welcome to seven days to mastering the
art of the interview this is module one
the top ten job interview mistakes so
let's get started
now we've all heard stories of job
candidates who look great on paper but
who were an absolute disaster in person
and with fewer and fewer interview
opportunities available in this overly
competitive job market it's essential
that you make the best possible first
impression and the cool thing is you can
learn from the mistakes of others and
avoid these top ten blunders that
everyone else is making now the first
one is the handshake and a poor
handshake says a lot about you the
three-second handshake that starts the
interview this is your first opportunity
to create a great first impression but
all too often an interview is blown
right from the start by an ineffective
handshake and once you've delivered a
poor handshake it's nearly impossible to
recover in your efforts to build rapport
and here's just a few examples you have
the limp hand that kind of just gives
the impression of a disinterest or a
weakness that's when you have like a
really soft hand and there's no there's
no muscle and it's then you have the
tips of the fingers handshake this is
where you kind of grab their fingers or
they grab yours this kind of shows a
lack of ability to engage and then you
have the arm pump this is where you go
in and you grab their arm really harder
they grab yours and you really shake it
and pump it it's just a little too
aggressive kind of like an over
aggressive salesman and even if you're a
seasoned professional don't assume that
you know you've avoided these pitfalls
your handshake may be telling more about
you than you know so just something to
keep in mind there number two talking
too much now in my recruiting days I
couldn't stand over talkative candidates
they talked and talked and they never
knew when to stop now when you take too
long to answer direct questions the
impression is this candidate just can't
get to the point and then you have
nervous talkers these are the people
they kind of give the impression that
they're covering up something talking
too much is not a good thing and you're
not alone many people have this problem
but most over stalkers they just feel
the need to further articulate
everything that they're saying but you
see when you talk too much you're giving
the interviewer more than they want to
hear just give them the key points of
your answer while keeping it to about 45
to 60 seconds you could even try video
recording yourself while giving answers
to some common questions and then watch
yourself now on the other hand if you're
interviewing for a sales job or maybe a
teaching position the ability to talk
and elaborate on certain key points can
be considered a huge plus it's important
that you give the interviewer time to
speak so they can ask you follow-up
questions instead of you just assuming
that they want to hear everything that
you have to say now I've actually had
some customers email me about this
problem because they know that there are
over over stalkers and it never fails it
always takes them like two pages to
explain themselves but you see this
really isn't a hard problem to fix but
you have to realize that when you give
someone so much information they're just
naturally going to lose track of what
you're saying and they're going to end
up not remember not remembering anything
now if you know that you're an over
talker one of the things that you can do
is practice some of the questions in the
complete interview answer guide the
guide is going to show you exactly what
you need to say and all the answers are
well within the right time frame and
guidelines so you can feel comfortable
in knowing that your answers won't be
considered too long if you follow that
framework that I have in the guide okay
let's take a look at number three
saying negative things about your
current or past employers or managers
I'll tell you the fastest way to talk
yourself out of a new job is to start
saying negative things in your interview
even if your last boss was Attila the
Hun never never state your ill feelings
about him or her no matter how
reasonable your complaints are you will
always come out the loser if you show
that you disrespect your boss or the
company that you used to work for I mean
maybe the place you worked at really was
bad maybe your manager was a real jerk
but you never want
to attack them in the interview because
you see that's just your opinion and a
negative one at that now if you really
really feel the need to speak your mind
attack the company as a whole not an
individual person you know considering
saying something like you know the
company I used to work at created a very
strenuous and demanding environment and
it became difficult to separate my
personal life from my job and working
there was doing more harm to me than
good now only say something like that if
the place that you were interviewing at
has a more normal relaxed work
environment because you don't want them
thinking that you can't handle a little
bit of pressure so if you're
interviewing for an investment banking
position you definitely want to let them
know that you can handle a little bit of
stress there are always disadvantages to
saying negative things but rarely does
that hold true for saying positive ones
so instead I always suggest taking the
high road and being positive let's move
on to number four showing up late or too
early
the first lesson in job search etiquette
is to show up on time for interviews a
lot of job seekers don't realize that
showing up too early often creates a
poor first impression as well act as if
your time is just as valuable as theirs
arrive on time but never more than 10 to
15 minutes early and if you're running
late just give them a call it happens we
don't get stuck in traffic and our days
