside the door.”
Some remarks:
Someone will have put out emergency orders or other directives indicating exactly what must be done. For instance in the USA these are issued at the state level, and further instructions are ordered at the county or municipality level. Know them all. Some of them are amended quite frequently.
A few are mandatory with zero penalty. Still do those. That's a bit of legal chicanery to create civil liability for the scofflaw.
The reasons are: first, you need to comply with the law. The effect on the employer is that they will see that you are reasonably informed about the crisis, and are not a scofflaw or a sociopath, and do not recklessly put others into harm's way. We'll loop back on that.
And second, you need to be able to evaluate whether the company is complying with the law, so that you can evaluate them and determine whether this will be a workplace that is safe, comfortable, and conforms to your values and risk-taking levels.
Further, this allows you to evaluate whether the company "walks their talk" regarding social action, safety, whatever the case may be.
So you're looking for signs and reactions. Do you see masks on, do you see nods of approval, do you see people scoff or roll their eyes, do you see masks off until you roll up, then the masks snap on. It's not even really about legal compliance, and it's certainly not about politics... though it is about whether they let politics get in the way of safety.
Every company has a safety culture - we had one on here a few years ago who wanted sysadmins to move 2000-pound computer racks using dollies on a 10% grade... Then you have Kiewit, which overhauled half of one of the biggest dams in the country, 600 workers onsite working off cliffs, canyons and a 25% grade... no reportable injuries for over a year, and finished the project with 2. You're gonna want your mask for that interview.
Editing for brevity: 2 common assumptions are wrong.
"I'm only contagious after I feel sick" -COVID-19 is so insidious because you become contagious for q long period before you feel sick. Some are contagious but never feel sick (beyond their normal for stress/allergies).
"My mask protects me, your mask protects you" - the science shows that any masks are highly effective at keeping a sick wearer from exhaling virus particles, and not very effective at protecting a healthy wearer. Even medical-grade masks require a full suite of PPE to reliably protect the wearer.
Together these add up to: masks work if everyone does them, since we can't know if they're contagious or not.
If it were me (and really I can't answer this question for your interviewer, knowing nothing about them or even the company they work for), I wouldn't take issue with you wearing a mask during the interview. People wear masks for all kinds of reasons; perhaps you actually have a cold (or are coming down with one or are getting over one) and don't want to risk passing it on. Wearing a mask doesn't have to be because of COVID-19 or whatever, and I've certainly worn a mask in public before when I was ill (and I think I've even worn it to a few interviews myself in the past).
What you shouldn't do, imo, is just randomly take it off during the interview. That shows to the interviewer that whatever reason you were wearing the mask for, is not applicable in the room. If you are wearing a mask, and the assumption is you have a cold (which it might be), then you've just shown the interviewer that you don't care if they catch your cold. And that is not cool. Based on what we know (or think we know) about COVID-19, we believe that symptoms may not show for 2 weeks. If you've taken public transit in the last 2 weeks and you may have unknowingly caught COVID-19 from there, you've now passed it to your interviewer. So taking off the mask during the interview "because you feel like it" is not something I would do.
What you can do, is if the mask is making you uncomfortable and distracting you during the interview, politely ask the interviewer if they would mind if you removed the mask. Then they can say yes or no, and you'll have to live with that decision; I would certainly not suggest removing the mask if the interviewer asks you not to do so, even if it is distracting or uncomfortable for you to keep it.
What you can do to avoid this whole situation is, if you believe you don't have COVID-19 and also you believe the interviewer doesn't have it, is to simply not wear a mask. If you take public transit, then take precautions as normal on the commute, but when you're off the bus or whatever, take the mask off, put it away, and take the interview as normal, and then put it back on when you leave. If you are worried that it might make you underperform in the interview, that would be my recommendation; remember, the end goal of the interview is to land the job, not to virtue signal to the company as hard as you can but display a deficiency in your skills.
Do not think what the interviewers are thinking about you. Best tip ever to overcome social anxiety of which there is a 90% likelihood that you suffer from it. I myself suffer from social anxiety and I know it is extremely hard for you to put away "what are they thinking about me" from your brain but you gotta stop thinking about others for a while and listen to yourself!!!This fear is created by your brain and in reality no one cares as much as you think they do for wearing masks or not. I have discovered it myself innumerable times in my whole life. I might sound stupid but this is all I wanted to say to you.
For at least a few more weeks, "wearing masks" is probably going to continue to be symbolic. Simply keep one in your pants pocket and play along. "These things, too, shall pass."
