Job hunting can be a full time job. We’ve all been there. You send hours preparing your resume, writing cover letters and submitting applications to land your next dream job. And when the recruiter reaches out asking for your availability, you’re ecstatic. Time to practice your interviewing skills and finally get that haircut – but what else should you know when it comes interviewing? After all, it’s almost 2019 and surely things are different now, right? Right. Here are three traps I’ve encountered during my time at Google, and what you can do to not fall victim yourself:
1. Bad Mouthing
Ever notice how positive and happy are much more attractive than people who seem depressed and negative? Same goes for interviewing. Your interviewer doesn’t actually care about why you didn’t get along with your previous boss or coworkers. He just wants to find out how positive and optimistic you are. But more importantly he wants to find out whether you’d criticize him behind his back if pressed. Use any questions that may be leading you down the road to bad mouthing to instead demonstrate how loyal you are.
2. Admitting weakness
Admitting any weakness gives you a good chance of being instantly scratched off the list of potential candidates, but you’ll earn an “A” for your honesty (which still doesn’t get you the job). The best strategy in these cases are to transform your weakness into a strength while always being 100% truthful. Assure the interviewer that there is nothing that could get in the way of you excelling in the role – then switch gears and focus on your strengths.
Fact checking is getting too easy these days. If you get caught in a lie you’ll be instantly rejected.
3. Not being truthful
Regardless whether or not you were fired from your last job or not, don’t lie. Fact checking is getting too easy these days. And needless to say that if you do get caught in a lie you’ll be instantly rejected. If pressed, look for opportunities to explain why certain things happened and why (or how) it is a valuable experience that would only strengthen the interviewer’s company.
Conclusion
There you have it folks, three traps to avoid during your next job interview. Bad mouthing, admitting weaknesses and lying needs to be avoided at all costs. In turn your true self will naturally shine through, which in the long run is best.
Want to discover more interviewing tips from Google? Get the Interview Questions Guide today and don’t worry – you got this!