How to avoid common interview mistakes

Looking to turn that application for your dream role into a concrete job offer? You’ll need to steer clear of these frequent interview blunders. Don’t worry—everyone has put their foot in it at some stage, so nobody expects flawlessness. But with our guidance, you can learn from other people’s missteps and sail through the meeting.

Let’s walk through typical interview traps and how to dodge them:

Inadequate preparation

Failing to give concrete examples

Off-putting body language

Not establishing a connection

Hurrying through your responses

Once you’ve worked out how to handle these tricky areas, you’ll be well on the path to interview success.

Inadequate preparation

Walking into an interview without understanding the organisation or the position you’ve applied for will make you far more anxious than if you’d done your groundwork. What’s more, interviewers can tell when you haven’t done your homework—and it creates a poor impression.

To get ready properly, try the following:

Hold practice interviews—ask friends and family to put you through your paces; sometimes it’s even more effective to do this with someone you don’t know, so enlist your coursemates (and return the favour when they need to rehearse).

Investigate the company—browse their website and social media profiles, and find out if they’ve featured in the news lately.

Study the job specification—scrutinise the advert so you’re clear on what the role entails.

These steps will help you feel more at ease beforehand, so you’ll come across as more self-assured during the conversation.

While you can never know precisely what an interviewer will ask, you should always be ready with answers for the most probable questions. And you need to think up some thoughtful questions to put to them, too.

Failing to give concrete examples

A run-of-the-mill candidate will ramble and try to bluff when confronted with a tough question. A top-notch candidate will confidently reinforce their claims with evidence.

So, if a potential employer asks, “Why should we give you this job?”, don’t just reply, “Because I’d be brilliant!” Instead, walk the interviewer through experience that proves you’re the right fit for the role. Consider the ‘rule of three’ here and, if feasible, supply three specific illustrations.

Detailed examples are everything. By sharing strong, tangible examples, you’ll demonstrate that you have the proof to substantiate what you say. Plus, you’ll reveal that you pay close attention to detail—a highly valued attribute.

Off-putting body language

The vast majority of communication is non-verbal; we express more through our appearance—facial expressions, gestures, posture—than through the words we select.

Of course, it’s perfectly normal to feel nervous in a job interview and to display this through your non-verbal signals. For instance, under stress, some people bounce their leg, fidget with a pen or twist their hair. While understandable, these nervous habits still draw the interviewer’s focus away from what you’re saying—even if you’re unaware you’re doing them.

The upside is that once you become conscious of your body language, it’s simpler to modify. Rehearse how you’ll sit and how to manage your gestures while practising your mock interviews.

Want more suggestions? Read up on the body language errors to avoid in an interview.

Not establishing a connection

An interview isn’t merely about the questions; it’s also about assessing whether you’re the right cultural ‘fit’ for the organisation—in other words, will you be a great addition to the team?

To show you’ll suit the company, build a rapport with the interviewer. Tune in to the person conducting the interview and strive to connect with them. Light conversation both before and after the formal questioning will support you in this.

Hurrying through your responses

Take your time. The more thoroughly you consider your answers, the better they’ll be. When we feel anxious, we often speed up our speech, so make a conscious effort to slow down.

The interviewer is—rightly—more interested in the calibre of your answers than how quickly you deliver them. It’s not a contest. They’ll probably also be looking for someone who stays composed under pressure, so pause and reflect on what you’re saying rather than rushing to fill any silence.

Main points to remember

Inadequate preparation, failing to share examples, distracting body language, not building a connection and racing through your replies are all pitfalls to sidestep during a job interview. Equipped with our advice, you can avoid falling into these common traps.

If you do your research, back up what you say, be mindful of your non-verbal communication, engage with your interviewer, and take your time when responding to questions, you’ll give yourself the strongest possible chance of securing the position. Best of luck!