7 Things You Should Never Do During An Interview

When searching for a job, you need to make sure that you do things in the right way. This means that you need to evade any blunders that can doom your efforts despite your strong qualifications and experience. With the job market being extremely competitive and quite rigid, every little thing counts: hence, it is necessary for you to be on your guard and to make the right moves. Yes, first impressions do still count.

The following article located at, http://read.bi/IgeZ1x,  provides a comprehensive list showing seven things to avoid doing at a job interview:
 
              1.          Don’t Be Late

Even if you car broke down or the subway derailed, do everything you can to get to that job interview on time.

‘If you have a legitimate excuse it’s still hard to bounce back,’ says Pamela Skillings, co-founder of job coaching firm Skillful Communications. ‘People are suspicious because they hear the same excuses all the time.’

On the other side, you don’t want to show up too early and risk appearing desperate, but you do want to be there at least five minutes early or at the very least on time.

2.       Don’t Show Up Unprepared

It seems simple, but several people go for job interviews knowing very little about the company they are interviewing with when all it would take is a simple Google search to find out. As a result, they end up asking obvious questions, which signal to the interviewer that they are too lazy to prepare.

‘Don’t ask if the company is public or private, how long it’s been in business, and where they do their manufacturing,’ says Mark Jaffe, president of Wyatt & Jaffe, the executive search firm. ‘Sharpen your pencil before you go to school.’

3.       Don’t Ask About Salary, Benefits, Perks

Your initial interview with a company should not be about what the company can do for you, but what you can do for the company. This means that the interview is not really the time to ask about the severance package, vacation time, or health plan. Instead, you should be selling yourself as to why the company cannot live without you.

‘Your interest should be about the job and what your responsibilities will be,’ says Terry Pile, Principal Consultant of Career Advisors. ‘Asking about vacation, sick leave, 401K, salary, and benefits should be avoided at all costs.’

4.       Don’t Focus On Future Roles Instead Of The Job At Hand

The job interview is not the time or place to ask about advancement opportunities or how to become the CEO. You need to be interested in the job you are actually interviewing for. Sure, a company wants to see that you are ambitious, but they also want assurances you are committed to the job you’re being hired for.

‘You can’t come with an agenda that this job is just a stepping stone to bigger and better things,’ says Jaffe.

5.        Don’t Turn The Weakness Question Into A Positive

To put it bluntly, interviewers are not idiots. So when they ask you about a weakness and you say you work too hard or you are too much of a perfectionist, chances are they are more apt to roll their eyes than be blown away. Instead, be honest and come up with a weakness that can be improved on and won’t ruin your chances of getting a job.

For instance, if you are interviewing for a project management position, it wouldn’t be wise to say you have poor organizational skills, but it’s ok to say you want to learn more shortcuts in Excel. ‘Talk about the skills you don’t have that will add value, but aren’t required for the job,’ says Pile.

6.       Don’t Lie

Many people think it is all right to exaggerate their experience or lie about having got fired by an employer at a job interview. Lying during the interview however can make you lose your chances of getting hired. Even if you get through the interview process with your half-truths, chances are you will not be fully equipped to handle the job you were hired to do. Not to mention the more you lie the more likely you are to slip up.

‘Don’t exaggerate, don’t make things bigger than they are and don’t claim credit for accomplishments you didn’t do,’ says Jaffe. ‘You leave so much room in your brain if you don’t have to fill it with which lie you told which person.’

7.       Don’t Ask If There’s Any Reason You Shouldn’t Be Hired

Well meaning career experts will tell you to close your interview by asking if there is any reason you wouldn’t be hired. While that question can give you an idea of where you stand and afford you the opportunity to address any concerns, there is no guarantee that the interviewer is going to be truthful with you or has even processed your information enough to think about that.

‘All you are doing is prompting them to think about what’s wrong with you,’ says Skillings.

What Muovo says...
Something that you should do, however, is to send a letter to your employer thanking him or her for taking time to interview you. This will make you stand out from the other interviewees, whilst also showing that you are interested and hence likely to be committed in the job on offer.

Source

Nikita Pisani at Muovo

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