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How to Quickly Mess Up a Job Interview – Tips on What to Avoid in an Interview

Interviews can be very nerve wracking for many reasons but nearly always the anticipation is worse than reality. The less you are prepared, the harder your chances. In your preparation for the job interview, you need to be aware what to avoid. Naturally, being late for the job interview is the first thing you need to avoid but there are a few other pitfalls as well.

What you are being asked at the job interview?

You must answer what you are being asked. Nerves cause some people to ramble sometimes as they think that they may have not give enough information. Some interviewers use a silence tactic causing you to feel you need to keep talking. Keep your answers concise and to the point. Remember communication is a key instrument in the work place so you need to begin communicating well at the interview stage.

Embellishment of the truth in your answers

This is really dangerous territory in a job interview. Naturally, you must sell yourself well. This is a competition between you and the other candidates with the prize being a job at the firm. Do not resort to embellishing the truth. In most cases interviewers will have done some due diligence on you before you enter the room and as the interview progresses towards the final stages, they will be certainly be doing more.

Having no questions for the interviewer

Not having any questions about the company is a mild form of insult to the interviewer. Why would you bother coming to the job interview if you have no questions? Do you really know more about the company than the interviewer herself? Always have a number of questions ready – it shows that you have a serious interest.

You will need to avoid some simple pitfalls at the job interview. Interviews are highly competitive and you want to make sure that you learn what to avoid at the job interview. Visit http://www.theinterviewmaster.com and prepare with the professionals.


Fiachra O’Shea has worked in consulting for many years and has been core to the interview processes at all the companies he worked at. He has interviewed five people a week in average for fifteen years and knows exactly what is expected.

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 10:45 am and is filed under Interview, Online Job Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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