Never Do These 7 Things In An Interview

I've interviewed hundreds of people in my career. Recently I've done a spate of interviews and I have been consistently surprised by how few people know how to do it right. Captured over twenty-five years of interviews, here is my list of the 7 things you simply cannot do if you want to get the job.

1) Don't be on time. Instead, always, always, always be EARLY.?For my interview at Google, I planned on being 90 minutes early. Yeah, 90 minutes. Crazy? No, because every massive corporate campus features difficult to read building numbers, addresses that are hard to locate, parking that is confusing, and campuses that are complex to navigate. I ended up forty-five minutes early ("late" according to my 90-minute-early plan) to my interview because of these types of challenges, which gave me time to take a short walk, review my planned answers, and relax. If the interview is on video, log in 15 or 20 minutes early and test the conferencing application, even if you have used it before. You never know what corporate settings they use and you will probably need to be given access to enter the meeting. You never, ever want the interviewer to show up first. I have sometimes shown up 5 minutes early just to test if the person adheres to my interviewing code of conduct.

2) Your first question will likely be, "Tell me a bit about yourself." Don't mention every job you've had since college.?They want a summary. The highlight reel only. Sure, tell them you started in consulting and moved to a corporate role. But then talk about your growth in responsibility and leadership that brought you to now, rather than a list of all your roles. Answer this in 90 seconds or less or you will bore them. Practice answering this question.

3) Never talk poorly about your current or former employers.?Even if you felt your last employer treated you unfairly to an appalling degree, don't go into it in the interview. People will argue with me on this one but I can guarantee you that if you are equal to another candidate in every other way but that one, they will choose the other candidate. It's a red flag whether it's fair or not. Deal with it.

4) Never ask for time to compose your thoughts, time to write notes and think, or for the interviewer to repeat a question.?I know, this seems harsh. Sometimes we want to get more clarity, or get a bit of time to think, or even hear the question again to settle our nerves. Don't do it. Here's why: the interviewer needs to see you as a colleague/direct report/cross-functional peer right then and there.?They need to believe you are already that person, that you can walk in tomorrow and be effective because that is what they need. If you are the right person for the job, you will never pause in a live meeting and ask for a minute to collect your thoughts and write them down quietly on a notepad while the room waits. Because that is not how real meetings work. In real meetings you communicate your thoughts quickly and engage in conversation. And that is what an interview should be -- a conversation. A conversation between two people who, at the end of it, if it is successful, respect each other. In a real meeting, might you ask someone to repeat themselves? Sure. But try to avoid it in an interview, unless the interviewer is simply not clear or you honestly didn't hear the question. The interviewer gave you the question. Now it's your turn.

5) Don't give answers longer than about 90 seconds.?Why? One reason is the interviewer has a set of questions they want to ask. If you give long answers, you may not let them get through their questions. One person I interviewed gave an 11-minute answer to my first question. I got through three of my eight questions that day. Another reason is that for a business to run, people need to be concise. Yes, you need to be comprehensive as well but you absolutely need to make your point in a manageable amount of time. Getting to speedy decisions in real life requires people who can communicate quickly and clearly, then stop. When you're done answering, just stop and wait for the next question. Be okay with the silence if you've answered fully.

6) Don't ask only one question at the end. Ask two if you have time.?And prepare three questions just in case. In case of what, you ask? First, if you've been concise throughout, you should have time for more than one question. Second, you may stumble into an answer for one of your questions in the interview itself, so you may need that third question handy. And why does it matter if you ask one vs. two questions? Having only one question paints you as someone who isn't curious enough or doesn't care enough about the role to ask a second question. Two is about right. If you ask a third, your interviewer may start looking at their watch.

7) Never, under any circumstances, ask if the interviewer has feedback for you about the interview you just completed.?By doing this, you are ending the conversation by asking the interviewer to give you constructive feedback. Even the most seasoned managers are not eager to give constructive feedback, especially live and when they're not prepared. You may think it will show you as someone who wants objective criticism. That may be true. But it also puts your interviewer (and future boss/peer/colleague) in an awkward position. It's not worth it.

There are also many things you?should?do in an interview, and maybe I'll write something about those soon. But I've seen the ones on this list far too much lately so I hope it helps a few of you land the job you really want.

Good luck!

Genio