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13 Common Interviewing Mistakes
Have you been working at the same company for 15 years or longer and now you find yourself looking for a new job? Or perhaps you’d been working steadily for a number of years but now you’re no longer at that job? You want to work again but now find yourself floating in the wind: laid-off, downsized, reorganized, excesses, made redundant (as they say in England). Out of work and out of sorts, you want and need another job. What stands in your way?
In this article and others to follow I will attempt to demystify the interview process with strategies to overcome interview fear, build interview confidence, and help you ACE that interview.
I will begin by listing 13 common and not so common interview mistakes:
- Winging it. This is never a good idea. Prepare as completely as you can for the interview. Research the company; prepare your answers and questions and practice, practice, practice.
- Throwing out unnecessary, irrelevant information, rather than working to persuade them you are the best candidate.
- Talking too much and too fast. You risk running out of time before you make your point.
- Not acting enthusiastic about the job.
- Having distracting hand and/or body gestures. No pen clinking or foot tapping allowed!
- Relying on the interviewer to carry the conversation and ask all the questions.
- Dressing inappropriately.
- Closing too soon.
- Deciding this job isn’t for you during the first interview.
- Not making eye contact.
- Putting yourself down or downplaying your own worth.
- Not demonstrating your knowledge of the industry and the skills the particular job requires.
And, last but NOT least -
- Not smiling at the beginning, the middle and the end of the interview.
The interview is your chance to impress the interviewer, to sell yourself as the best candidate for the job. Look over the list above. Are you committing any of these mistakes? Think how you can challenge yourself to re-image your presentation to showcase the best you offer to the company.
The next articles in this series will explore each of the above points, replacing mistakes with positive actions to ace the interview.
© Copyright, 2012, Renée Lee Rosenberg. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
About This Author:
With a Master's degree in Vocational Counseling, Boomer Renée Lee Rosenberg, MA, is a specialist in vocational counseling, career management, job search, and retirement. Renée is also a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) with over 25 years of experience helping individuals navigate career change, cope with stress, and achieve successful outcomes and a Certified Five O’Clock Club coach for over 20 years. For more information about Renée, visit her websitesRetirementTutor.com and PositivityPro.com. You can also find her Profile on LinkedIn, send her an email atrenee@retirementutor.com, or call her office at (212) 924-2117.
