Job Interview Tips 101: 4 Personas Of People To Avoid In An Interview Like A Plague

By Tabitha Makumi,
It’s almost a sacrilege to attend an interview without proper preparation. Look around you, there are a lot of people begging for a chance to be invited for an interview after sending applications one too many without getting a single invitation.

The fact that you’ve been invited for an interview should be reason good enough to prepare thoroughly by making sure you have your wits with you on the day of the interview and you are at your best.

With that said, let’s take a look at the different personas of people you should avoid while you are at it.

1. The Know-It-All
Don’t confuse this with confidence…This is the kind of person who is overly confident to the point of coming off as arrogant – or worse – a know it all.  They brag about themselves every chance they get, criticize others, disagree with or correct an interviewer, and generally acting as if they are flawless themselves. This come off to hiring managers as obnoxious, confrontational, and negative, while also even subconsciously threatening their own career aspirations. Confidence is important in an interview, but don’t go overboard.

2. The Bad Mouth
You will be tempted to say bad things about your former boss or working colleagues but don’t you do it.  Was your former manager cold, unpredictable, overly harsh, or just flat out awful? Was your last company disorganized, gossipy, or inefficient? Did you hate your coworkers? This may be the case for many job seekers, and the worst of us turn to bad mouthing.

It’s probably best not to badmouth former employers. Why?  Badmouthing can make interviewers feel that you are overly negative and may raise questions like, “What is the other side of the story?” or “Does this potential employee have unrealistic expectations in an employer?”

Key point to remember here is that although you want to be as honest as possible, consider spinning the situation in a positive manner or avoid the subject altogether.

3. The Nervous Guy
While waiting at the reception for the interview to start you start thinking about how you need that job so bad and somehow like your whole life depends on this particular interview so what do you do?  You start sweating, tapping your feet and by the time the interview begins, you are all tongue tied.

You answer questions as quickly as possible often with one-word answers, and you wish the interview to be over. Relax and chill out. Think of the interview as an exchange of information between you and the interviewer. You are not going to face the guillotine for crying out loud, it’s just an interview!

Don’t put undue pressure on yourself for this could sabotage everything. Some simple deep-breathing exercises can also go a long way to ease his nerves.

4.The Won’t elaborate kind of guy
In a previous article we addressed the issue of being able to give a small story with the questions asked in an interview.

True, your resume is a condensed summary of your professional credentials in hopes of standing apart from other candidates.

When it comes time for an interview, hiring managers want to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth.

They need you to walk them through your resume to gain more insight into your edited-down list of former responsibilities, skills, and accomplishments.

Interviews can be stressful, but given all the work you’ve put into the process so far, you don’t want to blow the opportunity. Practice and prepare so that you can be the best version of you possible.