Hey, guys.
It's Chelsea from The Financial Diet.
And this week, I wanted to talk all
about the way you carry yourself in a job interview.
This may feel like a bummer topic.
But it's one of those things that can totally
change the trajectory of your life
if you manage to master it.
I'm someone who was blessed with unbelievable confidence.
In all seriousness, I'm someone who's
always been fairly good at the job interview process,
and yet has been fired from so many jobs.
So clearly, I really have it backwards in terms
of how you should perform at any given employer.
But I will say that being pretty good at the job interview
process has consistently in my life
allowed me to do things that I otherwise
would not have been able to do.
I don't have a degree, for example.
I didn't do a lot of the right internships.
I don't have all the typical qualifications
of a lot of the jobs that I've applied for and gotten.
But because I've always carried myself
with a certain level of self-assurance
in job interviews, I think I've projected
the right image that somehow managed
to cancel those things out.
And at TFD, I've interviewed a lot of people
for a lot of positions.
And in many cases, a really good interview
can outweigh someone who on paper might
be more qualified for a job.
Because ultimately, what you're doing in an interview
is giving these people a glimpse into what
it would be like to be with you every day,
to share a space with you, to work on projects with you.
We often forget that the people that we work with,
we spend more waking hours with than our spouses in most cases.
So coming across as someone with whom
you could feel a certain level of trust and ease
and even camaraderie is so important.
But despite the many interviews that I've been on either side
of, I am personally not an expert on job interviews.
Luckily, though, we at TFD sat down
with a professional recruiter who
told us all about the six things you should never
do at a job interview.
This may not be a perfect recipe for effortless confidence.
But it is a really good glimpse into how
to counteract some of the bad habits you
might be likely to slip into in your next job interview.
So without further ado, here are the six things
you should never do at a job interview
according to a recruiter.
Number one is do not give a long-winded answer when
asked, tell me about yourself.
The best piece of advice that this recruiter gave to us--
the one that she says has served her more than any other--
is to create an elevator pitch for yourself.
You should be able to describe your work
history, your aspirations, and the value
that you bring to a team in under a minute.
Imagine it this way.
If you happen to run into an important executive
in the elevator of the building, how
would you manage to capture their attention
and motivate them to follow up with you
in just the time it takes to rise
to a certain floor on an elevator?
So be concise.
You don't need to talk about every single job you've ever
had.
If you graduated 10 years ago, you probably
don't need to talk about your college experience.
You can just focus on the highlights
and the things that are most relevant to the job at hand.
You can craft each pitch to be slightly different depending
on the person and the role you're talking about.
But more importantly, you shouldn't be monopolizing
the time in this interview.
It always sends the right signal when
you're keeping your responses brief
and making sure to listen acutely.
If you're long-winded in the high pressure
environment of a job interview, you're
likely to be the person that never shuts up at the office.
Number two, do not give too many details
about your personal life.
So one thing that the recruiter stressed to us
was that you want to be cautious to avoid
any personal biases that the hiring manager might have.
Yes, this is unfair.
But it's the reality of being a human being.
Everything from where you went to school,
to your marital status, to all of these different things
might influence the opinion of a recruiter.
And yes, discrimination based on these things is often illegal.
But in many cases, you'll never really know.
And what's more important is that you are not
in any way obligated to divulge personal details.
And in many cases, they should really
have no place in your professional life.
By keeping the information you share
about yourself relevant to the professional context,
you're making sure to be judged only
on what will really matter to your job
and to avoid possibly walking into the landmine
of a personal bias on behalf of the hiring manager.
Now, of course, if you feel that you have been discriminated
against based on a protected class,
that is illegal and something that you
should look into recourse for.
And we'll link you to resources on that in the description.
But in general, even something as innocuous
as talking about your favorite hobby
could potentially be a turnoff to the hiring manager
if they happen to like the opposite hobby.
There will always be time later, if you
feel comfortable with your team, to share more
about your personal life.
But for the context of the interview,
keep it professional.
Number three, don't talk about what we did,
talk about what you did.
So the recruiter pointed out to us that in many experiences
she found that the candidates shared more
about what the team did than what
she in particular contributed.
This often comes from a good place,
which is a desire to show that you can work well
within the context of a team, which is usually a very
important part of most jobs.
