3 Common Job Interview Mistakes You HAVE TO STOP MAKING!

i have sat through tons of interviews with practice interview clients as well as in the room on hiring teams and there are three mistakes that i keep seeing made over and over and over again and we need to stop it right now the bad news is these three things could cost you the job the good news is they're pretty darn easy to fix so today let's talk about them [Music] so if we haven't met my name is cassandra and i help motivated professionals build their careers through practical tips to gain career confidence so let's talk about that interview mistake number one saying you this is a mistake i see all the time this is actually the second most common thing i have to correct with my practice interview clients and when i'm sitting in an interview this one drives me crazy and i've learned it's not just me in a 2017 study from leadership iq they found that i statement users outperformed you statement users by 60 in an interview high performers were more likely by 60 to use i statements i me we and it got them the job so what does this look like you're thinking okay well when are people saying you in an interview this is one people often say you when they haven't had an experience but i've also seen people just accidentally use this term but it often happens when talking about experiential situations tell me about a time when and the person instead of saying oh here's the time i did this they'll go well you know when you're in that situation you should blah blah blah blah and you will i didn't ask you to teach me what others should do i want to know what you will do so i need you to use i statements you need to talk about a specific time you did something they're asking about your experience please don't give a hypothetical or even if you're talking about a real experience when you say it as you it sounds like a hypothetical and it's not personalized so make sure you're saying i if you don't have an example you need to say well what i would do is not you should do it's a very subtle change but it totally changes who's giving ownership that's actually why this is so important talking about oneself shows that you are taking ownership for your actions and we want to see that in the people that we hire right that they will take ownership for what they've done well what they've done wrong what they could improve we want to hear about what you will accept about yourself and what the responsibility you need to take for those situations okay mistake number two and this is the most popular one leaving out details if there was one piece of feedback i give more than anything else it is you have to give me more details please tell me the details the chance of you getting the job go up astronomically when you add in more details you need to paint the picture for the interviewer so that's why star method is so important right when somebody asks tell me about a time when or describe a situation where you want to use the star method situation task action results i'm not going to get all deep on that today that is the method that helps you go through it i have videos on that i'll put it here and in the description box below so you can watch it after and we go real deep on the method but even with the star method i've seen people really run past the details for example i could ask tell me about a time you communicated with a team and i've had people say to me well i was in this group project at school we had to do a presentation each person had to do a different piece of the presentation so we got together we worked it out and we did really well on the presentation we got an a what that doesn't tell me how you communicated and look right now as the viewer you sitting at home i know it is very easy to hear that example and go what who would do that like obviously that didn't connect the dots right because you're right now on the receiving end and you're seeing that but when you are in the position of the one saying the words our brains are connecting the dots for us they think they've made it clear and that's why this is such an easy mistake to make because in your head when you're telling the story you're visualizing it you're seeing all the little pieces that go into those kind of bigger statements that you're making but the interviewer isn't seeing that just like you as the receiver at home right now are going that didn't tell me what i needed to know that's why this is such an easy mistake to make because when we're the one telling the story our head connects the dots the other reason it's so easy to make this mistake is because in an interview some people hate it so much that they're like let me just say some words and get them out so we can move on i just want out of this situation right we're afraid we're gonna talk too long or drone on and on so we end up saying very little we need to stop this you need to walk me through the process the star method helps with this but lay out all the pieces when you're at home this is why we practice y'all practice practice practice when you're at home think about stories that you're gonna need for that job interview and lay out all the pieces what was the project you were working on why was it so complicated how did you communicate i set up a slack channel for us or i put us all on a group text message and we had to check in with each other on these times i set up two times for us to come together as a team to meet on zoom and then give me the result not just you got an a but how did the day go right and this is a college level example but i see this with manager level director level people even more so than the college level walk me through the pieces and then practice at home be awkward say it out loud and time yourself did you go for three to five minutes congratulations you did not give too much detail did you go for one we may need to add a little more to the story never go on and on when you've given the full story but see are there some details you could add to help the interviewer visualize it if you went for seven or more minutes hey that's me we need to cut some details back they don't need to know that you were wearing a red top they don't need to know that you texted everybody at 7 37 like let's reel it in but you want to find that sweet spot of painting the picture then ask a friend if you can tell them the story ask them well wait where are you confused what questions do you have these steps are going to help you do so much better at providing the right amount of detail in the interview and the satisfactory amount of detail giving enough to help paint the picture to help the interviewer visualize the situation understand it all together the better your chances of getting the job because they can translate that to what you would do at their company mistake number three is a really interesting one that i have seen repeatedly come up again and again recently and it is telling them who they are okay this is what i mean by that a lot of times this happens on answers to the question why our company why amazon for example well you know amazon is just such an amazing company it's a major corporate global organization that's obviously at the forefront in e-commerce and and they start rattling off facts about the company the people you're talking to they work at amazon they know who they are they want to know what that means to you this is also a place where people say you statements well you guys here do blah blah blah blah they know don't teach them who they are this is the subtlest tweak but you can say well i know amazon is a leader in just global e-commerce let alone technology and i would love to work for a place where i can be on the forefront of those sorts of things now granted i am not saying that is the answer you should give for why amazon it should be much more fleshed out than that i just want you to understand what that tweak is don't say you guys are or amazon is or google is disney is they know it's the tweak of i know disney is and that's what it means to me this one comes up a lot with wire company why do you want to work here those sorts of things and if you want more help on that i do have a whole video on how to answer the question why do you want to work here or why our company i will put that in the description box below and at the end of this video but it's the simplest easiest week but i need you to add in those i statements and not just lay out some facts about who they are tell me what those facts mean to you so to recap use i statements all the way through then you want to connect the dots so the interviewer knows enough detail to visualize the situation and then lastly you want to tell people what the company means to you or what that thing means to you don't just instruct them or tell them who they are make it personalized to you that is it for today if you need more help i have a free interview prep checklist for you in the description box below hopefully at the end of this video you've realized oh dang i probably need to prepare a little bit before going to the interview i'm here to help you get that list free below it'll give you everything you need to get started and i will see you in the next video bye

Channel: Cass Thompson Career Advice

Views: 10,638

Rating: 4.9832287 out of 5

Keywords: cass thompson career, cass thompson career advice, job search advice, job interview, job interview mistakes, job interview help

Id: ylvPH1NLnWM

Length: 10min 5sec (605 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 02 2021