50 worst job interview mistakes
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By Chang Se-moon
Many years back, I happened to visit a website named
and found a really valuable article called 50 Worst Job Interview Mistakes. When I visited the same website lately to prepare for this article, this information was no longer there but I can see that Ms. Burns is still keeping the website that will direct visitors to another website that she owns and accepts orders for gift items that she designs for working girls.
To my surprise, I saved the article on 50 worst mistakes that applicants make when they interview for an employment. Because of the importance of this advice, I am summarizing the 50 worst mistakes, hoping that readers avoid making the mistakes for their own sake.
The first ten mistakes are the following: 1. arriving late; 2. arriving too early; 3. lighting up a cigarette, or smelling like a cigarette; 4. bad-mouthing your last boss; 5. lying about your skills, experience, or knowledge; 6. wearing the wrong (for this workplace!) clothes; 7. forgetting the name of the person you are interviewing with; 8. wearing a ton of perfume or aftershave; 9. wearing sunglasses; and 10. wearing a Bluetooth earpiece.
No. 4 bad-mouthing your last boss reminds me of an old advice by Ann Landers that I also happened to save. Question goes like this: “Dear Ann Landers: My brother hates his boss and everyone he works with and talks about them constantly. I recall a quote in your column by Elbert Hubbard that had to do with company loyalty. Please run it again ― I Read You in Chattanooga”
Answer by Ann Landers was classic: “Dear Chat: Here it is: ‘If you must growl, condemn, and eternally find fault, resign your position, and when you are on the outside, damn to your heart’s content. But so long as you are part of the institution, do not criticize it or the first high wind that comes along will blow you away and you will never know why.’”
By the way, arriving early is ok since you can always wait outside the place. I do it all the time for my meetings. Arriving late, however, simply means that you do not want the job.
The second ten mistakes are the following: 11. failing to research the employer in advance; 12. failing to demonstrate enthusiasm; 13. inquiring about benefits too soon; 14. talking about salary requirements too soon; 15. being unable to explain how your strengths and abilities apply to the job in question; 16. failing to make a strong case for why you are the best person for this job; 17. forgetting to bring a copy of your resume and/or portfolio; 18. failing to remember what you wrote on your own resume; 19. asking too many questions; and 20. asking no questions at all.
There is no excuse for No. 11 failing to research the employer in advance, since you can find more than you need usually in the website of your prospective employer. As to mistakes 13 and 14 about premature questions on compensation, there is a danger that millennials, who comprise a large pool of employees, may consider them to be old fashioned. All I am saying here is that you have to find out answers but you may want to be tactful when you ask specifics of the compensation package.
The third ten mistakes are the following: 21. being unprepared to answer the standard questions; 22. failing to listen carefully to what the interviewer is saying; 23. talking more than half the time; 24. interrupting your interviewer; 25. neglecting to match the communication style of your interviewer; 26. yawning; 27. slouching; 28. bringing along a friend, or your mother; 29. chewing gum, tobacco, your pen, or your hair; and 30. laughing, giggling, whistling, humming, and lip-smacking.
Just in case, slouching means to stand, move, or sit in a lazy, drooping way. Avoid it.
The fourth ten mistakes are as follows: 31. saying "you know," "like," "I guess," and "um"; 32. name-dropping or bragging or sounding like a know-it-all; 33. asking to use the bathroom; 34. being falsely or exaggeratedly modest; 35. shaking hands too weakly, or too firmly; 36. failing to make eye contact (or making continuous eye contact); 37. taking a seat before your interviewer does; 38. becoming angry or defensive; 39. complaining that you were kept waiting; and 40. complaining about anything!
The final ten mistakes are: 41. speaking rudely to the receptionist; 42. letting your nervousness show; 43. over-explaining why you lost your last job; 44. being too familiar and jokey; 45. sounding desperate; 46. checking the time; 47. oversharing; 48. sounding rehearsed; 49. leaving your cell phone on; and 50. failing to ask for the job.
Hopefully, you can avoid some of these mistakes that you are likely to make without realizing that you do.
Chang Se-moon is the director of the Gulf Coast Center for Impact Studies. Write to him at: changsemoon@yahoo.com.