13 Things Not To Say During Your Job Interview

Aside from submitting a resume full of typos, there will be a chance you get turned down for a job offer when you accidentally say things that was not acceptable during your interview session. These so-called sayings are the easiest way to get you quickly eliminated from a job offer consideration. Basically it feels like putting your foot into your mouth technically. You might have aced your resume validation check and gave your hiring managers a great impression for the first time just by reading through your impressive resume but what happened when they meet you? Can you impress them the same way as what they saw in your resume previously? Some people may not get this but what do you say during your interview session matters as it is generally like your first audition. Hiring managers interview candidates to check whether you really fit for the job scope and the ability you have in handling the task required. Most of the qualities that they will put into consideration are the ability to think on your feet, creativity, emotional intelligence and your attitude. It’s not only what you say that counts but how do you say it. Furthermore, your tone of voice and body language will be watched closely during the interview to determine if you are the right man for the job. Here’s a few things that EnigmaCG suggests you should have avoided saying during your job interviews, regardless it was your first:-

“I’m really nervous”

Even if you are nervous because it is your first job interview, you must never show it to your interviewers. Remember as no company wants to hire people with an absolute lack of confidence so you must avoid from showing it during your interview session. At this moment, honesty is not the best policy so you’ll be better fake it until you definitely make it.

“Let’s talk money”

You should never discuss about salary at thee early stage of your interview process. Discussing about salary can raise a red flag to some potentially great employers that you are in it just for the sake of the paycheck and not for any deeper reason. Today, more employers are looking for employees that can align to their mission and their values. All the negotiation process on the salary should be done at the end of the interview process.

“My weakness is that I care too much/ work so hard”

Another important thing that you should never say during your work interview is voluntarily talk about your weaknesses. Unless they ask you a standard question of “What is your biggest weakness?” then you should never talk about it.

Even if you are asked this question, just stay away from these answers because everybody will know it is a masked strength that will be a turn off for every interviewers who have been around the block all these years and you should focus on telling them your true strength and spend time thinking of what is your true weaknesses and professionally admit to them.

“I really need this job”

You should never show the sign of desperation when you are in the job interview. And you must never say that you need this job due to your current circumstance. Most employers may view your desperation as a sign of weakness and again, they want their employees to have a long term relationship and career goal with them and which is not merely just a job.

“My current boss/employer is horrible”

Never try to criticize your former boss or company ever during your job interview. Be careful if the interviewers drag you into talking about your previous company because you shouldn’t badmouth about your earlier company even how bad your experience with them. It will not be classy and it will often make you sound bitter, negative and petty. It also indicates that there will be a chance for you to badmouth and talk negatively about other companies in the future. It will also be a test to see if you would say something reproachful.

“I need…..”

Don’t ever make the conversation all about your own need. You should listen and acknowledge the company’s need and what you can do to help them in achieving it. Besides, talking about your need will indicates that you will be someone that will potentially be a high-maintenance and quite challenging to work with. Every people has their own need so let’s not make your own be too obvious then what it seems. EnigmaCG encourages candidates to start thinking of what they can do to help the company they are having interview with on how they can contribute to the company instead of what the company could give you.

“Do you know when we’ll be finished here?”

Don’t ever show the sign that you are in a hurry to be somewhere else during your job interview. A 30-minutes job interview could drag into 90-minutes if all goes well and if the interview feels that you have to be somewhere else that is more important it might and definitely be a turn off. EnigmaCG advised candidates to be respectful to the interviewer by showing them how much you appreciate being in the interview session. Giving a word of gratitude once in a while won’t hurt your pride at all. Besides, showing them that you are in a hurry to be at other place might showing them the sign that you are not appreciative towards the opportunity they are about to give.

“I love the perks you offer”

Don’t bring up on anything about how much you love the perks being offered by the company. This will show signs that you are more interested with the benefits you will be getting from the company rather than contributing to the employer’s success. At least don’t try to show how excited you are about the benefits you will be getting and care more about how you can help the company in achieving their goal.

“I rather not say…”

Unless the interviewer asks you a highly inappropriate and illegal questions or something that makes you uncomfortable, you have every right to answer all the queries from them. A job interview is never the best time to play with the ‘no comment’ remarks as it will show just how unprepared you are on the job interview and much worse, they will think that you might have something serious to hide from.

“How much paid time off do I get in the first year?”

You shouldn’t give them the impression that you determine to take all your available sick leave and miss as much of your work while still getting paid for it. You can just leave such question during the follow up interview or during your meeting with the human resources for further discussion on the benefits.

“S—, d—, f—, etc.”

Under any circumstance, never use the swear words or slang terms during your conversation in the interview session just to come across as ‘authentic’. This will only give people the impression how poor is your communication skill.

EnigmaCG agrees that swearing will indicate just how unprepared you are during the interview. Even if your interview is done after the work hours where everyone else around you are swearing, please finds a PG-rated words that you can use and use inflections or body language to make your points.

“I’m getting divorced/pregnant/going through a tough time.”

EnigmaCG advises against bringing up other personal related matters or issues. This can be viewed as the major turn off to any employers just for the whole host of reasons and not because it is about whether your personal challenges might get in the way of your performance at work or effecting your daily job activities.

“I don’t have any questions for you.”

