Introduction
Going for an interview could be a little stressful. We decide to give our best during an interview and look positive on our great day. Implement positivity and confidence in your coming interview by avoiding these 12 things during your interview.
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12 Things you should never do at an Interview
- Arriving late at the interview place.
Being late to an interview can create a negative impact on the interviewer. It shows the interviewer that you are less interested in the job position and you don’t respect the value of time. Therefore it is always good to be on time to arrive 10 minutes early so that you can have time to compose and adjust yourself before the interview. It implies that you are a punctual and responsible person.
- Having poor Eye Contact.
We sometimes become too busy in the thought process that we ignore looking at the interviewer and start looking at different things in the interview room such as paintings, windows, tables It not only indicates a lack of confidence and improper knowledge while conveying our answers but also annoys the interviewer. So keep natural eye contact while speaking and listening to the interviewer. You can break eye contact for 1 or 2 seconds if you are in a thought process while speaking. The eyes work as a door to convey your interest level and thoughts during an interview.
- Creating unnecessary Arguments.
Always keep in mind that the interviewer wants to hire you and not reject you. The interviewer wants to judge the candidate for the specific job role, and therefore, he knows well how to test the different skills of an interviewee. If the interviewer asks you a tricky or maybe difficult question to answer. Don’t lose your peace of mind otherwise, you may end up arguing with your interviewer. Instead, try to answer the question with a little smile on your face, and you can also ask for small hints. This shows that you are the one who tries to find the solution and not the one who gives reasons to deviate from the problem. Remember, “discussions are always better than arguments”.
5 Common Job interview mistakes
- Lacking appropriate Physical Preparation.
The candidate is expected to be properly groomed and formally dressed. Proper dressing, clean and well-cut nails, properly combed hair, and general personal hygiene should be taken care of. Sit in a proper posture showing that you are awake and attentive and not daydreaming. Be careful with your body language as well. Do not put your arms on the table instead, keep them comfortably on your legs. Remember, your overall physical appearance is very essential in an interview. Take care to stop any wrong habitual movement.
- Operating a Ringing Device.
This is one of the most important points to avoid during an interview. Devices such as digital alarm clocks, mobile phones, etc. should be avoided during an interview. You can put these devices on silent before going for an interview. They might disturb you and the interviewer in between. Keeping a mobile phone might produce undesired notification sounds that may distract you from your environment, and you may even forget where you were while answering the questions. So always keep those devices on silent before going for an interview.
- Talking bad about your current or previous employers.
Often to impress the interviewer or when we try to show our interest in the new position, we overlook our previous employers and start complaining about them. We should avoid bad-mouthing about our past employers and the company. Speaking negatively about former employers shows that you are unprofessional and do not respect the company you work for, instead of being negative about your previous employer or the position. You can show your ability to remain professional and positive regardless of how unsatisfactory your previous job was. Speaking positively about your previous job shows the interviewer that you would not say anything negative about them in the future.
- Over Apologizing and Blaming.
One of the things you should avoid during an interview is blaming the other person for your current situation, lack of proper information, and misinterpretation. The worst thing is when you start blaming your interviewer in some way or the other for your misbehaviour and wrong answers. Don’t apologize too much but accept the situation. Be the first to admit that you did something wrong, and you are responsible for your actions accepting your behaviour, for example, accept that mistake you have misinterpreted. This explicates that you are the one who acknowledges behaviour and actions no matter what the situation was.
- Questioning what your company does.
This is a serious mistake if you ask about the company directly because you do not even know what the company does and what their product or service is. This is a serious mistake if you ask about the company directly in the sense that you do not even have an idea that what the company does and what is their product or service. We should avoid asking about the company’s products and services. This shows that you are not interested in the company’s mission and vision, but you just need a job. This is the worst way to know more about the company. Instead, you could ask any good question that implies that you admire the values of the company. You could say something like, I would love to work here and strive my best to add value to the company’s growth.
- Asking irrelevant or zero Questions.
Just answering what the interviewer asks during a whole interview is not enough. The interview is more like a discussion. It becomes equally important to ask the right kind of questions at the right time. So that the discussion continues to be interesting and balanced. It is not that you are giving an interview and the interviewer is taking an interview. So your work is to only answer the questions that the interviewer asks you. Ask good and relevant questions about the company positively and constructively. It indicates the respect for the work culture of the company and interest to work for the company. Also, be safe from asking anything related to the perks, benefits, and salary negotiations until you receive that job.
- Lack of Passion and Motivation.
Although showing how passionate you are about your work is not the only way for a great candidate, sometimes interviewers include it in their interview feedback. To ace your next job interview, you’ll need to figure out how to communicate what is most important to you and why you do it. It indicates to the interviewer that you are passionate and motivated towards your work. When we are passionate, it tends to spill over into other aspects of our lives. You can talk about something that you have done for free to impact someone else’s life. It will make the interviewer more interested in you and help to keep the discussion free from boredom and dullness.
- Faking your work and skills.
Always remember that the company hires you based on what skills you have and you can contribute to the growth and development of the company. During an interview, their main focus is to test your skills. They want to check your work and skills. Exaggerating the truth and lying on a resume reflects your dishonesty and damages your reputation. Being honest with oneself is a good practice. It always thrives you to be the best version of yourself rather than straight away lying and faking. Show your true work and genuine skills to answer questions confidently. Interviewers are smarter than you think. They know well how to test a candidate. Even a single question is enough to catch you out on a lie.
- Sharing needless information.
It is always a good practice to hold back from sharing about your personal life in a job interview. The interviewer is interested in your skills and work. The interviewer has nothing to do with how many problems and responsibilities you have for your family. Answering the question concisely and briefly is far better than making irrelevant long stories. Avoid sharing pointless reasons for why you are seeking this job by giving useless reasons such as I want this job to pay my electricity bills, etc. Instead, you could say something like you are looking at this job as an opportunity to grow and succeed in your career field, etc. There are many great ways in which you can professionally tell the interviewer about why you want this job and what excites you about this job clearly and professionally.
