Interviews for jobs or other positions are stressful enough as is. With wardrobe, hair, and comfortable footwear, we all try to do our part to make sure we make a great first impression as an interviewee. But how much of an edge will that fancy pantsuit get you if you make these five mistakes at an interview:
1. Don’t condescendingly correct your interviewer.
No, you most definitely are not inferior to your interviewer just because they hold the fate of your job in the palm of their hands but doing this can be seen as rude. I’m part of the Emergency Response Team at my college and recently we were conducting interviews for new recruits. I worked with a partner to interview a girl and my partner didn’t realize that he he asked the same question in a different way. Our interviewee proceeded to say, “Umm, didn’t you already ask me that?” …
After the interview my partner made sure to note that he didn’t appreciate the remark she made and I, needless to say, agreed with him. You, as an interviewee, might be annoyed at having to give the same answer twice because your interviewer made a mistake, however, if repeating yourself annoys you that much there are more polite ways to indicate to your interviewer that this question was repeated. For example, you could say, “As I said before…” This is more polite and you aren’t correcting your interviewer in any way.
2. Don’t repeat the same strengths or skills over and over.
Your interviewer will definitely take note of this. This shows that, first off, you don’t seem to possess many useful skills that will convince your interviewer that you’re the right fit for the job, and second, this shows that you lack substance behind any experiences you’ve listed. Also, this makes for a very boring interview - imagine having to talk about your positive attitude for thirty minutes straight!
Referring to the same set of strengths and skills during an interview also seems very generic - anyone can be organized and this is probably one of the most generic strengths ever listed.
3. Never forget to supplement the experiences listed on your application.
Show your interviewer that you really got something out of your previous internship or your last job. You could have travelled to China and helped build a new elementary school for kids but if you can’t elaborate on the skills you used and how they impacted you and your colleagues then you certainly won’t be as strong of an applicant as you think!
The proof is in the pudding, or, in this case, the elaboration. Prove to your interviewer that you developed and used a valuable set of skills. It’s great that you’re quite the volunteer and enjoy helping people, however, if you don’t have any substance behind your work then you might end up being a ‘Maybe’ or even a ‘No’.
4. Don’t blank on a question.
Yes, I know - you’re nervously sweating buckets already and to top it off you get hit with an impossible question that you can’t find the answer to. You then proceed to say ‘ummm’ and ‘hmmmm’ and put on your best thinking face while your eyes dart from corner to corner of the room. We all get those questions that take us by surprise at some point but many times, these questions are there to asses your thinking. The best way to handle these questions would be to come up with a creative solution.
When I was being interviewed for the Emergency Response Team as a freshman, my interviewer asked a question about an experience that I didn’t think I’ve had yet. As you can imagine, I had a mini panic attack in my head - “Crap, this question could be the difference between me making the cut and me getting rejected!” Instead of leaving a long awkward, tense silence in the air I simply told the interviewer that I couldn’t think of a past experience and asked if I could give a hypothetical situation instead. If all else fails, come up with a hypothetical! Your ability to do so also demonstrates quick thinking!
5. Never have your phone out.
This is a definite distraction. If you have your phone in front of you during your interview and your screen starts glowing from a message you just received, chances are, you can’t help but glance down at your phone. Give your interviewer 110% of your undivided attention! Keeping your phone hidden during an interview is a good interview habit to develop.
Your interviewer is taking time out of his or her busy schedule to meet with you to hear you out while you bolster yourself for this position - do you really want to throw it away over a message on a phone?
6. Don’t talk crap about bad former co-workers or employers.
We’ve all likely been put in less than tolerable situations at work or at an internship but despite this, avoid trash talking the people involved, especially if you listed this particular employer as a reference! You need to show your interviewer that you were able to make the most of a bad situation. One of my interviewees described a situation in which she had to work with a girl who wasn’t a good partner but then proceeded to describe how she maintained civility during the project and tried to make the best of it.
My partner and I definitely made note of her positive attitude during the situation and listed it as a definite pro. Fight the urge to talk crap about your disastrous former co-worker or your wicked witch of the west of a boss!
7. Never curse!
Do I really have to tell you how bad it is to curse during an interview? You won’t win any brownie points no matter how colorfully creative your vocabulary is. Save your potty mouth for when you’re hanging with friends!
Hope this list was eye-opening! I have both been an interviewee and an interviewer in professional situations so I hope my two cents are adequate enough to show you, my readers, a few don'ts that can really hurt your shot at getting the desired job or internship!
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