Awkward Things That Happen in Interviews and How You Can Save Yourself

— August 14, 2018

Awkward Things That Happen in Interviews and How You Can Save Yourself

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Trying to persuade strangers to hire you is a nerve-wracking experience for the majority of people. One error and the whole experience can feel like a total nightmare. What a lot of people forget is that everyone makes mistakes. We’re only human after all. Here at Rezoomo.com, we have put together the most common mistakes and how to get past them.

Your mobile phone rings.

This occurs to the best of us. If your phone rings in the middle of your job interview its best deal with as quickly as possible. This is so to get the conversation going again. Mention that you thought you had it switched to silent before you came in and that it must have been a slip of the finger should work. This shows that this isn’t normal behaviour by you. Make sure to get the point across that it’s inappropriate to take calls in important meetings

You forget a word.

You’re in mid-sentence then all of a sudden you can’t remember the word you want to say. If you are unsure about the word don’t try and make it up. Instead, dig yourself out of the hole by saying “Apologies, I’m after going completely blank on the name of that marketing tool which is bizarre because I use it most weeks. However, it helped me monitor our SEO which helped us reach our sales goals”.

You Let a Swear Word Slip Out.

Sometimes you can get very uptight in an interview and you let a swear word slip out. This will not go down too well with any jobs panel. Don’t panic though and try and spin it into a positive thing by saying “Sorry, I get very excited about that Project that sometimes I let my emotions get the better of me.”

You can’t think of an answer.

You can do as much preparation as you want for an interview but there is always a curve ball nearly always thrown. In this situation, it would be best take your time answering it. Don’t be afraid to say “that’s a great question let me think about it”. Or “Do you mind If I take a second to think that through?”. Give yourself a bit of time to compose yourself and get your thoughts together. This shows that you are taking the process very seriously and are trying your best to perform well. Don’t forget that an interview is not a timed test.

You Bad-Mouth Your Previous Employer.

You more than likely didn’t mean to bad mouth your previous employer, but it happens. You could be asked a question like “Can you tell me about the time you led by example at work?” All of a sudden you have managed to go from answering the question really well to having a pop off your old manager for never being on time for meetings. If you manage to realise this in time that you have bad mouthed your previous employer, you need to acknowledge it and put on a positive spin. For example. “I just realised that was very critical of me and that is not how I wanted to come across. There were many great things about working at that organisation and I learned plenty that will help me prosper in my potential new role”.

To summarise, remind yourself that the interviewer is only human at the end of the day. They might hold a high role in the company. However, they too would have come across plenty of awkward moments, so they are more than likely going to have an understanding and not show you the door. Try and set smaller goals for the interview. For example like making sure to get your points across concisely or try and make sure you have good body language. Zone in on showcasing that you’re a good fit for the position instead of trying to come across as a superhuman.

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