So you’ve landed an interview for your dream role, you have the ability and experience to secure the role however how you articulate yourself may be letting you down.
You can be dressed the part in your interview suit and on paper you may be the ideal candidate but how you sound is equally important. Many job seekers let careless speech habits sink their chances of landing their ideal job with the use of jargon phrases, slang, and overused words.
Below are our recommendations of words to avoid in an interview and the key to sounding confident in your speech!
Obviously
Never assume that your interviewer knows the answer to the question they have asked you. The term obviously’ implies that they do so should be avoided when explaining your experiences and job responsibilities. Employers are trying to gain a better understanding and assess how good a fit you are for their organisation so steer clear of words like obviously & clearly.
We
Your employer wants to hear what YOU did and achieved in your previous roles and what YOU can do for their organisation. ‘I did’ is always better than ‘we did’. Explain that you took ownership of your tasks and carried them out individually to succeed.
Workaholic or Perfectionist
When asked the common question of Strengths vs Weaknesses- dodge the phrase workaholic when explaining your weaknesses. This will not impress your interviewer as it is a skill that cannot develop over time. Perfectionist falls in the same category as a workaholic and is not an individualised response, it will leave your interviewer with the sense that you are not able to cope when things go awry and proceed with things your way rather than think of another solution. As a substitute suggest communication skills or public speaking skills, these are abilities that can improve with time and practise, they also contain more substance and allow you to expand on your point.
Challenge
Employers often find that candidates cannot outline an example of an appropriate work related challenge, keep this section of the interview related to the job at hand and not your personal life challenges. Refrain from using the phrase I love a challenge, it suggests that everyone finds the same task challenging.
Non-words
Everyone has a speech stumble from time to time but it is important not to let every response start with um, ah, you know or like. It outlines to your interviewer that you are not prepared and your responses often lose authenticity. Filler words are satisfactory on the odd occasion but you are better off to take a moment after the question is asked, gather your responses and then answer. Your response will sound less repetitive, more professional and composed.
