Watch out for Interview pitfalls in 2014

Man with fingers crossed behind his back at the thought of lying during an interview. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

It is 10 am in the morning, you are pretty relaxed, you’ve had a good night sleep, and you are humming an old favorite tune of yours. Your thoughts shift to how you’ll be spending your day while you Water plants with great care and affection, suddenly a shrill sound disrupts your thinking process and it takes few seconds before you realize that it’s your phone that is ringing. You rush to fetch it, say hello and then for two whole minutes all you say is ‘yes’ five times. What has gotten you so mortified? Who was on the other end of the call? Why at once your shoulders have slumped and your mouth has gone dry? Why is your adrenaline going crazy once more?

Well, well, well to cut off the curiosity of my readers, it was an interview call that drained john’s energy! He has though been called for an interview thrice but every time he thinks of facing the panel or the interviewer some distasteful thoughts make his feet wobble and his tongue parched!

This is one extreme case; there must be millions of such people out there, who half evaporate at the thought of appearing for an interview. They are fresh graduates, yet they fail to muster the energy needed to answer the questions thrown at them.

Whatever have I talked of up till now makes the first interview pitfall which is:

LACK OF CONFIDENCE:

This is a taboo! Trust me: Especially when we refer to the corporate world. If your personality is devoid of confidence, your heaps of degrees won’t matter, your talent, skills and education will never reach to the summits of success. The easiest way to build-in confidence is via socialization. It is usually perceived that people who are more introverts end up showing less confidence when it comes to interaction. If your interviewer detects in you these germs of such weakness and cowardice half your evaluation is done on the spot.

The solution is: try socializing, attend seminars, make stage appearances, practice with a friend and finally believe in “you”.

How you look:

When I talk of appearance it is true that I am referring to physical appearance majorly.  But your attire alone will not get you a job! Make sure you have a very attractive and pleasant demeanor. What really matters is the way you carry yourself. Work on your personality; embed it with an air of self-assurance, style, mannerism and etiquettes, clarity of speech and above all your casualness. It is not true that pasting a smile throughout the interview will make an impression! You’ll end up making a fool of yourself. Personality is a blend of traits and characteristics that distinguish you from the rest of the same race.

The solution is: try grooming yourself by observing people around with open eyes and mind. See what charm does your favorite human being possess; imitations are not that bad after all!

Choose your response:

Now within this, lies the crux of your success, your communication skills are needed the most at the start of your career. When you plan to take responsibility you are indeed choosing your response. And this selection shall be wise and intelligent. I have often seen good candidates lose a brilliant opportunity because they would flaunt a lot. If you do not know the answer to a question be honest and if you do know it follow the TED (tell, explain and describe) methodology. Make an impact once you finish speaking. In some cases recruiters want to examine the writing skills too and arrange a written test before interviewing. So, make sure that your writing skills must be extraordinary if not then should be satisfactory to convince the recruiter. It depends on job nature you’ve applied for.

Make sure you avoid this pitfall as smartly as possible. I wish all johns’ and alike out there will make a point of taking my advice seriously…

Hannah Will is an academic writer and editor works for Essay Avenue.