Interview Mistakes: How to Avoid Them
March 12, 2011 
7 Comments
Job interviews can be harrowing for both the interviewer and the job applicant.
According to a CareerBuilder survey of hiring managers, more than half mentioned inappropriate dress as the most damaging mistake a potential candidate can make. Ranked second by those surveyed was speaking negatively about previous or current employers, while the third ranking mistake was to seem to be disinterested. Appearing to be arrogant, failing to provide specific answers and not asking good questions were the next three top-ranked errors. These common blunders can be avoided by preparing properly for your interview and practicing with a friend beforehand.
It also pays to use good judgment and avoid obviously off-putting incidents like the following true-life examples of interview blunders:
- One candidate stretched out on the floor to fill out the job application, while another perched on the edge of the interviewer’s desk.
- A balding candidate abruptly excused himself and returned to the office a few minutes later wearing a hairpiece.
- Then there was the candidate who asked: “You don’t do drug tests, do you?”
- One candidate asked who the lovely babe was, pointing to the picture on the hiring manager’s desk. When told that was the employer’s wife, the candidate then asked if she was home now and could he please have the phone number.
- A candidate said she was a “people person,” not a “numbers person,” while interviewing for an accounting position.
- One man said that if he was hired he’d have the corporate logo tattooed on his arm to demonstrate his loyalty.
- Another pulled out a men’s magazine and perused the pictures and centerfold while the hiring manager took a phone call.
- One unlucky male candidate’s briefcase flipped open and assorted woman’s underwear, perfume and makeup fell out.
- Another candidate answered a cell phone and asked the interviewer to leave her own office because it was a “private” conversation.
- Then there was the candidate who smelled his armpits on his way into the interview room.
- It’s no surprise that the candidate who said he was fired because he beat up his last boss was not hired.
- Neither was the applicant who declined the food he was offered before the interview because he didn’t want to line his stomach with grease before going out drinking.
- And, heaven forbid you make the same mistake as the candidate who flushed the toilet during a phone interview!
- Last but not least, don’t follow the examples of those who: brought their dog to an interview; asked the hiring manager for a ride home after the interview; or brushed their hair during the interview.
Prepare well for your interview, use good common sense, and remember to appear as professional as possible.
Sources: CareerBuilder.com
Bob Levey, Washington Post
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It is easy to see why some people have such a hard time getting a job and perhaps that is a good thing as they probably should not be out amongst people. They might do better working from home in their basement.
If serious job seekers would only read some of these posts and take the advice given, their job searching would go much better.
Gary Gile recently posted..Living in Your Passion
Yeah, it is not very surprising in this day and time to see individuals go through these types of changes when applying for a job. Many people do not seek out the help necessary to truly understand what employers want to see in applicants. I remember a college recruiter for a large accounting firm telling me that she had a job applicants who wore a tee shirt and rollers to the interview. Did he get the job for $50,000 a year with a great benefits package?
Good info.
If you want to make it really EASY for an employer to tell you “NO!” continue to do any of the things listed above and you will continue to stay unemployed. Mission Accomplished!!
I think if you just use some good old common sense, like with most things, you won’t get into trouble saying the wrong things when in a job interview.
I like the ones that come in with purple hair, sleeve tats and 13 piercings above the neck who don’t understand why they didn’t get a call back for the job in a professional office. That was a great list, you put a smile on my face today.
It is easy to become overwhelmed and intimidated when it comes to interviews, however being inappropriately dressed is a mistake that a potential candidate should never make. I can’t even begin to imagine how the “true-life” examples ever happened, how can you justify telling an interviewer to leave her own office because it is a “private” conversation. http://www.exechunter.com/blog/
I want a job and I prepare for my interviews intensely then I read the list you have posted. I now wonder how it is justified that professional HR people can share any private meetings with the media. Then again in America we do not act like professionals anymore.