Smug attitude can hinder job search.

• Position: Your Life - Brief Article

Confidence is critical when interviewing for a job, but executives warn against too much of a good thing. Fifty percent of chief financial officers polled by RHI Management Resources, a Menlo Park, Calif., consulting services firm providing senior-level accounting and finance professionals on a project basis, maintained that arrogance is a management-level candidate's biggest pitfall.

The CFOs were asked, "Which one of the following is the worst mistake a candidate can make when interviewing for a management-level position?" After displaying arrogance was cited, others prominently mentioned included avoiding difficult questions and being unprepared to discuss specific achievements (13% each), asking up-front about compensation and other benefits (10%), and demonstrating a lack of knowledge of the company (nine percent).

"When hiring at the senior...