30 People Share How They Embarrassed Themselves During Their First Job Interview

To find out what common mistakes people make at job interviews and how to avoid them, Bored Panda reached out to Dawn Moss, the founder of “Your Interview Coach” who has been helping both candidates and hiring managers through recruitment and selection process since 2013.

“The two biggest mistakes candidates make are not preparing enough or practicing the answers,” she said and added that “It sounds simple.” As for preparation, “they don’t prepare enough specific examples to demonstrate the key behaviors they need for that job.”

It turns out, that candidates tend to talk generally about their experience, instead of sharing real examples of where they have applied their knowledge and skills to good effect. “They also don’t give enough thought to the common questions that are still asked during interviews,” she added.

Dawn gave an example of a very common question asked at a job interview: “For example, tell me about yourself, what do you bring to the job, or why should we hire you?” In practice, this is often a missed opportunity. “The confident candidate doesn’t feel they need to practice. However, they may not share the right information during an interview,” Dawn explained.

Moreover, “if the candidate is confident, they may talk too much and there’s also a risk of going off track or not answering the question at all.”

“Conversely, candidates that lack confidence or get a little nervous will not talk enough and by default the recruiter will not have enough information to assess their capability,” Dawn explained and urged that it’s very important that all candidates practice talking through their answers.

According to Dawn, confidence comes from preparation and practice. “Preparation is key to feeling confident you can demonstrate the requirements for the job. Preparing and practicing before the interview will also keep you focused on the information you want to share during an interview and help you avoid saying things you don’t want to share or talk about during an interview.”

When it comes to nerves going through the roof in a job interview, Dawn explained that being nervous is totally natural. “It shows you are genuinely interested in the job and shows the interview is important.” As an ex-recruiter, it was Dawn’s job to build rapport and settle a candidate before steaming in with the questions.

Another great tip from the interview coach is to be aware of the dialogue in your head. “What are you saying to yourself? Self-talk is underrated and underestimated. It can make all the difference before an interview. If you are thinking to yourself, this is a waste of time, I’m going to get another rejection, it’s likely to affect your interview performance. It may even show in your body language, posture, eye contact, attitude, tone, etc.”

Dawn also confirmed that a bad interview experience can knock the confidence of even the most confident person. “I worked with one lady who’d been out of the job market for several years bringing up her family. She’d received one rejection and hadn’t applied for any further jobs."

For anyone who feels knocked down after an unsuccessful job interview, Dawn advises looking at it from a constructive, positive perspective. “Try to think of every interview as gaining more and more experience and an opportunity to improve on your interview skills. Reflect on your performance objectively. Don’t change who you are, be yourself.”

After all, “remember if you get poor feedback, it’s one person’s opinion, for that specific job and that company. It’s not necessarily personal,” Dawn said and reminded everyone that “It’s important to keep applying, and be persistent and consistent. Keep on keeping on.”