30 Nov 9 Surprising Reasons Why You Won’t Get Hired
Published November 30, 2015 on Inc. Magazine
We have all interviewed for a job at some point in our career–probably more than once or twice. In fact, 91 percent of Millennials expect to stay in their jobs for less than three years. This works out to somewhere between 15 to 20 different jobs during the course of a typical Millennial’s lifetime.
According to Ines Temple, president of LHH-DBM Peru and LHH Chile–and author of the best-selling book Usted S.A. Empleabilidad y Marketing Personal–whatever your age group, there are certain things you can say or do during a job interview that will ensure you don’t get hired.
Here, according to Ines, are nine mistakes you should avoid making during your next job interview.
1. You won’t get hired if you badmouth your previous employer or, even worse, if you say nasty things about your previous boss. If you are disloyal to those you used to work for, chances are you will also be disloyal to others.
2. If you tell a fib, no matter how small, or if any inaccurate or overblown data is found in your résumé, a prospective employer will immediately lose all trust in you. Just think, if you lie in your interview, what will happen if you are hired? And if you confuse dates or information, could you be making them up?
3. When you are asked, “What do you know about us?” if your answers show that you know little about the organization, or are unfamiliar with its products or services, the first thing the interviewer will feel is that you are not interested in the company at all or, worse yet, that you couldn’t be bothered to find out more about it. The company will wonder if you are lazy or careless, or made the slightest effort to prepare for this interview.
4. When the subject turns to ethics or values, if how you stand on ethical issues is unclear, or if you fail to firmly defend your values, definitely you will not get hired. Is it that your ethics are elastic, or that values are not important to you?
5. If you cannot state clearly why you want to work for the organization interviewing you, or if the reason you give is vague or fuzzy (or purely financial), you definitely will not get hired. Companies want to hire people who are passionate about what they do and who consider their organization to be the first, most compelling, and long-term option. If you are viewed as apathetic, the company will feel that nothing it does is exciting to you. If the interviewer does not see some twinkle in your eye, it is unlikely that you will be hired.
6. If you are asked what you read, and you answer that you don’t like to read, the interviewer will assume that you are incapable of delving further and deeper in search for answers to important questions about business and life. How could you solve problems if you do not value knowledge, or if you have no interest in seeking knowledge?
7. If you are asked about your flaws, areas of opportunity, or weaknesses, and you say you don’t have any–or don’t know what they are–definitely, you will not get hired. If you are incapable of self-examination, or so arrogant that you think you are perfect, you will never fit in with any team.
8. If you are asked about mistakes you have made, and instead of accepting your mistakes and speaking about what you learned from them, you justify or try to excuse them, the interviewer will doubt your maturity or your sincerity. Any company needs to work with people who are able to admit their mistakes, take responsibility for the consequences of them, and above all, learn from them.
9. If you don’t know what your achievements are or if you are unable to quantify them so that your contributions to outcomes are understood, the interviewer will find it hard to understand the actual value you are able to bring. And if you talk as if you achieved everything by yourself, the concern will be that you may not be capable of teamwork.
By Peter Economy
The Leadership Guy@bizzwriter
INC.
