What to avoid in an interview
So for my first tip, don't just rely on good conversational skills. Instead, what I want you to do is complement that with ample research on the company ahead of time. Now, if you're someone who enjoys facilitating meaningful conversation and meeting new people, that's excellent, and it's going to serve you very well in your interview. But it's just going to make your case that much stronger when you come to the table prepared and educated on the company, what they believe in, maybe some of their values and why it's a good fit for you and for them for you as a potential employee. Some of the research I would encourage you to look into are maybe things like company awards that they have won, or industry awards, any new products that they are working on, culture tenants or value tenants. It could be also maybe how they contribute to the community, and if volunteering experience, for example, is important to you, that's going to be a really wonderful way to showcase a symbiotic match for you and the company that you're interviewing with. Something else that I would encourage you to do as well is read the job description and then read it again. What I would like for you to do is find very specific qualities or skill sets that they are looking for in their next employee, in this role in particular, and then be able to offer up very specific examples of how you meet that criteria. It's going to be a great way to not only indicate to them how you are a good match for the role but again, for the company as a whole. And whenever you're lucky enough to be informed as to who you're going to be interviewing with ahead of time, it's just going to put you at an advantage when you educate yourself on their background or their experience, maybe through a social profile, if they have some sort of a profile set up on their company website, anything that you can do to personalize that conversation is just really going to help you out. I encourage you to check out this video on the best pre-interview strategy. So here's my second tip. Don't just focus on your daily duties. Instead, what I want you to do is focus on the accomplishments that you're really proud of in your current role. It's relatively easy to go down a rabbit hole and get into the weeds around your specific duties, but because individual duties are so specific to that individual organization, it could be harder for your interviewer to really understand the impact that you're going to make on this new organization because of that. So if you focus more on your key accomplishments and really talk about the impact that you've made maybe for your team, on a project, or maybe how you've contributed to the bottom line of the organization, it's just going to broaden the understanding of your interviewer to understand how you are going to be able to bring those specific skill sets and qualities over into a new role. Now if you've gotten this far, I would love if you could give us a “like” on this video, and for more career coaching advice, be sure to subscribe to our channel, because we've got a lot more where that came from. Now, for tip number three, and it's one that I have personally had to work on myself, is to avoid the three-minute answer. The goal here is to be focused and concise with the delivery of your response because it's very easy to go down a rabbit hole and get lost in your own thoughts. We've all done it. But there are some things that you can apply here that are going to really make this easier for you in your next interview. What we don't want to do is have the recruiter or the hiring manager forget what the overall point of your response was, because we've buried it in too much content. So if you can keep the answer to around 60 to 90 seconds, it's just going to be easier for whoever is interviewing you to retain that information and remember you as a candidate. So something specific that I do, a little trick that I pull out of my sleeve, is to have a story in my back pocket to answer the question. It's a great way for you to personalize the answer, and what that does for you is just kind of indicates very clearly what situation you were presented with, how you handled it, and how you moved on from it. This then is going to be able to then showcase to your recruiter the positive impact that not just came from the results, but came from the experience that you had while you were presented with maybe that particular challenge. Now, for more information on how to tackle those behavioral-based interview questions, go ahead and click on this link right up here for more information. So for my fourth tip, if maybe you lack experience, or you are transitioning into a new career, I want you to fight that urge to provide maybe an elusive or really vague answer. What I want you to do instead is focus on transferable skill sets. Many people feel like they have to talk about experience that directly matches what's in the body of the job description of the new role that they're applying for. Now, this can create a situation where those vague answers might confuse your interviewer, or maybe influence your message to get lost in translation somewhere, which we don't want to happen. The last thing that we want to do is have your interviewer think that you're uncomfortable with the question because you don't have the skill sets or the ability to learn new skill sets, to meet the criteria that they're looking for in their next candidate. Instead what I want you to do is offer a genuine, authentic and positive response. You can talk about any relevant experience that you have, either in the workplace or outside of the workplace, as long as you are providing an answer that is going to bridge the gap between what they're looking for and the experience that you're bringing