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&lt;p&gt;Every election season offers the opportunity to see high-performing individuals give their all in an extended, extremely public interview session. While that alone makes elections a fantastic place to pick up pointers on the fine art of applying for jobs, there&#39;s an extra element required if we&#39;re to learn what not to do: politicians taking pratfalls. This campaign has offered more than a few choice examples, and prompted the following nuggets of advice:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Don&#39;t Fudge Your Resume&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of the most basic career tips there is, surely? And yet many of us have been tempted to try: if you just changed the dates of your last promotion on a resume, you&#39;d have the five years&#39; experience the position you really want is asking for. But beware: no matter the size of the deception, someone may stumble upon it. Just ask Delaware Senate candidate Christine O&#39;Donnell. In claiming that she&#39;d studied at Oxford University&amp;mdash;when the reality is that she attended a course that happened to be in a facility rented out by the University&amp;mdash;she greatly undermined her credibility as a candidate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Even the passage of time doesn&#39;t mean you&#39;ll get away with. Connecticut Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal found that out the hard way when questions over his Vietnam record arose. The problem: he doesn&#39;t have one, but delivered speeches that suggested he did.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Dress Appropriately for the Interview&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;It might be common practice for people appearing on TV to &quot;go casual&quot; from the waist down, but would it have been so difficult for Rand Paul to throw on a pair of pants? In a traditional interview setting, it&#39;s unlikely that this would ever be an issue, but bear in mind that we&#39;re living in the age of the webcam interview too. As tempting as it may be to do this, don&#39;t. You never know: you just might have to get up and go find something&amp;mdash;or turn off a ringing cellphone&amp;mdash;and you certainly don&#39;t want to send a message to your interviewer that you&#39;re the type of person who will only focus on the things you think they can see.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Don&#39;t Bad Mouth Your Boss&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;While shooting a copy of the Cap and Trade Bill might help to get Democratic Senator Joe Manchin re-elected in West Virginia, he&#39;s also imperiled his relationships with senior members of his party&amp;mdash;most notably President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (assuming the latter secures his own re-election, of course). Even if you&#39;re interviewing for a position with your company&#39;s biggest competitor, you should always resist the temptation to criticize your current or previous workplaces. It&#39;s unprofessional, and could seriously damage your ability to work in the industry if word were to get out about your opinions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Don&#39;t Beg for the Job. Prove Why You Should Get It&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leave it to Jon Stewart to put his finger on at least one half of the campaign pulse. In a Daily Show interview with President Obama, he asked how the Democratic party had gone from campaigning on &quot;hope and change&quot; to &quot;please baby, one more chance.&quot;  The bottom line here: no interviewer (or electorate) will give you a job because they feel sorry for you. Your job is to prove why you&#39;re the only person who&#39;s suitable for it. Check your desperation at the door, and focus instead on making the best case you can.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Don&#39;t&amp;hellip;do anything Carl Paladino does&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you must, study his campaign as an exercise in how not to comport yourself in a situation where you&#39;re trying to convince people that you&#39;re competent and can be trusted with a great deal of responsibility.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But don&#39;t take it any further than that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;--Phil Stott, Vault.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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