Today, I’m not talking about optimizing interview performance, in this article we’ll be looking at the absolute basics. The things you’d think we should be able to take for granted (evidently many of us do). These are job interview blunders that it would seem you could only make if you held no regard or importance for the job you were interviewing for.

Today I’m going to share with you the 5 most common job interview blunders that are committed over and over again. These are blunders you cannot recover from. Once you’ve made them, it’s over. This list isn’t meant to be exhaustive – I’m sure there are plenty more blunders out there – but these are the ones that draw my attention the most and are top of mind for me at the moment. You can also share the common blunders you’ve seen in the comments section.

Here are my top 5 interview blunders:

1.Going late to the interview.

There is never an excuse for lateness to a job interview. If you’re 10 or 20 minutes late without calling, any recruiter with a good sense of judgment will consider you as rude and ill-mannered. You can agree with me that with that at the back of the mind of your interviewer, you have zero or thin chances of getting that job.

The truth is even if you’re the one person in twenty for whom this lateness was a true anomaly, a one-time thing, an unavoidable situation, a hiring manager will think it’s not worth it for them to take that gamble. Most times, they’ll rather not hire you, no matter how well you perform in the interview itself.

2.Inability to name the CEO or the company product.

Regardless of what level you are at in your career or what job you’re applying for; you must do a minimum amount of research ahead of time. Not being able to name the CEO or not being able to recall the name of the main product the company sells is an unrecoverable offense. It reveals a lot about how you will approach your work if you were actually to get the job. It reveals that you are reckless, that you don’t prepare, that you don’t put forth a solid effort, and that you lack good judgment.

If you can’t name the CEO of the company and the main product the company sells, you can’t get hired. A quick visit to the website and a sneak peek on the CEO’s LinkedIn profile takes 5 minutes and can make the difference between getting the job and getting the boot.

3.Not visiting the company website prior to the interview.

It probably seems a bit stretched to be talking about this, but trust me, it’s a thing. If you haven’t taken the time to visit the company’s website before the interview, it’s a blunder you cannot recover from. When preparing for a job interview, please take a few minutes and visit the company’s web site. Check out the Home page, About Page, Press Page and Products Pages at the very least.

For most recruiters, it’s about respecting the process and demonstrating you are genuinely interested in the job and the company. It’s about separating candidates who are really trying to win and candidates who are just along for the ride. Too many candidates these days are playing the numbers game. They apply for 500 jobs and hope to get lucky. Don’t fall into this trap. Because if you do, you’ll end up not getting none.

4.Inability to match outfit with the work environment

The rule is, dress one level more formal than the attire being worn in the office. If you don’t know what attire people wear in the office, take a look on their social media feeds or at pictures on the website or ask around. However, mst companies in Nigeria don’t imbibe that culture so you can always ask the HR person or recruiter what attire people wear in the office. Then go one level more formal than that. So if the typical office attire for men is jeans and a sweater or jeans and a collared shirt, you should wear jeans with a blazer or dress pants with a collared shirt … one level more formal, not showing up looking like you employed the recruiter. This is Nigeria, they might be pissed if you go overboard with your look. Remember, only one level more formal.

However, the unrecoverable sin is to go one or two levels less formal than the typical attire worn in the office.

5.Inability to answer the 2 most basic interview questions.

There are two interview questions you absolutely must be able to answer. They are the most basic questions possible. It’s impossible to google “top interview questions” and not see these. But you’d be shocked how ignorant job seekers are with regards to these.

What got you interested in working here and why do you want the job?

What makes you a great fit for the company and the role?

The reason it seems as though these questions are insurmountable is because most jobseekers aren’t prepared to answer these basic questions. They pause, they stumble and they ramble. My question is, if not these questions, then what? What preparation could you have possibly done and not be able to answer these basic questions? The very first thing you should do when preparing for a job interview is to craft solid answers to these two questions because if you haven’t, you have no chance of getting the job.

In other words, you can’t afford to fail at all the five areas we’ve just listed owing to the consequences pointed out above. So in everything you do, don’t make these mistakes because you won’t recover.

https://discovery.insidify.com/5-common-interview-errors-you-cant-recover-from-and-how-to-avoid-them

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