Job Interviews: Top 10 Mistakes to Make

Know the ten most common mistakes made in job interviews.

If you have already submitted your resume and your profile has been liked (we recommend our article "10 tips to improve your resume"), congratulations, you have a chance to get that job you have been looking for for a long time.

However, not everything is won. There are a series of unwritten rules that we must comply with if we want the company offering the job to choose our services.

Job interviews: making a good impression depends on you

In our daily lives we all make mistakes, but if there is one place where we should avoid them, it is during job interviews.

In many cases, mistakes can be corrected, but mistakes made during a job interview can determine, in the eyes of the interviewers, whether or not you are suitable for a particular position. Since we probably only have one chance to demonstrate our potential, we need to make the best possible impression.

The most common mistakes in job interviews

In the following list, we will list the ten most common mistakes made by Human Resources personnel in interviews.

We will also offer some tips on how to avoid them, so that you have a better chance of being chosen for the job you want. Let's review the most common mistakes in job interviews.

1. Dressing inappropriately for an interview.

How to avoid it: We should research the company culture to get an idea of how to dress.. Both the job and the organizational culture can determine what is the best impression for the job you aspire to. If you have no idea how to go, the safest bet is to dress seriously and smartly, not necessarily in a suit.

2. Arriving late

How to avoid it: if you are the type of person who is usually late, you should leave the house half an hour or an hour earlier.The time you consider sufficient, counting the worst-case scenario (traffic, getting lost on the way, etc.). Few mistakes will ruin your chances of being hired more than this one.

3. Bad body language

How to avoid it: it is one of the most frequent mistakes in the development of job interviews and also the easiest to prevent. Maintain a good posture, remain relatively still and keep as much time as possible. and maintain eye contact for as long as possible. Training yourself to avoid nervous habits such as touching your face, rocking back and forth, or nodding your head excessively, can improve the quality of the interview and the interviewer's perception of you.

If you want to delve deeper into the aspects of nonverbal language that influence the image you project about yourself, you can consult the article: "5 keys to mastering nonverbal language".

4. Lack of self-confidence

How to avoid it: don't babble, don't look at the floor or the table, and above all, don't fall short when it comes to talking about your personal abilities.But always with humility! Most people have a certain fear when it comes to exposing their positive qualities and achievements, but job interviews are the perfect place to do it.

Self-confidence is key, so don't hesitate to take a look at the post "Self-confidence: 7 keys to improve it".

5. Lack of interest

How to avoid it: asking questions about vacations, benefits, or how relaxed you would like the work environment to be in the office you want to work in can have negative effects. However, not asking questions at all can be even worse, because it can convey apathy. You need to show interest in the position and the company so that interviewers can tell that you really want the job.

6. Asking too many questions

How to avoid it: Ideally, you should wait to ask questions until the interviewer lets you know.. Otherwise, you should ask them when the opportunity arises during the job interview. It is important to show curiosity, but without bombarding the interviewer with questions.

7. Interrupting the interviewer

How to avoid it: Ideally, if you interrupt the interviewer, he or she will not perceive you as an anxious person, but will probably think of you as disrespectful or just plain rude. No matter how excited you are, make sure you are actively and carefully listening to the interviewer and very carefully to the interviewer, and wait until he or she has finished speaking before responding.

What does the interviewer usually ask? You can find out in our article "The 10 most frequently asked questions in a job interview".

8. Badmouthing your old job

How to avoid it: it is likely that in job interviews you will be asked one or two questions about your old job or about your relationship with the last boss you had. Don't take this as an opportunity to badmouth them..

Accentuate the positive, it makes you a friendly and pleasant person who is pleasant to work with. If you focus on the negative. will appear spiteful and vindictive, and this can give an image of an unreliable and overly individualistic person.

9. Giving false information

How to avoid it: study the company; don't go to job interviews without knowing the company well.. Review your resume. There is nothing more embarrassing than not being able to accurately answer a question about a specific project you have worked on.

The first step in preparing for an interview is to be an expert on yourself. Take some time to get to know who you really are and know your qualities and flaws so that you can interview smoothly and correctly, without lying but emphasizing your qualities that make you more desirable to the organization interviewing you.

10. Lack of preparation

How to avoid it: all the mistakes mentioned above can be summed up in this one. An interview is essentially a casting, and you are an actor. Think someone would show up to a casting without preparation?

Do your research and make sure you are ready to be able to interview and show your best profile, or at least that version of yourself that best fits what the company in question is looking for.