Show Notes
You work so hard to get the interview, why botch it? Take some time to learn the pitfalls to avoid so you dominate the interview with offers. Join Scott and Andrew as we share the top mistakes.
9 Mistakes To Avoid When Interviewing
Not Doing Any Research on the Company and Position
Not Preparing for the Common Interview Questions
Assuming you are "Good Enough"
Not Having Any Questions to Ask the Hiring Team
Not Knowing Anyone Inside
Forgetting To Follow-Up
Lack of Self-Awareness related to Skills-Employer Match
Relying Too Heavily on Nervousness
Not Checking your Appearance
Resources (including affiliate links)
013 Never Heard Anything After The Interview010 Interviewing with Confidence003 Branding, Interviewing and Online Applications [Hot Mic]
iTunes: Rate and Review
Raw and Unedited Transcript
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00:00:00 - 00:05:01
Aw. Welcome to job seekers radio. I'm Andrew, and I'm Scott this production is meant to provide you meaningful support defiant. Great careers faster. Whether you're working or not today seekers radio we cover the nine mistakes to avoid when you're interviewing now, this is a favorite topic for us. We talk to people all the time about interviewing skills. There are classes probably every economic of every employment development office in the country. There are many resources to end yet. We find that. It is probably a hidden talent market for those who truly interview. Well, and I'm not talking about those who quote interview. Well, and then turn out to be something else. Once they get on the job were just talking about having a good interviewing conversation. So the first mistake to avoid actually is not doing any research on the company or the people you. You're about to meet, right? I can't tell you. How many people have come in? When I've been interviewing to hire. They come in thinking that their skills will speak for themselves. And they haven't done the research, I pick up on it right away. And most people do I'm not I'm not special here. Wait a minute. It's got to read my resume yet. Probably did which is why you're here today. But if you haven't shown enough interest in my company to actually know what to talk about it's gonna show right away. And that can be a very quick disqualifier. And it's a small investment of your time to overlook this is just nonsensical. Right. Just doesn't make any sense. We have the internet his days and most companies have an internet presence. Now. Maybe they're not really good. If you're with a small company, maybe they haven't done something that that is really friendly on your phone, but they still probably have a website. You can find out something about them. Just doing. Google search class horror glass to work series. I be so surprised if there wasn't a whole bunch of stuff on glass door that you can learn about that company right now, it is a simple mistake that simply should not happen. And in full disclosure, I've done that. And I realized once I walk in. I don't have enough information. And I can't blame them when they don't call me back because I didn't show enough caring to do that research. There's no excuse. I mean, whatever the motivation is it could be that. You don't want the position, but they invited you for an interview anyway. Yeah. Still just because now my professional credibility is on the line. Of course, we'll get to excuses in a moment. But the next mistake to avoid is not prepared for the standard questions that you know, everybody's going to ask right? I would say nine interviews out of ten have five or six very basic questions things like tell me about yourself. What should we know about you that really doesn't have a? Well, it has many meanings or purposes as it does people who ask they want the conversation to start. They want to know a little bit about you. And they want to know why they should listen to you beyond the your answer be prepared with something. They wanna know that you've done your homework, and that that you've probably practice something before you got there, and they're not practicing these questions. So the thing is you can practice your answers over and over again, and they'll get different answers from every applicant the more prepared. You are the better off you're gonna sound and the more you can impress them. If impressing them as what you're going and just saying, yeah, I can do that. That is not an answer to question the standard questions are trying to find out about what is your thinking process. How do you speak to people? Have you done your homework both about the company and about the job, if you know something about me on a professional level as if my reputation has preceded me that will make me feel good as. As well. But that's going to take some effort on your part. So you want to be able to answer these questions in ways that actually resonate with them? And the chances are pretty good that if you can find out about their company values, you'll figure out a way to answer them to respond to those values. That's right. That brings us to the third mistake to avoid which is assuming you're good enough. And this comes from a mindset of superiority, right? And we're not talking about. Oh, I'm good enough. And I'm smart enough, and I can make people happy. You know? I'm not Stuart Smalley it. We're talking about that lack of effort that goes into. Oh, I've done so many interviews. I can wing it and be fine. The chances are pretty good that you may not do as well as you think. And it's not likely that you're gonna make it to the Super Bowl just winging it right? Just say, oh, I'm good enough. Those teams never make it to the Super Bowl right seriously. It takes practice. It takes experience. The more interviews you go on the better.
00:05:01 - 00:10:01
You get at it. But it's not just because you've been on a lot. It's because you've been making the effort. I tell you when I was a performer in my youth. I could remember what my my vocal coach was telling me. So when I was singing, I could do it again. And finally when I was in college, I had a vocal coach who could tell when I had practiced. And she nailed me on this. I was shamed of myself. But finally, somebody said no, you don't get away with this. The same thing is true in interviewing if you're not really making the effort to improve you're not going to improve and people are going to know it. It's not like you can hide it. You may think you're good enough. But when you go in and you give it a male in performance, they're going to say, thanks, but no, thanks. And you're gonna wonder huff wonder why they didn't pick me and you hit it right there. We're not talking about nervousness. Although we'll talk about that in a second. Everybody gets nervous before these things, and that's to be expected, and it's forgiven. This is more the idea that when you haven't done your part. It becomes obvious. You're phoning it in if you're phoning it in your probably gonna phone it in on the job. Don't think I'm going to hire. But it's going to translate near non verbals, right? You'll be disinterested. You won't be looking people in the eye. Right. It's just not good prepare like it's a Super Bowl. Right. Really? Every not interested in that position. You really aren't if you're going to walk in and it's obvious you're disinterested. Now, you're wasting their time. I had one person years ago suggest that going into an interview for which you don't, you know, you don't want the job you just want practice. That's theft. You're stealing time that they can't get back. Don't do it. It's just not respectful. I agree with that one hundred percent. So that brings us to the next mistake to avoid in. That's not having any questions prepared to ask the hiring team. And this is something that is so easy to do. And there's gotta be something you want to know about them the company the position of the environment. Whatever. Be. There's gotta be something you want to know or have an answer to. And if you need advice on what kinds of questions to right. There are going to be a lot of people out there who can help you the ones that come to my mind. I are can you tell me what a Dan the life of this position looks like that is an open ended question that elicits of thoughtful response. They may not be prepared for that. So it may take a minute think about it. And they're probably going to be more honest about it as a result. It's questions like that. What does this? What does success look like for this role? How would you describe the person who left this position and what they did? Well, and what you'd like to see them do differently? These are all things that make them understand that you've thought about this. That's the message you want to send. So having those questions they're written down demonstrates professionalism. Right that you're prepared for that. And when they ask you have something to give them I can't tell you how many times people get to the end of the. View even though they may be wrote down some questions they didn't write down enough because they got all their questions answered. And he's still like the thing is that you are interviewing the company it's really important that you prepared to interview them as well, one of the nicest things somebody said to me was when they said, oh, well, it feels like you're interviewing me, it's a price me when she said that. But I told her I am I am because this has got to be a win win all fit. Yeah. It's all about the fit that brings us to the next mistake to avoid not knowing anyone on the inside or having a lack of internal champion. There are a lot of times. We'll see jobs posted at companies that we've been interested in. But we haven't been able to network our way into the organization that's not completely avoidable. With that said there are ways for us to find people with similar backgrounds or similar education, and we can find this on Lincoln....
