4 Common Job Interview Mishaps and How To Recover From Them
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People get so nervous during job interviews because the belief is that one false move will ruin a job prospect. Here’s a reality check: people don’t lose out on jobs over one job interview mishap. Instead, they lose out because they allow their mistake to shatter their confidence, thus doing poorly throughout the entire rest of the interview. But any time you put yourself out there you are vulnerable to making mistakes; why not accept that you might make a mistake on your interview and learn how to handle it instead? Here are four common job interview mishaps, complete with ideas on how to recover from them:
Tardiness
Should have: Arrived 10 minutes early.
Mishap: Missed your train or got stuck in traffic - arrived 10 minutes late.
Recovery: A simple apology - “Sorry to keep you waiting.” No need to explain why you’re late as it’s probably due to your own poor planning in some way. I did this myself on an interview, and while the recruiter was irritated, I still had a great interview with the people hiring.
Dress Code
Should have: Worn a suit. Even if your prospective employer’s website says the dress code is casual. Even if you’re a woman. Other tips: Schedule a haircut a week or two before job interviews (so it has time to grow out a little). Wear great shoes. For women, add some makeup and subtle jewelry.
Mishap: Wore something other than described above.
Recovery: Don’t make a joke about your attire or draw attention to it in any way, and don’t lose confidence because of it. No (good) employer is going to overlook you for a job because of your wardrobe choices as long as you are impressive otherwise - so make it up to them with your talent and experience. (And buy yourself a suit afterwards.)
Mistakes on Your Resume
Should have: Proofread your resume before sending it out, or asked others to proofread for you.
Mishap: You put something incorrect on your resume. When I was searching for my last job, I updated my college resume to reflect my professional experience. Big mistake - I left some undergraduate language classes on there, which included intermediate Japanese and Spanish, neither of which I can speak at an intermediate level. Imagine my surprise when one of my interviewers asked me his last question… in Japanese.
Recovery: Complete transparency. Explain you made a mistake on the resume and how/why you made it without sounding like an excuse-maker. Own up and apologize for the confusion. Don’t write off the interview at that point - I still received a job offer because I showed high integrity.
Confessing Too Much
Should have: Learned to edit yourself in professional situations.
Mishap: Gave too much information, answered a question too honestly (ie: “My biggest weakness is that I’m lazy”), or shared an inappropriate personal story.
Recovery: Do not say, “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this.” That sets off warning bells in the interviewer’s mind. Instead, keep your confidence high. If you realize you’re giving away to much, try to spin the tables by explaining how the experience changed you or made you a stronger person. When you’ve said too much to spin it, stop talking - mid-sentence even - and switch gears. Try “That example isn’t the best; here’s another one.”
One of the most important skills to have for any job is adaptability, so knowing how to handle mistakes in an interview is essential to landing a job.
Do you have any interview horror stories? I’d love to hear from you.
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Monica O'Brien is the founder of Twenty Set, a website about personal and professional growth and development for the Millennial generation. She has been a blogger since 1998 when blogging was still in its “Dear Diary” form and in May 2007 began blogging for personal branding and profit.
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The killer question, in my mind, is “Why are you looking for a new job?”
You better make sure the answer is a good one, because you don’t want to give off the impression that you are bringing any baggage with you.
A bad answer is “I’ve been there for 18 months, I need a change.”
A good answer is “I’m looking to grow professionally and this seems like a great opportunity.”
Yes, true. Complaining about a current employer is another thing people tend to do in job interviews… but I guess that falls into “Confessing Too Much.”
First off, i’d like to say that I had a friend that was turned down in an interview, just because he wore a pink dress shirt. It was rather ridiculous on there part, but I have to say don’t try to over power your recuiter with what you wear to the interview.
Second, don’t let surprise questions throw you off. Answer them the best you can. And if you can’t try answering with “I’m not familair with…..” And have them try to explain it in further detail. Sometimes this triggers your mind and buys time for you to answer the question. Trust me, I got nailed here!
Thanks for the tips, always good to keep collecting them.
Horror Story: First ever interview (during my University years) I completely got lost in the middle of my own lie and ended up just staring out of the window as I finished my obviously bull story with a trailing off mumble. I didn’t want to job anyway, and furthermore, had my hair dyed blue.
Sigh….
Now I look forward to an interview, something which I didn’t even have to do for my current job. Though I’m not planning on switching over quite yet, would you ever suggest going to an interview or at least meeting a prospect in a formal manner just for practice’s sake? How would I get away with not actually wanting a job there?
Great advice - I love the simple, unapologetic approach. There’s no need to explain a mistake; just own up to it and move on. Thanks!
Matt, wow. I’m shocked. How does your friend know it was the pink shirt that lost him the job opportunity? I’m just wondering if they flat out told him that was the reason. I like your addition about tricky questions… any way you can buy yourself a little time to think out an answer is good. There are also lists of “common interview questions” you can find (just through google) that will help you prepare your answers beforehand, or at least practice answering interview questions.
t - I don’t see the point in interviewing for a job you don’t want. It wastes the employer’s time, it wastes yours, and it creates a bad impression. If you want to practice interviewing, why not try an informational interview? The concept is you meet with someone in your industry to find out more about their company and the types of positions they have. It will be a little more casual, but at least there is a non-commitment understanding on both ends.
Kristen - When recovering from mistakes, less is definitely more. By owning up to your mistake and apologizing, you basically say “We all make mistakes, I made one, I’m sorry, moving on.” It’s hard for people to fault you for that - in fact, they can’t help but relate to you and respect your honesty. If you try to make excuses, however, people will find more reasons not to like you. Thanks for the comment!
Great post. I do some work for the Career Services unit at my university, where we hold taped mock interviews. A question that snags a lot of people is “Tell me about yourself”.
It seems that everyone rehearses questions EXCEPT for that one — I find that people tend to ramble on and on because they have no idea how to answer that question.
The ones that answer it best are the ones that have clearly taken a step back and taken an inventory of who they really are. They know their passions, how their past has shaped them, their goals and why they are where they are. A bit of introspection every now and then never hurt anyone.
Yeah, rambling is bad. I do my best to control that in interviews, but sometimes nerves get to me. A good idea is to think of three things “about yourself” and limit your answer to those three. Maybe pick things that show three different sides of you. Thanks for the tip David!
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