When you were asked if you have questions for them, don’t say no. This will give them the impression that you aren’t interested with the job nor the company itself. EnigmaCG encourages candidates to ask if they have any enquiries on anything regarding their job responsibility and also the company procedures because it will indicate just how much you have researched about the company and how prepare you are in accepting your future responsibility.

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Please Don't Do These 9 Things During An Interview

As far as all concern, searching for job can sometimes be dreadful and a bit demoralizing. EnigmaCG would like you to succeed because it would be good for you, the company that hire you and for the overall economy. In fact EnigmaCG would really like you to get the job which you can enjoy doing it, challenges you and make best use of your overall strength. In the service of that, there are some actions which we want you to steer away from during your job interview. These actions as accordance to our expert won’t give you the impression which you would like to make. While some of the interviewers might have a different perspective in which attitude they prefer while some of them are very particular when it comes to the candidates’ behavior that they are interviewing.

Unfortunately some of the interviewees get counseled to do some version of these things. Having experience in recruitment consultancies over the years and having spoken to many great hiring managers talking about what they like and what they don’t during the interview given us some ideas on what are the things that you should have avoided when attending an interview session. If you eagerly want the interview session to go well, follow these instruction – don’t:-

Freeze Up

No matter how impressive you are in talents or how excellent and appropriate your resume is written, it will be a big turn off if you act articulate and silent during the interviews. As daunting as it get, interview involved everything from your clear and confidence answer to your body language, all will be put into account before the further selection process continues. If you couldn't get through the whole interview without crumbling, people will unlikely to believe that you will be capable to withstand the stress of the real work. Most important thing to do beforehand is to practice self-talk as a practice before the actual interview.

Dominate

It’s good when you already done your homework about the company you are going for interview. It is also not a crime if you look like that you are well prepared for the job but it surely annoying if you swept over the room as if it was your friend dorm. This kind of attitude is exhaustive as it leave the interviewer with no space to interrupt and later will be something that they don’t want to experience every day. A good interview according to EnigmaCG should be a dialogue session between the hiring manager and the candidate and not a monologue that will eventually turn off the interviewer. If you tend to talk a lot you might take into consideration to coach yourself to be curious about the interviewer; what she or he might want to hear from you and what they don’t.

Be sloppy

Although some companies practice casual dress code, others might still sticking with the same official dress code as other major established companies do. Try to find out before the interview what the standard dress code at the particular company is. No matter how casual is the dress code, please don’t try to be sloppy. Having a good personal hygiene will give the company a first good impression on yourself during the interview. It is more important whether you are overdressed or underdressed. If you come for an interview looking like you just rolled out of your bed, it gives the indication that you have lack of respect for the interviewer, the job and the company you are going for interview with.

Self-aggrandize

Often people are advised to market themselves and show confidence during their interview, but it is easy to cross the thin line from confidence to cocky. Answering questions as of you having no sign of weaknesses other than your impatience for those who aren’t fabulous as you are might come across as offensive and furthermore annoying. Balancing your strength and weakness together and telling them how you manage to get them to complement each other to achieve your earlier goal is better and come across as far more mature through their eyes.

Throw anybody under any bus

Even if your previous company feels like Date’s Seven Circles of Hell, under any circumstance never try to share it with your interviewer. Sometimes, people say bad things about their previous job because they don’t know how it will be perceived as later by the interviewer. You might actually think like it was a compliment to your current company but the reality is far different. EnigmaCG believes that saying negative things about your previous work life might give others the impression that you are both a complainer and indiscreet, which two qualities that they don’t want their future employees to have because later you might have the tendency to say negative things about them too.

Focus more on perks than on the job

Although many jobseekers are advised to ask about the benefits they would get from the company they have interview with rather than blindly taking it up for nothing, timing is necessarily critical. It is truly annoying if you start discussing about them during your first interview and it will give you the impression that you are only after the benefits offered and not for the sake of the job itself. Although these are important things to know, these should be discussed during the end or second round of interview that will involve the human resource. This attitude will not inspire the company to hire you now or later.

Be opinion-free

It will be a struggling moment for a candidate to come across as flexible and accommodating and it seems as they agree with everything the interviewer says and suggests. While many companies are looking for candidates that aren’t combative and rigid, they also need employees who know what they are and understand what they are capable of and what is important for them. Be expressive and speak yourself out as it shows your true potential and whether you are the right candidate with an outstanding demeanor among others that have been interviewed so far.

Stretch the truth

As critical as it seems, in this era of massive information availability, whatever you say and write either your past work experience, performance or your education will most likely be checked beforehand by the interviewer. It is better to be frank and upfront with anything less than stellar by offering a simple explanation to avoid confusion and distrust at the end. Believe us as trustworthiness is a priority and a quite critical quality they would look for before hiring you for their company.

Be clueless about the hiring company

Under any circumstance, please do an extensive research on the company beforehand. In the age of digital and information gateway, information can be available at any time and it will be difficult to understand if you come for an interview without any knowledge on the company you are interviewing with. It shows just how you are unprepared for the interview and it will come across as insulting and incurious. If you don’t know anything much about the company it will be easy for the interviewer to assume you wouldn't be of much interest with knowing how to do the job well either.

If you do the opposite thing of what we discuss here, you will ace the interview and eventually get into the ‘hired list’ in just a matter of time.

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