{"id":14910,"date":"2019-01-08T02:37:53","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T02:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=14910"},"modified":"2019-01-10T10:10:45","modified_gmt":"2019-01-10T10:10:45","slug":"four-common-mistakes-that-can-ruin-your-chances-in-a-job-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/four-common-mistakes-that-can-ruin-your-chances-in-a-job-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Four common mistakes that can ruin your chances in a job interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Janina Steinmetz<\/a>, City, University of London<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

If you make it to the job interview stage of an application process, the prospect of a new job is very much in sight. Make a good impression and you are likely to get the opportunity you want.<\/p>\n

But imagine you get to the interview and, despite being highly qualified and motivated, you end up not getting the job offer. In spite of your best efforts to made a good impression, the chances are you made one of these four common errors: a failure of perspective taking, narcissism, hubris and humble bragging.<\/p>\n

My research<\/a> suggests that these are four of the main reasons why people fail to make a good impression in high-stakes situations \u2013 which is when it really matters.<\/p>\n

To avoid the four common errors when trying to make a positive impression, let\u2019s consider them one by one to understand why they are unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

1. Lack of perspective taking<\/h2>\n

First, failed perspective taking can lead interviewees to mispredict the interviewer\u2019s reactions. For example, it\u2019s common to mention one\u2019s successes in a job interview, and there\u2019s of course nothing wrong with doing that. But interviewees might underestimate the importance of how they talk about their success.<\/p>\n

My research shows<\/a> that people tend to explain their success by emphasising their own talent and abilities, because they think that interviewers will deem them competent when doing so. In these cases, interviewees err because they fail to put themselves in the shoes of the interviewer.<\/p>\n

\"\"
It\u2019s important to be likeable as well as competent.<\/span>
\nshutterstock<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When adopting the interviewer\u2019s perspective, it becomes clear that interviewers not only care about hiring a competent employee, but also about having a likeable employee. To ensure appearing likeable \u2013 as well as competent \u2013 interviewees should adopt a different strategy. Instead of talking about their talent and ability, they should focus instead on mentioning the hard work and effort that caused the success. The interviewer will then feel that the interviewee is not only competent but also relatable and likeable, which will increase the chances of getting hired.<\/p>\n

2. Narcissism<\/h2>\n

When hearing the word \u201cnarcissist\u201d, one might think of people who are extremely vain and self-possessed. But actually all of us can have a little bit of that trait in us. Narcissism can manifest in a sense of superiority toward interviewers, leading to arrogant and off-putting behaviour.<\/p>\n

It is therefore important to suppress the tiny narcissist inside all of us when in a job interview. Keep in mind that the interviewer is looking for a confident employee, not for someone who believes they are superior to everyone else, including the interviewer.<\/p>\n

3. Hubris<\/h2>\n

Interviewees can hurt their chances of nailing an interview by showing hubris. This often comes out in comparing oneself to others in a favourable way. For example, an interviewee might say that they were the best sales manager in their previous job or better at something than their former colleagues.<\/p>\n

Even if that claim is true and conveys competence, it would probably diminish the chances of getting the job. This happens because when interviewees explicitly compare themselves to others, the interviewer might feel personally attacked by fearing that the interviewee also compares themself to the interviewer. Such a fear would undermine the interviewer\u2019s desire to hire the interviewee.<\/p>\n

4. The humble brag<\/h2>\n

Humble bragging is when you boast about yourself in a way that is thinly disguised as a gripe or self-deprecation. For example, in response to the classic question, \u201cWhat are your weaknesses?\u201d An interviewee might say: \u201cIn my current job, I struggle with being really busy because everyone is always coming to me for advice.\u201d Or, \u201cI\u2019m too much of a perfectionist.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this strategy backfires. The interviewer can usually see through this tactic. Not only does the interviewee seem conceited for the bragging, but they also seem dishonest for the attempt to disguise the bragging. Therefore, this strategy is very unlikely to be successful.<\/p>\n

Taken together, as an interviewee you should remember that it\u2019s important to not only impress the interviewer but also to establish a relationship with them. To achieve this, it\u2019s helpful to a) look at yourself from the interviewer\u2019s eyes and remember they are looking for a likeable employee, b) avoid seeming superior, c) avoid comparisons to others, and d) be sincere about your strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n

By sidestepping these common traps when trying to make a good impression, the next interviewer should have no trouble seeing you as the competent, motivated, and likeable potential employee that you are.\"The<\/p>\n

Janina Steinmetz<\/a>, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Cass Business School, City, University of London<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Janina Steinmetz, City, University of London If you make it to the job interview stage of an application process, the prospect of a new job is very much in sight. Make a good impression and you are likely to get the opportunity you want. But imagine you get to the interview and, despite being highly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":14908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[277],"tags":[5712,3472,5713,5711,5714,2075,4000,3828],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14910"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14910"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14929,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14910\/revisions\/14929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}