25 interview mistakes

Tricky Questions the Top 25 Interview Mistakes the 50 Most Commonly Asked Questions and How to Get Another Interview after You ve Been Declined... 

Most interviewers have limited experience and are prone to common interview mistakes (Umiker, 1998). One is lack of preparation. Managers who are very busy with immediate problems may be tempted to skimp on interview preparation. However, that savings of time is not a bargain if it leads to a bad hire. Another typical mistake occurs when the interviewer does most of the talking and does not give the candidate an opportunity to speak. It is hard to learn much about a candidate... 

The secret to a successful interview is learning how to participate actively in the interview process. Don t take a passive stance and expect your interviewer to do all the work. Unfortunately, some people are less skilled than others about asking questions and guiding the conversation toward a satisfying end. The question in your mind should always be, "How can I make fhis interview a great interview " Usually there s something more you can do if you really wanf a job. Chapfer 7 tells you about some of your options, including how fo follow-up if you need a second interview (see Exhibit 7-3) and how to correct an interview mistake or a misstatement in a thank-you note. 

One mistake which Wilkinson urges us to avoid is to picture human characteristics as having evolved in relation only to a physical environment one of the primary hostile forces has always been other human beings. The importance of social interactions should not be underestimated. One example that he gives is that blood pressure tends to rise when people are interviewed by a higher- rather by than an equal- or lower-status interviewer. This is fundamentally a response of the sympathetic nervous system to the social anxiety induced by interacting with someone who is of higher social status. 

Sluckin s (1981) study of 5- to 9-year-olds falls more into the ethnographic category, since he tried to record the main features of behavior sequences in context, rather than the occurrence of specific categories, and also interviewed the children extensively. Besides the honest mistakes in R T that he observed, described above, it is clear from his account that some children used, or tried to use, R T play conventions in deceitful, intimidating or manipulative ways. For example ... 

Once you are invited by a potential employer for an interview, to maximize your chances of landing the job, it s critical to do everything within your power to prepare and avoid the common mistakes often made by applicants. 

The following are some of the most common mistakes applicants make while preparing for or participating in job interviews, plus tips on how to avoid making these mistakes. 

Throughout any job interview, your primary objective should be to position yourself as the ideal candidate for the job for which you re applying. Your chances of landing a job dramatically increase by avoiding the common mistakes made by many applicants. 

The interview-about-instances method was used by Thomas Schwenz (1998) to describe thermodynamics misconceptions of 16 students from undergraduate physical chemistry classes. The thermal decomposition of calcium carbonate was used as the basis for all questioning. However, the description presented to the students contains a mistake that may invalidate their results. 

Often companies look for your experiences on a team and how you contributed to the overall team outcomes. So another thing to consider is when to say "I" and when to say "we." The answer is that you have to balance both. It s a mistake to always say "we." The interviewer will never fully understand your individual contribution. In addition, if you always say "I," it will seem as if you weren t able to collaborate. 

But only choose one of these more casual ophons if you are sure it is appropriate. You might be making a big mistake if you assume a particular company will be relaxed about what you wear to the interview. The employees at a parhcular firm might wear jeans, but that doesn t mean that you should wear jeans to your interview—you re not an employee yet. 

The second mistake you can make in a panel interview is to be reactive rather than proactive. On one hand, it is important to pay attention to the questions and make sure you answer them. On the other hand, you want to maintain some control of the interview and tell some of your success stories. First, focus on answering the questions being asked, and then switch your focus to using your success stories. For example, take a look at the following interview to see how you might accomplish this. 

We all learn by making mistakes. If possible, don t schedule your first interview with the job you want most. As you get more interview practice, you will feel more confident, know what kinds of questions to expect, and learn how best to present yourself. Practice your skills in informational networking interviews or in role-plays with a friend or mentor in the business world. 

You will find information about how to handle surprise questions and tricky questions and how to get unstuck when an interview goes off course. And there s plenty of advice about answering tough questions (see Exhibit 7-1). There is even a detailed description of the top 25 mistakes candidates make and how to avoid them, as well as an additional list of fhe mosf commonly asked inferview questions (see Exhibit 7-2). 

The interview with a retired pilot of a civil aviation company took place on May 12, 2011 and lasted approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. It was a semi-structured interview with a predefined set of questions concerning the incidents that the pilot or any of his colleagues had experienced during his flight career. In the beginning of the interview it was clearly announced to the interviewee that we were interested in the cases within air traffic where a small local mistake could have led to severe global consequences, but was corrected before an actual accident would occur. The interviewee was asked to recall such incidents. This question contained the following subquestions ... 

During the interview a case study was identified that describes an incident where, due to the mistake of a pilot of one taxiing aircraft, two aircraft were taking off almost simultaneously from crossing runways. After the correct intervention of the air traffic controllers from the ATC Tower, and adequate decision making, coordination and action of the pilots of one of the aircraft, a collision was prevented. This incident is described (in an anonymised manner) in the following section. 

INTERVIEW HS24 Human endeavor and failure. Blunders, mistakes, ambition, greed - all of the elements. And if you call the rescue of the surviving parties a happy ending, it s a happy ending. But what about those that didn t make it. 

The technique consists of interviewing personnel regarding involvement in accidents or near accidents difficulties, errors, and mistakes in operations and conditions that could cause mishaps [p. 188]. 

Many of the doctors interviewed in these various studies had not discussed the mistakes or their emotional impact with colleagues. Shame, fears of humiliation, fear of punishment and all acted to deter open discussion and isolate people from their colleagues. When the case was discussed, it would be with close friends or colleagues whom they had come to trust over a long period. The doctors involved wanted the emotional support and professional reaffirmation, but their culture did not often permit such open discussions (Christensen, Levinson and Dunn, 1992 Newman, 1996). 

Said Garvey, It is only because in his deposition he said, I didn t make a mistake. Total, you know, denial. So I had to sue, Garvey said in the interview. Instead, the doctor s attorney claimed in court papers that the doctor could have been misled by the unusual anatomy of Carvey s heart. But Carvey s second surgeon said in the same interview that Carvey s anatomy was pretty ordinary. Carvey, through a spokesman, declined to comment for this article. 

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