5 Interview Mistakes to Avoid

Most promotion processes end up with some sort of interview – whether a one on one interview or a panel (2-3 interviewers) interview. There’s a couple of sections of my course dedicated to preparing for the interview and subsequent Question & Answer session, but I’ve also listed below 5 of the top mistakes I’ve witnessed in the hundreds of interviews that I’ve run.

1. Being late

Being late for an interview is a massive mistake. It demonstrates to the person or people interviewing you that you can’t manage your own time or you don’t care about the interview process (or their time!). Even if you are allowed to continue with the interview, you will already have turned the interviewer(s) against you making your job a lot harder.

On the flip side, it’s best not to arrive too early either. If it’s an internal promotion you are going for, the interviewer(s) could still be interviewing another candidate or even just preparing themselves for you. Turning up early just messages with their schedule and irritates them. Best to wait nearby and pop in bang on time.

2. Not dressed appropriately

I would always err on the side of caution for an interview and over dress. Take the cue from your workplace obviously (if you work for a cool dotcom where everyone wears ripped jeans, turning up in a 3 piece suit will just look weird) but generally be a bit smarter than you ordinarily would be.

Making an effort in your appearance gives off the impression that you are taking things seriously and also that you recognise you are being assessed. Many people also find it helps to get you in the right frame of mind and can boost your confidence.

3. Reading off a script

This is a mistake that I quite frequently see more junior people make. Whether it’s nerves or just being concerned that they’ll forget what they want to say, they’ll put their heads down and read from a script. I once had a candidate that held their script up in front of them so I couldn’t even see their face!

The best way to avoid the temptation to just read is to not take a script in with you. Take an aide memoir, a high level list of points you want to cover – just in case you do forget what to say.

4. Droning on and on and on…

This one can also be caused by nerves – often if people are nervous they talk more to try to over compensate for the way they feel. However sometimes it’s just someone’s style to talk, a lot. Being on the receiving end of a monologue can be incredibly boring. You tend to lose the thread of what someone is talking about and you zone out.

Keep you presentation short and punchy. And do the same with your answers to questions. Don’t forget that the interviewer(s) will probably have a bunch of questions that they want to ask and not letting them get through them all will not help you at all. You’ll probably just get marked down.

5. Not answering the question

This is probably the most common mistake made in the all the interviews that I’ve been involved with. If the candidate is a talker (see above) sometimes they just forget half way through their monologue what the original question was. This often makes them panic and they just talk even more to try to cover all the bases.

Other times people won’t know the answer and feel that they need to make something up. They’ll go off on a tangent and hope the interviewer(s) don’t notice – spoiler alert: we always notice!

Focus on the direct question being asked and make sure you answer only that question. If the interviewer(s) wants more detail, they’ll ask for it.