don't go as we planned I mean we're
human and so are interviewers so if you
are running late call them and let them
know that you're running 15 minutes or
so behind but be specific and let them
know exactly when you're going to be
there and then apologize for the
inconvenience your interviewer is
definitely going to respect you for that
and there's no way this going to affect
your candidacy I mean I've heard more
interviewers being late for interviews
than candidates let's move on to number
five treating the receptionist rudely
since the first person that you meet on
an interview is usually a receptionist
this is also the first impression that
you're going to make so don't mistake
low rank for low input often that
receptionist job is too
you into the interview the receptionist
has the power to pave your way
positively or negatively before you even
set eyes on the interviewer the
receptionist is certainly going to
convey her opinion of you to the
interviewer whether you treat her rudely
or with the professional courtesy that
she deserves I mean in short she can
either mention how polite you were or
not the choice is yours
number six asking about benefits
vacation time or salary I mean think
about it for a second what a car
salesman asked to see your credit report
before allowing you to test drive the
cars that just be ridiculous and you
probably walk away and disgust
you see the effect is about the same
when a job seeker asks about benefits or
other employee perks during the first
interview what you want to do is wait
until you've won the employer over
before beginning that kind of discussion
and I'll cover salary with you in
another video program number seven not
preparing for the interview
nothing communicates disinterest like a
candidate who hasn't bothered to do any
type of pre-interview research but on
the flip side the quickest way to a good
impression is to demonstrate your
interest and you can do that with a few
well-thought-out questions that reflect
your knowledge of their organization so
do some research on the company look
them up on the web
read about what they do the products
they make take note maybe even use some
of their products find out who their
customers are find out who their
competition is and once you know all
this then you can begin asking
intelligent questions instead of asking
them inane questions that just don't
make any sense but just to be clear you
only want to ask questions that will
help you qualify them as a place that
you are considering to work at I mean
it's a two-way street you don't have to
work there
you need to interview them to see if
they are good fit for you this is really
important that you have this mindset
because it changes the way you interview
and it puts you in a stronger mental
position but you see so many job seekers
they fail
realize this and instead they put
themselves at a severe disadvantage by
thinking that it's just a one way
interview the interviewer is
interviewing them and that they really
don't have any say-so but they do have
say-so they have say-so whether they
want to work there or not so that's
leverage that's an advantage and that's
something that that you need to realize
when you interview for jobs okay number
eight verbal tics a nervous candidate
seldom makes a good impression
now the first signs of nervousness are
these little verbal tics and we all have
them and you kind of know what I'm
talking about here they're things like
um like you know we do this without even
knowing it I do it I've made some videos
before that throughout my entire
presentation I kept saying you know and
I did this over and over and over
sometimes up to five times in a single
sentence it was really embarrassing but
you see it wasn't that I was nervous I
was just talking conversationally to a
camera so to get rid of these verbal
tics that you have first you need to be
aware that you're doing it you need to
be conscious of it and then you're going
to have a better chance at laying them
all the rest but more than anything it's
just sloppy presentation skills and I've
seen many presenters on the stage
continually stumble over their words and
they add all these little filler words
in so to see if you are doing this
record yourself with a video camera
while answering some sample interview
questions don't read from a script but
pretend that the interviewer asked you
something like you know why do you want
to work here and then start recording
your answer while looking at the camera
and pretending that you're speaking to
the interviewer and don't read your
answers from a script you need to speak
naturally and from memory and then go
back and watch yourself and see if
you're falling victim to having any of
these verbal tics if you speak this way
you want to be aware of this before
going to the interview it's okay to use
a few of these filler words you know
because it sounds natural but too many
it just kind of makes you sound nervous
and once you improve your confidence in
your answering ability you're going
do a much better job of avoiding these
verbal tics on all your interviews in
one of the best ways to reduce or
eliminate them is through practicing
your answers to some common interview
questions or you can even roleplay with
a video camera and then watch how you do
and the completing of your answer guide
it's a great tool for this and it's
going to help you set up and frame your
answers the right way okay let's move on
to number 9 not enough or too much eye
contact either situation can create a
negative effect if you avoid eye contact
you'll seem shifty or untruthful you
offer too much eye contact it you'll
kind of where the interviewer out if you
sometimes have trouble with eye contact
balance work this out ahead of time in
an interview practice session you know
maybe with a friend or somebody now no
eye contact that indicates that you're
