17 Biggest Job Interview Mistakes

Wondering how you screwed up that job interview? Not sure where you messed up?

Seventeen, huh? Well, I wanted to cover how you can screw up a job interview relating to four of the five senses of sound, sight, touch, smell, excluding taste. I tossed in the pre-interview and post-interview errors. I also have a self-imposed under-one-thousand-word limit. (I crushed it in a mere 774 words and even counted these thirteen.) Voilà, now you have your seventeen biggest job interview mistakes.

On we go…

Yes, you can lose the game before it starts…

Not researching the company and job interviewers. This is a big no-no especially because it’s too easy to find information in cyberspace. I’ll excuse the lack of research regarding the job interviewers, but only if you don’t know their names.

Not researching yourself. You need to know what you want and what makes you happy. How will you otherwise ask appropriate questions to determine whether the company can satisfy your lengthy list of needs? Not sure how to do this? Check out my First 5 Steps to Career Success Video Series. No need to reach for your credit card. I give it away for free.

Not being prepared with an abundance of questions. Do you care? Then make a list. There are 75 awesomes ones in a fantastic eBook I give away for FREE to anyone who attends my FREE webinar 3 Keys to Ace Any Job Interview.

Not deodorizing your social media platform. More than 80% of employers will check your LinkedIn profile, Facebook Page, and Twitter handle. Do the math. Check this out. And this too.

Being late. You know the time. You can’t make it on time?

Do you want to kick or receive?

Not shaking hands and looking the interviewer in the eye and maintaining that eye contact throughout the job interview. She’s not going to bite you even though she looks like she might. Learn the etiquette.

How many ways can you fumble your answer to the question? Uh, five, I think.

Not directly answering the question. This is the first way you can drop the ball. Answer the question she asked.

Not providing enough color. Number two. Make sure to provide enough information. One-word answers generally don’t fly. If you’re not sure whether you’ve provided enough information, there is a really slick technique that many people don’t use enough. It’s called asking.

Not providing the information the interviewer actually needed to know. This one is for the graduate course. Job interviewers are usually untrained and ineffective likely because it’s not technically in their job descriptions. They ask questions that yield poor answers filled with information that isn’t helpful for them to determine whether you’ll be a good employee. Keep this in mind and check out my FREE eBook called Ace Your Job Interview: Master the Best Responses to the 14 Most Effective Job Interview Questions.

Providing too much information. If you see an eye roll, yawn, or watch-glance, you can bet you need to stop talking. If you see all three, just pack up.

Criticizing. This is an all-encompassing remark. This means no bad mouthing a previous employer, team, coworker, friend, spouse, whoever, or whatever.

Am I keeping you from something?

Answering any type of distraction. Looking counts. Hearing an email or chat beep counts even if it’s in your brief bag. Please turn off your computer, iPad, and phone. Thank you. Enjoy the show.

Falling flat at the end and not proactively expressing interest. Make sure you indicate you are interested in the job. Don’t forget to add “why” you’re interested so the interviewer knows it’s not a hollow remark.

Nice suit!

Dressing like a slob. Watch your ironing, tailoring, skirt length, and so forth.

Is that your hand on my…

Don’t touch. You think I’m kidding? Watch the hugs or pats or anything that isn’t a firm handshake.

Did the janitors work last night?

Don’t smell. I don’t care if you just bought the new Polo fragrance. Watch the number of pumps you hit your body with because anything that makes the interviewer sneeze is generally a bad idea. The number of pumps you do not want to exceed is zero.

Why did I tie this string on my finger?

Forgetting to gather her contact information so you can provide a thank-you email and/or card. You guessed it. Here’s your sample. Have a nice day.

As always, I’d love to hear from you. Give me your job interview mistake doozies!

THE GIVEAWAY SECTION!

Make sure to grab my FREE eBook Ace Your Job Interview. It’ll eradicate several of these mistakes. Get it here!

About the Author

Andrew LaCivita is the Founder & Chief Executive of milewalk and the milewalk Academy. As an internationally recognized executive recruiter, award-winning author, speaker, and trainer, Andrew has dedicated his career to helping people and companies realize their potential. He frequently serves as a trusted media resource and is the author of Interview Intervention, Out of Reach but in Sight, and The Hiring Prophecies (the eLit Gold Award Winner for Best Business/Careers/Sales Book for 2016).

Andrew’s passion is serving as a coach and trainer via his top 5 Careers Blog, Tips for Work and Life®, and his online training site, the milewalk Academy. On a daily basis, he circulates his Today’s Line to Live By®, which is a self-developed inspirational quote. You can find these daily dispatches of inspiration on his blog and social media platform.

To learn more about Andrew, see his full biography and resources page.