Job Interview Tips

 

 

What To Say

What not to say during a job interview
Don’t bad mouth your old boss or company during your job interview. That’s a red flag that your potentially new boss will pick up on. If you must relate a strained relationship between you and your previous employer, or you must explain a difficult workplace situation, do so in a precise and concise manner. By all means, if at all possible, leave anything negative out of the job interview.

-- If you are not a natural comedian, leave the jokes at home. If you are a natural comedian, leave the off-color and possibly misconstrued, possibly misunderstood, or possibly offensive jokes at home. Sometimes people use jokes as a way to cut the tension at a job interview. As a real life example, there was a male applicant who asked the interviewer if his pants made him look fat. Needless to say, the joke was more shocking than funny. Jokes are like pets. Sometimes, when they are let loose, they do damage. Your goal is to break the ice, not wreck the interview. It may be better to save the jokes for a party and use small talk (weather, traffic, etc.) to cut the tension.

-- Don’t talk about work related mistakes that you’ve made unless you also tie-in what you learned from those mistakes and the positive outcomes that resulted from those learning experiences. A complete answer will show the interviewer growth on your part.

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-- I’ll do the best I can. I’ll do my best. I’ll try my best. – Virtually everyone makes these statements in the course of their job interview. Many times, interviewees emphasize these points in their wrap-up and concluding statements. In and of themselves, these are innocent remarks. But they don’t pack a punch. There is no energy behind them.

Imagine that a company is conducting interviews because it needs to hire an economist. They happen to interview, for the sake of discussion, a 5 year old, school girl who finishes up her interview by saying that she will do the best that she can if she is hired. They then interview a park ranger who says that he’ll do his best. And lastly, they interview a yoga instructor who says that she will try her best. Collectively, those statements are a wash, because each applicant stated in essence, that they will try hard.

As it turns out, each of them was able to show some experience in economics during the course of their job interviews. But suppose that the yoga instructor said something to this effect:

I believe that my experience as a volunteer financial analyst for Yoga Time Inc. has prepared me to fulfill your expectations of the person who fills this position. I am able to assess the viability, profitability and stability of businesses, and analyze market trends, as they relate to global and local economies. I believe that those skill sets will make me a productive member of this company (team, department). In addition, I am very confident that my understanding of macroeconomic models, as they apply to your market, will benefit this company. I do hope that you consider me for this position. Thank you for the interview.

That’s a lot different than, “I’ll try my best.” If you sum up yourself and what you have to offer in this way, you will be very hard to ignore. Especially when many of the job applicants who interview for the same position that you are seeking will say that they will do their best. Also consider making assertions about why you will benefit the company in the context of interview questions. That way, when the interviewers go over your answers to various questions, your assertions will be included in those answers and not just in their section for additional notes.

Of course, your competition for the position that you seek probably will not vary this widely. But, neither will their answers. If you practice and prepare for your job interview, someone with more background experience and a better education than yours may not be able to articulate their benefit to the company as well as you will. This will help you to separate yourself from the pack and give the interviewer reasons to hire you. 
 

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What to say during a job interview
Say everything that needs to be said, everything that shows that you are the person for the job. There’s a difference between bragging and self-promotion. If you’re touting all of your work-related achievements at a party, it’s probably bragging. If you’re making interviewers aware of your work-related achievements, it’s self-promotion.

Some people just don’t like to toot their own horn. But, ask yourself, “How will they know what I have done and what I can do unless I tell them?” The interviewing panel can’t guess at your accomplishments and work-experience. Yes, they read your resume and/or looked over your application, but you need to bring out the details. You will be up against applicants who will be all too willing to discuss their work-related past achievements.

If your work-experience and/or education seem rather thin, flesh out anything (volunteer work, work-related experiences, and informal education) that applies to the position that you are seeking.  Whatever you wrote on your resume or on your application, ensure that the interviewers understand the full measure of those things. If you are at the point of being interviewed, you have something that the company is looking for. Make sure they know in full, what it is that you can do for the company.

Remember, your intent is not to embellish your background. Embellishing is not a good trait for an employee and you will torpedo your chances of being hired if this is discovered.