The Top Interviewing Mistakes to Avoid

Everyone makes mistakes, it's an unavoidable part of life. What's more, it's okay. We learn from them. But let's face it, if we can avoid them, we certainly will!

I find this holds especially true when it comes to interviewing as the outcome can make such a huge positive or negative impact on our lives.  

Here's some of the top tips myself and my company has helped candidates with. 

First impressions Last

We know that first impressions are vital, so if you don’t nail it? You’re already on the back foot. Some of the things that can create a poor first impression include:

• Arriving Late.
• Arriving with a drink / food in hand (looks disorganised & unprofessional).
• Not dressing the part (tip: it’s always safer to overdress than underdress, if for nothing else than a show of respect).
• Leaving your phone on loud – It doesn’t matter how busy or important you are, they are too and they are giving you their time. Respect it.

Attitude, Attitude, Attitude

Attitude in an interview is important. Confidence is absolutely key – but arrogance will only have them walking away thinking, “they may have the skills, but I wouldn’t want to work with them.” So you do need to tread a fine line between presenting your skills and boasting.

Language or the way you verbally present yourself overall and even your body language is just as vital. A few things to be mindful of include:

• Not answering the question and too much “umming" and "arring”.
• Talking too much and not listening when they speak.
• Making inappropriate jokes (by all means, tell a few little jokes to break the ice, but keep them clean and controversy free).
• Badmouthing your previous employers.
• Checking your watch (seriously, this one happens all the time. The message it sends the interviewer is that you feel your time is more important than theirs).

Other things to be wary of in an interview include your attitude towards the people interviewing you (do not be rude at all costs – even if you’ve decided the job isn’t for you) and having a whinge about ANYTHING.

Poor Preparation

Not preparing adequately is unfortunately one of the most common reasons candidates don’t get the job that we encounter. Coincidentally, it is also one of the easiest to remedy.

The two preparation areas that most commonly cause issues are:

1. Not knowing your own CV & achievements. Fuzziness about your own working history makes the interviewer wonder if you’re outright lying or perhaps embellishing the truth.
2. Not having researched the company or people your interviewing with. The interviewer expects you to be genuinely interested in their company – this means actually knowing something about it.

If You’ve Stuffed it (and you know it).

Everyone has bad days and most employers are sympathetic to that. We’re all human right? So if you know you’ve completely stuffed the interview, depending on what you did and the person you interviewed with, you may be able to salvage it.

What to do?

Shoot them a short email explaining your circumstances and thanking them for their time. If you can humbly admit that you know you performed poorly, it shows self-awareness and a willingness to fix your mistakes. Most employers will appreciate this trait.

When you get to the part where you ask for a second chance, acknowledge that you understand they may not have the time but that you’d appreciate the opportunity to speak with them again – even if it’s just over the phone. Emphasising that they are free to contact your references could also help.

At the end of the day?

You will either be offered the job or be unsuccessful. By all means, celebrate if the job is yours but don't be too disheartened if it's not. On average a company will interview between 5-10 people for a role and it may be that someone else's skills set just edged out yours on the day.

Use the experience as a learning curve and apply what you've learned to your next interview.