5 Psychological Mistakes To Avoid During Job Interview

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Written by: Janhavi Ukhalkar

For a fresher going through his/her first recruitment process, the personal interview is an extremely crucial stage.

Unlike lateral recruitment, the freshers are not employed for a specific skill or experience, rather their recruitment is mainly based on two aspects:

The ability to understand and reproduce the technical knowledge
The communication skills: especially their ability to express a thought (either technical or emotional) with clarity and ease.

Due to these reasons, the personal interview can break or make the deal. However, it’s observed that many bright freshers make some obvious and common mistakes while going through the interview and miss out on the opportunities. So here, I have summarized some common mistakes made during interviews which can be easily avoided.

Also Read – Starting your career as an IT Engineer? Here is a self-check about

1. Lacking Clarity Of Thought

There are people who have limited knowledge but the ability to express it with clarity. And there are people who have incredible knowledge but inadequate ability to reproduce it.

Interviewers have a maximum 30 minutes of time to assess you and make the decision. It’s no good if they get answers which are haphazard, random or incomplete.

Solution:

It’s crucial that you exploit the 30 minutes which you have to put forth your knowledge in the right way. Before the interview, write down answers to some sample questions and read them aloud to see how they sound. Do they sound complete and express what you want to say? Or do they feel incomplete/inadequate? Review the answers with some experts, teachers or your seniors. Practice speaking in front of the mirror. Remember its always better to express one thought comprehensively rather than 3-4 thoughts randomly.

2. Wanting To Impress Rather Than Express

Many times, freshers get carried away to impress the interviewer. They tend to show off about what all they know rather than explain what is asked. Interviewers are looking for very specific, precise and to the point answers about the subject being discussed. It’s a big turn off if the candidate is a bragger.

Solution:

Even if you have a bag full of information, this is not a time to show it off. You need to control your urge to speak more than what is expected. Instead, you can take your time to share in-depth information about the question asked. Remember whenever in doubt, always remain mum rather than blabber about some unrelated subject. Interviewers have the skill to ask you the right questions to understand the depth of your knowledge.

3. Faking Responses

We have seen bright candidates getting rejected just because they have given fake answers. In an attempt to sound intelligent, many candidates say that they know something even if they don’t know. This could be due to over confidence or the adrenaline during the interview, but it’s always been the wrong thing to do.

Solution:

Always remember you are not expected to know everything. No one can achieve that feat. If you don’t know the answer, be honest and say it. The interviewer can find out some other subject to assess you on. But your chances of getting selected are nil if you say you know something and then you can’t speak even two lines about the same.

4. Agreeing To Unrealistic Situations

This is especially true during the HR round. To test the conviction of your thoughts, interviewers ask some very far fetched questions. To appeal to the interviewer, candidates accept anything even if its unrealistic. For example, “If you are required to work for 16 hours every day for 2-3 months on a project, will you accept?”. This is actually an unrealistic situation, and the candidate should honestly answer that he/she can’t work for that long. It will not only impact his/her health but also affect productivity. However, just to sound “cool” and “active” candidates say yes to this question.

Solution:

Do not go overboard to sound “cool” and show off your willingness to do anything. The interview process is not just to test your technical knowledge but also your character. Its best to be true to your personality and state what you can really do and not do. You are a human and are expected to have your flaws and imperfections. What is important is that you are confident in your own skin and still be useful to the organization.

5. Sounding Desperate

There are some candidates who conduct themselves in such a way that they come across as very desperate to get the job. This might happen unknowingly sometimes. Using statements like “Sir please give me one chance, I will do my best” or “Sir this is the last chance for me to get selected, please select me and I will do my best” are an attempt to plead for the job. This is unwanted and in a way gross.

Solution:

Remember the interviewers are not there to take pity on you and do charity. A job is a transaction where you are paid for your skills. The organization is as much in need for your talent as you need the money. It’s a give and take. No one party is bigger. So, stop pleading or sounding desperate to get the job. And any which way, you will get the job only if you have the right skill, not if you are good at pleading. Isn’t it ?

Final Thoughts

There are many more minor aspects of preparing for a job interview other than what are mentioned above. But before that, it’s important that you are clear about the psychological aspects. These are very subtle things which can’t be measured yet play a vital role in getting you selected for a job.

“One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.” — Arthur Ashe

About The Author – An engineer by profession and writer by passion, Janhavi has been writing on subjects like motherhood, parenting, relationships, corporate life and culture for the last 10 years. She is a top blogger on various platforms like Momspresso, Womensweb, Youth ki Awaaz and has won several awards. She has a personal blog called Entirely Indian.

Discover more about Janhavi at;

https://www.momspresso.com/user/86e62da8dfdd4704b26222e25b3005a6

https://www.womensweb.in/author/janhavi-ukhalkar/

https://entirelyindian.wordpress.com/