Five Common Pitfalls Candidates Should Avoid When Interviewing
Zak Wright, Managing Principal – RSG Talent
You have all the skills required for a position, but you learn that you weren’t chosen for the opportunity. There are many reasons candidates don’t receive offers of employment after interviewing, but sometimes what leads to a denial is simply interviewing poorly. Here we outline five common mistakes candidates make when interviewing that can be avoided.
1) Dwelling on the Past
When interviewing you need to focus on why you want to join a prospective organization and why the role is of interest to you. How does the role fit into your career plans? What attributes of the role match your interests? What about the company is attractive to you? These types of questions you should be answering. Don’t speak at length on why you are leaving your current organization. A hiring authority will respect a brief explanation why your current employment is not a fit, but don’t go on and on about your bad boss, your poor compensation, your hated co-worker, and how bored you are. Employers want to hear why you want to join their organization and fill their job opening, and not why you are running from your current employment.
2) Having Unrealistic Expectations of a Prospective Employer
Your current employer may be underpaying you; you might not have received a raise in three years; you may not have been promoted to that management position you feel you have earned; you may be stuck in a stagnate queue of succession. These are all worthy reasons to look for a new opportunity. However, don’t expect a new employer to catch you completely up to where you think you should be in your career. A new employer will provide you with a new opportunity, some additional compensation, and most likely some new job responsibilities, which will get you closer to where you want to be, but a new employer won’t catch you up completely. A new employer will want to see you perform over the course of a year, and will be more apt to catch you up completely after seeing you perform. Demonstrating an expectation to a possible new employer that you are looking to be caught up could jeopardize your opportunity with said employer.
3) Being Poorly Prepared
Not doing your research about the organization you are interviewing, not preparing role specific questions for the hiring authority, lacking energy during the interview, and demonstrating a lack of industry awareness are all common reasons employers will not a hire a candidate. You might have all the skills to meet the needs of the role, but a lack of preparation for the interview tells an employer all they need to know about your work ethic, your attention to detail, your seriousness about the role, and how you may perform in the role. Consequently, the employer will choose a more motivated and prepared candidate.
4) Not Answering Questions with Appropriate Depth and Breadth
Practicing for an interview is something most candidates don’t do, but they should. Candidates can prepare for common questions that are asked in interviews, which allow you to prepare well thoughtout responses. Also, during the course of an interview you will be asked lots of questions you may not have been prepared to answer. No matter, you what be sure to answer the question asked, provide appropriate depth in your answer, and answer the question as best as you can. Answers should not drag on and to ensure you are answering the question asked be sure to write down questions as they are asked by the interviewer.
5) Overstating Your Skills on your Resume
An interview provides the hiring authority the opportunity to dive deep into your background and learn the depths of your skills. If you state on your resume that you have a certain skill such as managing a staff, programming in a certain language, working with a piece of software, or selling a certain service, you need to actually demonstrate in an interview that you can do what you claim. If not the employer will recognize you have overstated your skills, which will reflect poorly on your honesty and ability to do the job. Consequently, you’ll find an employer will be more apt to hire another candidate for the opportunity you are interviewing.
Conclusion
Looking for a new opportunity can be quite difficult, and learning you did not get selected for an offer can be tough. An employer will be more likely to hire a motivated forward-thinking candidate who might be short on a few technical skills versus someone who overstates their skills, has preconceived expectations, and has not prepared for the opportunity to interview. To improve your chances to land that new opportunity be sure to avoid these common interviewing mistakes.