5 Common Mistakes People Make In Job Interviews - How To Get Better At Interviewing

As an experienced Corporate Recruiter, I've personally interviewed thousands of job seekers over the years. I've also received and analyzed feedback about these individuals from hundreds of Hiring Managers.

After a while, I started seeing patterns.

It turns out that when it comes to job interviewing, people tend to make the same mistakes over and over again......and people get rejected from the process for 80-90% similar reasons.

I'll cover some of the most common ones below.

If you can avoid these mistakes, you'll instantly increase your chances of getting hired for your next job interview.

Common Mistake #1: Not answering questions directly

One of the biggest mistakes people make when job interviewing is not answering questions directly. This mistake comes in many different forms, but it's all the same thing:

• Taking 10 minutes, to say something that could be explained in 90 seconds...

• Going off on long tangents...that are completely irrelevant to the point you're making...

• Elaborating before answering concisely...

• Not answering the question directly - or even at all.

As a result, you can come across:

• chaotic and disorganized;

• like you don't know what you're talking about;

• like you're not good at influencing others;

• like you're not that good at what you do.

Regardless: you're wasting precious interviewing time, and it disengages the interviewer.

Fix #1: Answer concisely first - before elaborating

For example, the interviewer asks: "What is your experience with selling widgets...?

WRONG way to answer: "Well I used to work at XYZ...and we sold sprockets, which I sold to...and blah...blah...blah...."

RIGHT way to answer: "I've sold widgets for the last 8 years, at both my previous employer and the one before that..." ("Would you like me to elaborate?")

The correct way to answer open questions is to answer it as DIRECTLY and CONCISELY as possible right away.

And only elaborate after you know what specific information they need.

Fix #2: Ask Control Questions

Control questions are questions you can ask to make sure you're on track. It's completely NORMAL and APPRECIATED to verify you understood the question correctly. Continuing from our example, "Would you like me to elaborate?" is a control question. Other control questions could be:

• "What specific information are you after?"

• "Are you asking me to explain ____ or ____?"

• "Just to make sure I understood the question, are you asking_____?"

It's all about balance, but as a general rule: it's better to talk too little - than to talk too much. Talking too little, will naturally cause the interviewer to want to know more...(which is good). Talking too much, will cause the interviewer to cut things off and get impatient (which is bad).

Fix #3: Prepare the main questions you can expect

Job interviews can widely vary, but there's a very high chance you'll cover questions like:

• "Please tell me about yourself?"

• "Please tell me about your experience with ___" (the 3-5 main responsibilities mentioned in the job description)

• Why are you interested in this job?"

Sitting down before hand to write down answers to these questions will go a long way

Common Mistake #2: Coming across needy or desperate

This happens all the time with people that decide they want the job, before knowing all the details.

Now don't get me wrong: there's NOTHING WRONG with being interested, or even excited about the prospects of a job. In fact - those are good things. But that's not what I mean.

The mistake happens when you decide beforehand: "no matter what they say, I need this job, and if they offer it to me, I'll take it."

And as a result, you no longer ask challenging questions - or consider the full picture.

It also means you might make all kinds of assumptions about the job, that might not even be true.

During the interview, you'll come across as untrustworthy, slightly desperate, or inexperienced. Either way, it's bad.

But what if you really need this job?

Guess what? YOU DON'T KNOW THAT.

You don't know what the job is, until you actually ask those critical, challenging questions. You don't know if this job is right for you, until you've actually done your due diligence.

From the employer point of view, NOTHING is set in stone until you've signed that contract. And that contract could still contain all kinds of terms you don't want to blindly agree to.

As a rule, don't fully commit to a job until you sign the contract.

You have to realise: employers don't want the person that's desperate for the job. They want the person that is highly interested in the job - but doesn't need it.

Important Mindset: “Being the selector"

Highly successful and sought after professionals know: they have options. They could work in many different companies, and they'll have plenty of opportunities. Which mean's they're selective.

Being selective - is crucial for coming across as a high value, highly sought after professional.

And highly sought after professionals are exactly what every company wants. And who get the job.

Practical tips on being the selector

You have to ask yourself very crucial questions, including:

1. What are my medium / long-term career ambitions?

2. How is this job likely to be in direct alignment with those plans?

3. How can I test and challenge the interviewer, to see if this job is actually in alignment with my plans and ambitions?

The answers that arise from doing this exercise will serve you very well during a job interview, and will be an anchor to keep you grounded.

It'll allow you to be excited and interested in the prospects of the job, but prevent you from being too pre-determined and too needy.

Common Mistake #3: Not doing your research (the right way)

Over-preparing for job interviews is never good. But neither is under-preparing. At the very least find out:

• What does the company actually do?

