Interview Tips – Don’t Tell Everything You Know

Last week I was honored to give a presentation on interview tips to students at Ellis College via webcast. About 40 people participated and we had a very lively discussion of interview tips and tactics for handling specific interview questions. Several participants asked me how I would recommend that they respond to some specific interview questions. The questions we discussed all revolved around issues that could elicit a negative response from the interviewee. We also talked about questions that interviewees might want to ask a potential employer that could be construed negatively. Without rehashing every specific question we discussed let me offer one piece of interview advice: don’t tell everything you know.
If a potential employer asks you to give an example of a time that you had to deal with a difficult employee, boss or co-worker make sure that your answer is as positive as you can make it. Don’t give a lot of ancillary information – answer the question clearly and honestly but don’t risk sharing additional information that could make you look bad. Stick to the facts and don’t share every little detail if those details could in any way be misconstrued or interpreted in a way that isn’t to your advantage.

Think one step ahead of the game. Before words come out of your mouth think about the possible response that a reasonable person might have to whatever it is that you are going to say. For example, if you are asked to give an example of a time that you had to deal with a difficult client, and the reason the client was difficult to deal with was because of a big mistake you made in the past, you may not want to describe the whole history of your relationship with the client. Instead you might want to simply focus on the tactics you used to resolve a specific problem with the client. If telling the whole story could make you look less than professional just discuss the parts that make you look good. But make sure that in doing so that you don’t lie. Never lie in an interview but you don’t have to tell everything you know.
Another participant in the call posed a question about how to find out how a potential employer treats its employees. In the past this man had been employed as a cable installer. His previous employer hadn’t paid for the cell phone he had been required to have and didn’t pay for travel time in between jobs no matter how far apart they were. He was planning to interview with a different company for a similar job so he wanted to know if he should tell the interviewer how his previous employer treated him as a prelude to asking whether or not they would provide a cell phone and if they would pay for travel time. I suggested that sharing his past negative employer relationship wasn’t necessary to elicit an answer from the interviewer. Instead of rehashing the past he should simply ask about the employers policy on providing equipment such laptops and cell phones and on travel time between jobs. No need to get into additional details because he might have appeared to have a negative impression of his previous employer. Think about how your comments might be perceived or misunderstood before you speak them in an interview.
Remember that potential employers don’t know you at all…their impression of you will be made almost entirely from your performance in the interview. So, if you share to much information it could come back to bite you.
If you would like a free copy of my Interview Tips eBook click here!
Article by Liz Handlin and courtesy of Ultimate Resumes

Originally posted by Candice A