It’s a good bet that you’ve seen and read countless articles and blog posts about mistakes you should not make during the face-to-face interview.
However, there are probably some mistakes of which you are not aware. While these mistakes might not be as common, they are absolutely critical in nature. In other words, if you commit them, then the employer will more than likely no longer consider you a serious candidate.
Two such critical mistakes are as follows:
#1—Constantly interrupting the people conducting the interview
You might be surprised to know that this happens, but it does happen . . . all too often. As a matter of fact, it’s happened with top candidates during the final interview. That’s right: candidates who were considered the front-runner for the organization’s open position eliminated themselves from contention because they could not stop interrupting those who were conducting the interview.
Why was that? Because the hiring manager figured that if the candidate would interrupt them, then they were at risk for also interrupting their customers.
Whatever else you do during the interview, make a concerted effort to NOT interrupt anybody. Wait until you’ve been asked a question or you know without a shadow of a doubt that it’s your turn to speak.
#2—Contacting the hiring manager’s boss following the interview
Believe it or not, a candidate who interrupted people during their interview also contacted the hiring manager’s boss after the fact! Here’s what happened . . .
We had a #1 candidate going in to a client for a final interview. Unfortunately, the hiring manager was concerned because the candidate interrupted not only him, but also other people at the organization. I gave this feedback to the candidate in the hopes that they would use it to improve for future interviews.
Instead of respectfully taking the feedback and doing just that, the candidate instead decided to email the feedback to the hiring manager’s boss with their own comments. That took them completely out of consideration (if the constant interrupting hadn’t already done so).
Some candidates don’t even wait for the interview. They simply leapfrog over the recruiter and the hiring manager and contact the hiring manager’s boss about an open position. Yes, that has happened before, and needless to say, nobody was pleased and it made the candidate look bad.
Now, some of you might never think of doing things of this nature. However, for some candidates, it’s all too easy to fall prey to these mistakes.
So add them to the list of other mistakes that you shouldn’t commit during the interview. The simple act of eliminating them could give you an edge over other candidates—even #1 candidates.
We help support careers in one of two ways: 1. By helping to find the right opportunity when the time is right, and 2. By helping to recruit top talent for the critical needs of organizations. If this is something you would like to explore further, please send an email to stacy@thevetrecruiter.com.