Stupid Interview Error | The big game hunter

By Jeff Altman, Big Game Hunter

In the early era of American television was one of the most popular TV shows hosted by Art Linklets, “Children say the Darndest things.” During the show, links would ask very young schoolchildren very simple questions like “What does your mother do?” A child actually replied, “She is doing a small housework and then sitting around all day reading the racing form.” It was one of the answers that would reduce the house every week.

Young children have an excuse as to why they might say such things. Adult job hunters have no excuse to say and do so many of the daredest things. Here are a few that I thought I would share.

1. Oversharing. Sometimes it is fascinating to DeBrief candidates after interviews and find out some of the things they say. One was asked about who he is working with and described those like “Slobs and Indians.” Someone actually thought it was a good idea to be racist, sexist, ageist or insulting in an interview. Amazing.
2. To be unprepared. I started recruiting more than 40 years ago before moving into coaching. Back in the Stone Age, it was difficult to investigate employers. You actually had to go to a library and use microfiche or read original newspapers. Unless you interviewed with a senior manager at the company or with PR -Head, you could never get any information about someone you met with prior to your interview. LinkedIn and Google make things much easier, right? Still, there are people who arrive unprepared do not know anything about their potential employer or hiring manager (s) they meet. Insane!
3. Lies. It used to be difficult and take time to be found out. Your new employer must write a letter to your former employer to turn information in file cabinets to substantiate your previous dates and wages. Now they start comparing what you uploaded to their applicant’s tracking system the last time you were looking for a job and applied for them to see that you have covered the previous employer or lie about your salary. You may be disqualified before talking to someone. And it happens all the time and no one will ever tell you.
4. Forget/ignore the original question and babble on. When qualifying people or keeping spotted interviews, job hunters will have done so many interviews that they manage that they know what the interviewer is looking for so they go off on this long monologue about what they have done and how they went round answers to the question, “Tell me about yourself.” I remember listening to someone for about 5 minutes and asked, “With any chance, do you remember my original question?” They didn’t.
5. Seems angry. As a lover despised, they arrive in their interview ready to complain and moan over their former manager, employees, how they have been abused and more. As a date that is stuck to listen to listening, your interviewer calculates when the right time is to end their interview.
6. Not knowing ”The only best question you need to ask in any interview“And when to ask it. Interviews are usually designed for an employment manager or HR professional to elicit information from you at their pace in ways that do not help you. To do not know the one question that leveles the rules of the game and allows you to talk about what you have done that matters to them and not just talk about what you have done is a colossal mistake.
7. To say different things to different people you are interviewing with. Imagine telling people radically different or subtle things about your role, responsibility and your level of influence or success. Do you think people don’t compare notes?
8. Arriving late (or missing the interview completely) and does not recognize it. Things happen, but you acknowledge and apologize for being too late. You apologize and explain your (maybe) confusion that made you miss the interview. Trust me. No one will hire you (though they may be planning you) unless you recognize the previous) confusion that made you miss the interview. Trust me. No one will hire you (though they may be planning you) unless you recognize the previous “bad behavior.” You just dwell around the relationship that stinks things up.
9. Asking stupid questions. “Are you giving a drug test?” “Are you doing a background check?” “Do you have any other jobs available?” This is only a few of the “brilliant questions” people have asked (for more) on job interviews.
10. To create a weak first impression Whether the weak impression is created because you have a soft handshake (shaking hands with a fish), your hands are cold or are sweaty, your body language is bad, you are dressed badly according to the standards of the company you are interviewing or one Second reason, if your first impression is weak, it’s hard to recover and win the interview.

What stupid interview errors have you been up to when you interview someone? Leave a message below.

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC 2017, 2021

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