Just mention the word “job interview” and you are likely to feel the entire world’s pressure on your feeble shoulders. Even the most self-assured person is likely to face a sweaty situation as far as appearing for a job interview is concerned. Screwing Up a Job Interview has become a natural human tendency off late, which each one of us must have encountered at some or the other point in our lives. Not to forget, the massive price that we have to pay for the same, sometimes in the form of a lost job opportunity. Let us now swim further deep in the ocean of alternatives, which if necessarily avoided by you will prevent you from screwing up your next job interview.
Being Impunctual
When we talk about job interviews, the first thing that is likely to strike us, is with respect to the time when the job interview is scheduled. It is absolutely essential for you to be present at the interview venue on or before the given time. In today’s date, a punctual individual is viewed in the highest regards, which is exactly why importance of punctuality has been taught to us right from our childhood days. If you were to reach your interview venue on time, it would indicate half battle won on your part. Moreover, if you were to enter the building even slightly later than the scheduled time, then you are sure to attract embarassing looks from every nook and corner of the room. Apart from this, the entire interview format is likely to shift from valid questions associated with your qualification, strengths or personal interests to something more irrelevant such as your views on impunctuality, reason as to why you got late for the interview and as to whether or not you are an impunctual individual in life. This, in the end is sure to screw up your job interview in a big way.
Inappropriate Dress Up
Many a times you must have wondered that inspite of the interview having gone fairly well, what could have been the reason behind you failing to receive a positive response from the employer in question. If you feel that you had appeared completely honest and confident in the interview, your answers were appropriate and to the point, but still the employer was not quite impressed, then you should consider scratching your head a little further and figuring out as to whether or not your external appearance was upto the mark. First and foremost, did you make it a point to wear neat, tidy and of course well pressed formal wear. Furthermore, did your black shoes continue to look black or had already turned brown due to the polish that you had forgotten to apply to the same. In the end, to give a professional touch to your getup did you even consider putting on a tie? If the answers to all the above questions is a big fat no, then in that case it’s high time you should realize that the major reason behind your interview screw up was solely your physical appearance.
Being a Bad Listener
Some of us happen to be highly phobic to job interviews. Right from the day when our job interview gets scheduled we start getting a cold feet. Moreover, we also go overboard as far as the interview preps are concerned. As and when the actual interview day keeps nearing, things start getting worse. You need to understand that over preparations can also put you in a soup and that also in bigger ways. In such a situation, as soon as you enter the interview room, your sole objective remains to feed the interviewers with all the information and data that you have stored in your mind, irrespective of the fact as to whether or not the interviewer is actually interested in all of it. Every question that is asked to you, now becomes an elaborate answering saga, wherein instead of giving clear, crisp and to the point answers you unknowlingly choose to beat around the bush. At times, you get so excited after hearing the question that you have already prepared an answer for, that one loss of word or thought on your part ends up ruining the entire reply. All this put together tends to annoy the interviewers in a big way. Not only you, but also the interviewers tend to lose track and go directionless in the process of interviewing you. The end result of this is an ultimate interview screw up and a goodbye forever from the company in question.
Staying Poker Face
A large number of individuals, especially those who are appearing for a job interview the very first time in their lives, tend to sight interviews something equivalent to war. Many a times, you have all the necessary qualifications and both the job description as well as job specification that matches your portfolio and profile. Looking at the outer characteristics, it seems like the job is all yours. However, even though you have all the necessary ammunitions, you still happen to lose on the confidence part, in a big way. As soon as you reach the interview venue, the first thing that makes you nervous are the faces of other candidates who are awaiting their turn. Comparison makes you really weak in your knees. By the time, your turn arrives, you are completely lost and have given up. Pessimism tends to strike you from all sides. When you enter the interview room, panic begins to creep in and you start goofing up the various basic questions as well. This ends up giving a completely wrong impression about you to the interviewers. Even though you are well versed with all the answers and in reality happen to be the best fit for the job, it’s only because you fail to portray the right first impression, you end up being at loss. Lack of confidence and high degree of worry together lead to a massive job interview screw up. If you wish to avoid occurrence of such a situation, try to cope up your body language with the same. Turn off the panic button and see off the interview as if a chat over a cup of tea.
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