Top five common interview mistakes

You forget to set your alarm. You spill coffee on yourself on the way to the interview. You didn’t make time to think through specific questions about the role, which seems a bit obtuse. And when you get into the heart of the interview, somehow your more articulate side got left at home that day.

Although a painful experience in the moment, there are things you can do to prevent another poor interview from happening again. Alyssa Nguyen, lead experienced recruiting specialist, Deloitte LLP, offers five quick tips to help:

5. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Even if you feel confident about the interview and feel you know how you will answer any potential questions, it’s still important to put time into preparing. Carve out some quiet time to reflect on what you want to get out of the interview. You may also want to make sure you have researched the organization and the position itself.

4. During the interview, make sure you don’t overshare or are too casual. There’s no need to get into how you are a sixth generation consultant or that your great-great-great aunt was one of the first women in accounting to emphasize why the role would be tailor made for you. You want to frame your responses so that the recruiter or interviewer could visualize you in the role and adding value to the team and organization. You also don’t want to come with a laissez-faire attitude displayed through your responses and body language signaling you could take-or-leave the position.

3. Listen carefully to each question. Don’t be too quick to respond. Pause after a question is asked to ensure you understand it. Ask for clarity if you don’t.

2. Respond confidently and concisely. This goes hand-in-hand with listening carefully. You want to make sure you answer the question fully and succinctly. If it takes you five minutes to answer any one question, chances are, you’re probably struggling to communicate a response. Recruiters and interviewers may read this as either a lack of confidence or a lack of preparation – or both.

1. Bring your resume to life. Study your resume to see what stories, anecdotes, or data points you might highlight that relate to the position for which you are applying. By all means, do not embellish on your resume because if asked, it will be difficult to validate the information verbally during an interview. 

Preparing for an interview is one of the best ways to avoid feeling flustered or anxious about the process overall. So make sure you don’t underestimate what a few hours of focused preparation could do to make sure you make the best of any interview.