But by not highlighting what specifically on the project
was your accomplishment or your responsibility,
you're really leaving the hiring manager in the dark
about what your specific competencies and values are.
So while you can share information
about what your team accomplished,
it's always good to follow up with details
about what you specifically contributed
to that accomplishment.
It doesn't just make sure to highlight you
as a valuable individual, it also
means that you're able to take out of the larger group project
the individual components that helped make it a success.
Working well with others is important,
but so is being able to demonstrate
that you, yourself, have a specific and high value
on any team.
Number four, don't use examples from volunteering, school,
or your personal life.
One thing that is very important to keeping
the focus on your professional life
and keeping the conversation based
on what you can do for this job in particular
is to make sure to keep the examples
that you're providing based in your relevant professional
experience.
Aside from potentially, again, wandering
into those landmines of personal biases,
sharing anecdotes about what you did
to organize a ski trip with your child's school
is going to be much less relevant to the task at hand
than a similar situation in a previous job.
It could also potentially signal to your employer
that you were more driven and focused on the projects
outside of your work life than the ones that were
in your actual work domain.
Ultimately, the employer wants to know
what you will be able to do on their professional team.
So demonstrating what you were able to do
on another professional team is the best way
to communicate that.
The recruiter did make the caveat, though,
that the one time these auxiliary anecdotes can
be beneficial is when you're fresh out of school
and don't really have that much professional experience
to draw on.
Then is a good time to maybe look
at the other areas of your life where you do
have a richer level of experience
to look at to provide anecdotes that convey a similar skill
set.
Yes, you may have never organized a professional team
to accomplish some big, complicated, logistical event
planning, let's say.
But you could have planned a similarly complicated event
in your personal or volunteer life, or maybe in a project
you did for school.
Once you're well into your professional life,
though, stick to the professional.
Number five, don't forget to ask informed questions
about the role.
A recruiter pointed out that one of the things that can often
signal a lack of true interest in the role,
or preparation for the interview,
or even personal interest in one's self and one's own place
within a company is the failure to ask
nuanced and important questions about the role itself.
Usually in any interview, you're going
to be prompted to have an opportunity to ask questions
about the role itself.
The more relevant and detail-oriented
these questions are with regards to the role, the higher
level of attention to detail and interest in the role itself
it will convey.
And aside from the fact that it sends the right signals,
it also avoids a situation in which you may not
have been right for the role or prepared
as you thought you were.
The recruiter said, on many occasions,
she's seen people accept a role only
to find out that it contained an important element that they
were not necessarily prepared for.
This is why the prompt of, do you
have any questions about this role, is always given.
Use it to the fullest for both your benefit and the employers.
Lastly, number six is do not disrespect the receptionist,
HR admin, or other candidates.
Our recruiter pointed out to us that often hiring
managers and recruiters will speak
to the various administrative employees
that the candidate might have spoken to when coming in
for the interview.
Anywhere in the process, you are likely to interact with someone
who does not have a role in directly hiring you,
but could be an important part of giving
an overall impression of how you interact with the team.
You should never feel entitled to speak with any less
respect to someone like a receptionist
than you would the hiring manager who's actually
conducting the interview.
Aside from the fact that it's just the right thing
to do on every level, you'd probably
be surprised at how often these people are
asked about their experience with you.
Because being part of a team doesn't just
mean interacting with the people above you,
it means interacting with everyone at the company.
And if you're liable to be rude to some members of the team,
that does not bode well for how you'd interact with everyone.
Making sure to always be incredibly polite, respectful,
and courteous in all of your various communications
with every member of the team is of the utmost importance.
Outside of the job interview, it's
just the right thing to do.
Ultimately, even the perfect job interview
is not going to guarantee you a job.
But getting really good at this process
doesn't just help you have a broader range of options
for a better range of jobs than you otherwise would,
it also teaches you important skills about navigating
the potentially high stress moments
of any professional job.
Even once you landed the job, there
are going to be moments that feel really scary to you--
whether it's a big presentation, an important meeting
with the higher ups, or just launching a project
that you've been working on for a long time.
So learning how to go into these higher pressure
moments with a market level of confidence and self-assurance
and compassion for everyone around you
is going to help make you an indispensable member
of any team.
So get out there and kill it.
So as always, guys, thank you for watching.
And do not forget to hit the Subscribe button
and to come back every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday
for new and awesome videos.
Buh-bye.