I was writing a piece on “How students can prepare better for interviews”.
Because the common approach was pretty boring and cliche I decided to take the opposite: ask friends to tell me their stories about when they really f***ed up in an interview.
I sent an email with this same description and these questions:
1-What was the worst interview you have ever done and why?
2-Looking back, what was your biggest mistake?
3-What was the most embarrassing moment you had in an interview?
To encourage my friends to respond I told them here is a story about mine (which is not that bad due to the fact I have been to few interviews).
My friends (thanks God) have better stories than me and here they are (all names have been omitted to respect privacy and mislead the CIA):
Unfortunately, I am an asshole and didn’t realize it until about a month ago.
This first story is about the importance of being a good guy. It not only matters that you have the right skills and attitude but you also need to make a good impression as a human being. Remember that at the end the interview is just the beginning of a relationship between you and everyone that works in the company. No matter how good you are at your job you also need to be a good person.
So i’m going to this interview and the first question I get asked was, “How are you?” I answered by saying, “Great, but i’m not here for small talk. Lets get to business, i’m trying to get hired here.” It showed I’m confident and serious, exactly what every company wants. We start getting in to more business related questions, and I nail them all. By the end of it he knew I was the man, and could push his lazy team to new heights.
Sometimes being direct, brief or aggressive can be a good strategy but we should never forget that they are hiring a future coworker. Someone that will spend hours/months, maybe years with them. People want to hear stories and learn from each other. Taking the time to understand who you are talking to involves lowering your guard, pausing that anxiety, and showing who you really are.
He closed with, “Thank you for your time. Have a good new year.” And silly me, I said, “You have a good one too.” I completely forgot to thank him for his time. Only a real asshole would do such a thing, and I know that’s why I didn’t land that internship.
We should all learn from this story.
I had some horrible grammar mistakes in my resume. They showed them to me in my face!
One of the most important things we should understand is the subliminal messages that our resume sends to our interviewer. Your resume not only talks about who you are and what you have done but also about how much effort you put into preparing yourself for a job or if you have a personality that focuses on details and order.
A resume with no order, no dates, or with grammar mistakes tells that you haven’t put enough time and care into it.
It was the year 97 and I got an interview at a company called Ertec. It was a telecommunication company that was just starting and was hiring a lot of young people. This was my first interview and I was really nervous! The moment I sat down I knew something was wrong. The lady that was interviewing me took my resume our of her briefcase and show it to me. There were red circles around all the grammar mistakes and she said: “There are many grammar mistakes in this resume”. I had some horrible grammar mistakes in my resume. They showed them to me in my face! That was it. I was paralyzed. I clearly didn’t get the job.
It is very important that we focus on the details. Everything is part of the interview. The way you dress, the way you speak, your resume, all of it.
I think we can learn two important lessons from these stories. Be yourself (a nice person) and focus on the details.
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