Bad breath may prevent you from landing your next job

Job markets are tight. New employment opportunities are few and far between. Whether you're changing careers or looking for your first job out of college, you couldn't have picked a much worse time to be looking for work. As bad as things are, there are few signs that they will begin getting better any time soon.

If you are looking for a job, it will be important for you to take advantage of every opportunity you come across. If you are lucky enough to get a job interview, allowing a hiring manager to develop a negative first impression of you because of your halitosis could be a serious mistake.

You may think that someone in a position of authority will overlook issues of personal hygiene. Rather than focusing on your bad breath, they should allow your resume and work experience to speak for you. While this may be the ideal, a recent survey of British employers found that many interviewers consider issues of personal hygiene when they are making their decision.

The survey, which was conducted by UK-based HR consultancy firm Reabur, revealed that 68 percent of business owners allow poor personal hygiene to influence their decision of whether or not to hire a candidate, according to London's Guardian. Poor hygiene ranked higher than negative body language and poor language and grammar.

The results add to common knowledge, which states that job seekers should take every precaution they can to avoid allowing hiring managers to develop negative opinions. First impressions are among the most important aspects of a job interview. If you go up to your interviewer to shake their hand and all they smell is halitosis, that first impression is likely to be a negative one.

Bad breath and other characteristics of poor hygiene give the impression that you are disinterested. Employers are often looking for enthusiastic, driven workers. However, they may rightfully feel that the job is not that important to you if you show up to the interview with halitosis.

However, there are steps you can take to avoid the condition, and ensure that you won't be judged for your breath. Using specialty breath freshening products from TheraBreath, for example, may enable you to walk into your next interview feeling confident that your breath is not a problem.