uncomfortable but you don't want to
stare at them either you need to balance
this out if you're in a room full of
people you want to pan your eyes around
and make short eye contact with each
person as you're speaking if it's just
you and someone else
then make eye contact with them when you
speak but glance around to and then come
back to making eye contact again you can
also watch what your interviewer does
when they speak to you do they stare at
you the whole time or do they look
around and then keep coming back to you
well obviously they look around and then
they come back and they look at you and
then they go off and they look around
it's something they come back to you
it's just more of a conversational style
of making eye contact okay let's move on
to number 10 failure to match
communication styles it's almost
impossible to make a good first
impression if you can't communicate
effectively with an interviewer but you
can easily change that situation by
mirroring the wave interviewer treats
you for instance if the interview were
seeing was all business don't attempt to
loosen him or her up with a joke or
story you want to be succinct and
businesslike
now if the interviewer is personable you
know try discussing his or her interest
often you know the items on display in
the office can be a clue maybe like a
golf trophy or baseball glove
a ball or something like that now if
they ask you a direct question answer
directly and then follow up by asking
you know they need more information when
you allow the interviewer to set the
tone of the conversation this can vastly
improve your chances of making a
favorable impression you can put the
interviewer at ease and make yourself
seem more like him or her by mirroring
his or her communication style but this
is not to say that you should imitate
them you need to be yourself but you
want to balance that with the
personalities of the people around you
so that you fit in polishing up your
interviewing skills can mean the
difference between getting the job and
being a runner-up and runner-ups don't
get hired I have one more blunder for
you I know I said this was just a top
ten but I'm such a big fan of overdoing
things I wanted to throw one more at you
so let's look at number 11 which is
inconsistencies everything you say on
your resume needs to match what you say
in the interview everything you say to
one interviewer in the first interview
needs to be consistent with the second
interview you need to answer their
questions the same way with the same
answers and all too often people say one
thing on the resume that conflicts with
what they said on their LinkedIn profile
or what they said in a previous
interview your LinkedIn profile needs to
reflect your resume if your LinkedIn
profile says that you're looking for
stock trading jobs but your resume says
that you're looking for financial
lending jobs then the interviewers won't
know what to make of you and they're
just going to think that you're taking
stabs at anything that comes along if
this is caught this severely diminishes
your credibility and your chances for
the job I mean everything that you do
you say and write needs to come full
circle it all has to be consistent what
you say in your interviews needs to
match what's on your resume what's on
your resume needs to match your LinkedIn
profile and what you're what's on your
LinkedIn profile needs to match what you
say about what you're looking for in the
interviews it all needs to come full
circle okay that wraps up your first
lesson in
one now that you know what not to do
tomorrow I'm going to give you my top
ten job interview preparation tips so
you don't embarrass yourself on your
next interview if you want to get a head
start on preparing for the kinds of
questions that you'll be asked on your
interviews I would strongly suggest
reading the complete interview answer
guide it's really one of the best ways
to prepare for interview questions and
there should be a link off to the right
where you can pick that up and sometimes
I'm even running a promotion on it now
if you're not watching this video at job
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the next lesson and of course I'd love
to hear your comments have you made any
of these mistakes before what happened
were you embarrassed please share your
story with us I'd love to hear it I'm
don georgevich stay on your game I'm
here to help you succeed so you can lead
a prosperous career and enjoy a
lifestyle you love we'll see you soon
John games Norton where do I start
absolutely the best program and I did
shop around and looked at a lot of
different opportunities many but it
would have required a lot more financial
investment but I feel absolutely blessed
that I stumbled upon your site and had
the good fortune of ordering your
program because it changed everything I
had a session of interviews for a
regional sales position and it ended up
getting that and offer on its way and
your help in the program but
additionally answering emails and
specifics and approach to a lot of these
different individual
overnight ended up interviewing uphill
quite a bit the executive level was
invaluable and just having you in my
corner I can't say that value but very
high and I appreciate that so much
that's about it I would recommend this
program to anybody who wants to adjust
their ability not just an interviewing
but understanding that that these
techniques are absolutely valuable for
in relationship I would say them
yourself forward being prepared what
Don's program does is prepare you for
what is coming at you and knowledge of
the interview process gives you insights
that release the tension around this
type of a question process and if you
insight into what the interviewer is
looking for and highly recommended pick
it up for me the value is ten hundred
times that
you