to the table, it's just going to provide a much more seamless, fluid response that is going to articulate to your interviewer why you're the right person for the job, and it's going to allow you to be even more memorable. For example, if you were not working for a period of time and you've got that gap on your resume, just explain to your interviewer what you were doing during that time, and what you learned during that experience that you can carry over and apply to the new role. And if you're talking about experience that you have from a different industry that you're coming from, it's OK to talk about how you're going to bring over those skill sets to this new industry as well. For example, if you are currently in a retail customer service support role, but you're interviewing for maybe a social media management position, what you can do is just talk about how in your past, you've been able to either resolve customer issues, moderate customer topics or just maybe even engage customers in a meaningful way that provides a little stickiness to the brand. If you don't have specifically related experience, tell your interviewer how you plan on getting it. It's always really impressive when a candidate can come to the table and communicate very clearly how they're going to gain a skill set if they don't currently have one. This way, what you're doing is you're not necessarily leaving the interviewer with the impression that you don't know what to do or you simply don't have the correct skill sets, it's going to really provide them a roadmap of how you're going to be able to grow in this new role, and expand what you're going to be able to contribute to the company. You might even be able to argue that your unique background sets you up at an advantage because it's going to allow you to bring in a new vantage point that they weren't expecting. And for my fifth tip, don't be afraid to showcase your enthusiasm for the new job. I know that sometimes when we're in an interview, we think if we share too much excitement or enthusiasm about the role, that it could come across like we're desperate for it. But at the end of the day, at this point, you've already shared why you're a good fit for the role, you've articulated your transferable skill sets, it's OK to share with your interviewer why you're excited for this new opportunity. What we don't want to happen is for you to mask that excitement, and then have your interviewer think that maybe you are unimpressed or simply not interested in the position or the company. Now, if you're looking for a strategic way to implement this, I would encourage you to use the one, two, three formula. First, at the end of your conversation, I want you to actually say to your interviewer that you're still interested in pursuing the role. Two, I want you to provide a list of your references immediately. And then three, ask about the next steps in the hiring process. This is going to clearly communicate to your interviewer that you are ready to land this job, and by providing a list of your references immediately, it showcases to them that there is absolutely no delay in them reaching out and getting additional context about why they should hire you. It's also a really nice move for you to simply ask, “Is there anything else that you might need for me in the coming days to assist my job application as you're making your decisions?” And now for my bonus tip. Avoid coming into the interview solely focused on your own agenda. You want to cultivate a really great rapport with your interviewer by showing genuine interest in what they have to say. It can be really easy to get caught up in your own thoughts and really only convey what you've already planned to share, but some of the most successful interviews feel very conversational in nature. Your goal is to show attention, ask thoughtful questions and listen intently. Remember the power of nonverbal communication. A good rule of thumb here is to use gestures, expressions and other nonverbal cues that mirror that of the interviewer. This can do a really good job of just creating a warm, inviting environment that feels positive, fluid and open. Remember, you are interviewing the company as much as they're interviewing you.Recap of what to avoid in an interview
So to quickly recap, use these six tips to avoid mistakes in your next interview: First, don't rely just on strong conversational skills. Do your homework ahead of time to really educate yourself about the company and the opportunity. Second, don't just describe your daily duties, lean into your accomplishments, and really explain in clear terms how you're going to apply those to your new job. Third, avoid rambling answers. Really practice concise, short answers to questions that you're being asked so that you can communicate really efficiently. Fourth, if you lack experience or you're transitioning careers, really fight that urge to provide a vague or evasive answer. Discuss your transferable skill sets and how they're going to apply to your new job, and really allow you to stand out as the star candidate. Also, don't be afraid to ask for the next steps in the hiring process, so that it's very clear for both of you. And remember, the sixth bonus tip is to match the energy of your interviewer. Pay attention to nonverbals, and simply mirror that to create a nice fluid environment so that it feels comfortable for everyone involved. So for added confidence, add these tips to your interviewing toolkit to set yourself up for success next time. Once again, please “like” this video below and subscribe to our channel for more, and if you need additional assistance in preparing for your next interview, I highly recommend this playlist right here:
Thanks for joining. Good luck with your next interview. You're going to be great.