• What products / services does it sell?

• How many people work there?

• How many offices do they have?

• In how many countries are they active?

• How long have they been operating?

• What are some of the historical / current events you can find?

Another big mistake people make when during research on a company, is they don't do it for themselves. They do it because they think the interviewer will grill them for a test, like they're in high-school.

Or they do it because they read it online / listened to career advice.

Wrong. You're doing this for you.

Doing company research is all about making sure they meet your expectations, and what you need to find out during your interview to confirm that. Good places to do you research:

LinkedIn: These days pretty much any and every company has a LinkedIn profile. Without a doubt, LinkedIn is the best place to find 80-90% of what you're looking for. Including:

• Company facts and figures;

• A general indication of team size and setup;

• Names of it's leadership;

• links to external information;

• and more.

Google the company. Sounds obvious, and it is. So just do it, and see what you can find:

• If it's a large company it often has a Wikipedia page.

• If it's a stock-listed company, find out it's stock price over the last 1-2 years.

• Can you find news or articles written about the company?

Youtube: Do a search on the company name, and see what comes up. Companies often publish 2-3 minute introduction video's to Youtube.

These are usually very polished and one-sided, but can give you an impression of things like company culture.

They might contain interesting information you can bring up during your interview.

Common Mistake #4: Talking negatively about past jobs / employers

Although this might seem obvious, it's astounding how many people still talk badly about their past employers or jobs.

Now take it from someone that's had some bad experiences with previous employers: it does not serve you well by talking about it.

The interviewer will assume YOU were the problem, or at least fear it might have been. That slight sliver of doubt can be enough to reject you, even though there's no proof for it.

As a general rule: deflect any negative emotion. Simply skip over it.

For example:

Interviewer: "I see you were with your last employer for only 6 months, what made you leave?"

THE WRONG WAY TO ANSWER THAT: "The work culture was very toxic, my boss didn't know how to lead, and he made all kinds of mistakes."

 A BETTER WAY TO ANSWER: "I accepted the job based on that I was supposed to fix ____ / turn-around ____, but a few weeks after starting they had to change the strategy.

They acknowledged this themselves, and I still stuck around for 6 months trying to do my best to serve them, but longer term I realised this isn't for me."

When touching on any negative experiences around your previous employers / jobs, never make it personal.

In fact, don't even mention people. And never blame anyone or anything inside of anyone's direct control.

Blaming your boss, your team, your company work culture, the market - whatever - it's all bad.

Because even if they tend to believe you - they can't help but wonder if you're also avoiding some kind of personal responsibility in this.

Guess what? Even if they believe you, your new potential employer has no way of verifying it. In the end they'll always choose avoiding the risk, over taking the chance.

In the end, there are always MULTIPLE reasons to leave a job. For example:

1) Toxic work culture;

2) A downturn;

3) You decided to make a conscious career switch;...

Just because the MAIN reason for you was the toxic work culture, doesn't mean you have to actually mention that. You can always pick any of the other reasons.

Common Mistake #5: Not Asking Questions - or asking Generic / Token Questions

Not Asking Questions

Not asking any questions during, or at the end of an interview is a terrible idea. In the "best case" it makes you seem uninterested......In the worst case it looks like:

• you want to rush through it;

• you're too inexperienced and afraid of being found out;

• you're insecure;

• you're more concerned with them liking you - than you liking them;

• you're desperate to get the job.

Asking Token Questions

A "token" question is a question that doesn't actually serve a real purpose or need, but just serves as a symbolic effort.

You ask token questions because you think you should, not because you actually want or need the answer.

And when asking these generic token questions, it can actually sabotage the entire interview. Especially when the interviewer gets the feeling you're not asking these out of sincere interest.

People ask token questions because:

• they feel they have to ask a question - but don't really know what to ask;

• they think if the interviewer expects them to ask these;

• they read or heard it online somewhere;

Examples of these generic "token" questions:

• "Can you please describe the company culture?"

• "What does the successful candidate for this role look like?"

• "What would the first 30-90 days on the job look like?"

Now I'm not saying these questions are irrelevant, but it's all about how you ask them.If you truly care about the company culture, you should ask them about it more specifically. For example:

• "In my previous employer, I missed a collaborative environment. What can you tell me about the culture here?"

Asking questions in a more personal way shows you're evaluating them against your own standards.

It shows you're asking them for a personal reason, not just because you want to fill up the time with useless questions. It also shows you're are willing to walk away.

All are things strong candidates do.

In the end - It’s all about know why you’re asking it - and making sure that reason is actually relevant to you.

Conclusion

There are many more mistakes people make during their job interviews, but I've covered some of the main ones above. I hope it will help you on your next job interview.

If you need more help with your job search, look no further.

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