Typical
Interview Blunders
Avoid the following common and distracting
interview blunders:
1. Avoid rambling responses.
Keep your answers efficient and to the point. Once you have
made your point shut up. If there is a short period of silence
following your response it does not necessarily mean that
the interviewer is waiting for you to continue. More than
likely she is simply collecting her own thoughts or processing
your response. Wait patiently. Allow her to continue with
the interview. Unfortunately, most people are uncomfortable
with silence. They tend to want to fill the silence with irrelevant
babblings. This will only detract from the image you are trying
to project. Once you are done speaking, remain calm, quiet
and alert.
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2. Don't go off on tangents.
Avoid expounding on a train of thought that is irrelevant
or unrelated to the question asked. Take a moment to absorb
the question before you begin to formulate your answer.
3. Don't answer the question
before the interviewer has finished asking it. Don't anticipate
questions. Don't finish sentences or fill in gaps. Wait for
the interviewer to complete his question before you respond.
Never cut off the interviewer in mid-sentence.
4. Listen carefully to the
questions. Frequently your mind will be racing so rapidly
that you will begin to formulate your responses before you
hear the entire question. Then, once you assume you know where
the question is headed you shut off your mind and start preparing
your response. When this occurs, there is a real risk that
you will either miss the entire point of the question or that
you will miss an important element of a multi-faceted question.
Listen carefully and then probe for understanding if you are
not sure about what is being asked.
5. Don't answer questions
that were not asked. After spending many hours preparing for
an interview, there is a tendency to feel ripped off if the
interviewer does not ask the questions that you expected.
Avoid the temptation to inject superfluous information into
your responses. There is generally a reason the interviewer
is asking the questions she is. Use your preparation to help
you formulate generous responses to the questions asked -
but do stick to the questions.
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6. Avoid becoming so frustrated
that you lose your composure. When you are caught off guard
by a question take a moment to collect your thoughts. You
can do this by politely requesting the interviewer to repeat
the question. If a question is unclear to you, simply say
so. Politely ask the interviewer to rephrase the question
or state something like "Let me make sure I am understanding
the question properly. Are you asking me ...?"
It is important that you do not
allow yourself to become so flustered that you are unable
to continue effectively with the interview. If you blow a
question, it is not the end of the world. Smile, regain your
composure and move on. Most interviewers understand the pressures
of the interviewing process. Do not mentally write off the
balance of the interview because of one poor response. You
need to stay focused. Remember also that what you consider
to be an inadequate response may be viewed more benignly by
the interviewer.
Fielding
Tough Interview Questions
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