Silence is gold: what is better not to talk at the interview

Potential employers appreciate the sincerity of job seeker responses. And it’s really not worth it to deceive - all the same, they can collect information about you at your former places of work. But do not confuse the interview with a conversation with your closest friend, a visit to a psychoanalyst or confession. There are things that a potential employer in an interview is better not to say.

1. Do you hate the former boss

Or colleagues. Or the whole company: the organization is rotten to the ground, and you are glad that you got out of that ball of snakes unscathed.

Such emotions can be shared with loved ones, but do not live them again in front of a potential employer. He will remain in great doubt: is everything really terrible in that company or is something wrong with you. Or maybe, on the contrary, he will immediately draw conclusions that are not in your favor, if he had only heard good things about that company before. But most importantly, such confessions demonstrate that the candidate is not familiar with the elementary rule of business etiquette: about the former employer - either good or nothing.

Even if there were really a lot of problems at the previous job, mention them only if you cannot be silent (for example, the reasons for your dismissal were connected with this). And as reserved as possible. Focus on dry facts, don’t need emotions. If you ask about the relationship at the previous place of work, do not get into detailed explanations. Speak more about yourself than about a person that is unpleasant to you.

For example: “I needed more authority to do the job well” instead of “He controlled every step I took and did not let me breathe.” “I realized that I want to apply my knowledge in another company, in a new field” instead of “Awful team, and the company is breathing in the wings!”

2. Your life is a plot for a movie or a novel

Some candidates, in response to the recruiter’s standard request to tell about themselves, like to start from far away - almost from school. And they tell a lot of details that are not related to work. University success is important if you are a graduate of yesterday. But if you graduated 10 years ago, then go into its details is not worth it, no matter how successful a student you are. The fact that you were the captain of the university team "KVN" or that your former classmate now "soared" high is also unnecessary information. Now they want to hear from you what you have achieved in recent years.

A story about yourself should not take more than 2-3 minutes. To be sure, rehearse it at home or scroll in your head along the way for an interview.

3. You have a very, very interesting hobby!

Some achieve more in their hobbies than at work. However, talking about a hobby at an interview is always a risk. It is impossible to predict the opinion of the employer in this regard: he is a person with his own opinion and stereotypes.

Some are sure that athletes are the best employees, others are the other way around. For some, a photographer is an infantile and lazy worker, for others, a creative person with his own view of the world, which will be appreciated by the team.

Talk about a hobby if it’s fundamentally important for you: for example, you are seriously involved in sports and for the sake of competition you always take vacations only during certain periods. In other cases, talking about a hobby is worth it only if you were asked about it. And even that - you can briefly answer that you have no hobbies that would interfere with your work. In the end, it concerns your life outside of work.

4. You have personal problems

Employers are not animals. But not psychotherapists. The story of the vicissitudes of fate and personal tragedies puts the interviewer in an awkward position: he invited the candidate to a business meeting, and not the client to the session. Trying to soften for the sake of the desired work is definitely not worth it. A rare company will agree to employ a candidate guided by such a motive. In this case, we are not talking about a good position.

If the scale of the problems is such that affects your work, this is of course worth reporting. But not immediately, but after it becomes clear that you are interested in the employer as a professional. For example, you need to work remotely several times a month, as a family member is sick and requires care. In any other case, an interview is not a place for extra revelations. If you and the company approached each other, you will still have the opportunity to discuss personal problems.

5. You do not want to waste time - can I get to the point?

Overly confident candidates perceive recruiters as an extra step on the way to meeting with the head of the department in which the vacancy is open. And they demand a direct visit to it. Is it any wonder that the interview ends there? Recruiters work for companies for a reason - they are entrusted with primary screenings so that forever busy executives meet only those who have already been tested for motivation, compliance with the company's corporate culture and other requirements.

"Everything that you ask about is already in my resume, and I don’t understand the rest of the questions, why are they needed." This is another type of unconstructive reaction to an initial interview with a recruiter. Yes, your CV already says about experience, education, companies and responsibilities. But the employer looks at how you say and how you behave, otherwise he would not waste time interviewing. It is impossible to evaluate a professional by resume as it can be done in person. If you’re tired of repeating word-for-word resumes, take the initiative into your own hands: ask the interviewer about future work. And then tell about yourself, but already in relation to what you learned about this work.

Have a successful meeting!

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