The Worst Mistakes You Can Make in an Interview, According to 12 CEOs

The Worst Mistakes You Can Make in an Interview, According to 12 CEOs A recent study by Harris Interactive and Everest College found that 92 percent of U.S. adults find themselves anxious over job einstellungsgesprchs. General anxiety consumes 17 percent of the 1,002 polled employees between the ages of 18 and 54. Aleidherbei 15 percent fear being overqualified, anotlageher 15 percent fear not knowing the answer to the bewerbungsinterviewers question and 14 percent fear being late.These are all valid concerns, especially because people are often overqualified (and underqualified), unprepared, ill-informed late or worse. As such, CEOs have seen their ritterlich share of interview fails.We spoke with 12 CEOs whove shared the worst interview mistakes that theyve witnessed candidates make, so you dont repeat history.1. Calling the interviewer by the wrong name.One young woman came in for a stylist position in one of ur NY locations, says Erika Wasser, founder and CEO of Glam+G. She calle d me Tiffany three times. As if that wasnt bad enough, when I asked if she had any questions, she asked what the company does.2. Not asking for the position.The biggest mistake interviewers can make is not asking for the position, says Gene Caballero, CEO and co-founder of GreenPal. Especially in a sales environment, we want the interviewer to close the proverbial sale and ask for the job at the end of the interview. This is a mistake that many make when it comes to solidifying themselves as a front-runner for a position.3. Admitting to unprofessional behaviors.Ive actually had a potential candidate volunteer that they lied to their former boss to be specific, the candidate literally said that she lied to her previous manager about suffering from fibromyalgia in order to get mora time off, says Matthew Ross, the co-owner of 4. Demonstrating a gender bias.Occasionally, I will interview men who will not talk to me even though Im the person making the hiring decision, says Jennifer Ha ncock of Humanist Learning Systems. They talk to and look at my male colleague. Exclusively. Like I dont exist. When I interview people alone, they talk to me and everything seems fine. But if I am present with a male, they ignore me.As a result, Hancock never interviews on her own.I always do a co-interview, as I want to see how the candidate handles the dynamic and uncertainty of the situation. If they pay attention to each of us equally, all is well. If they ignore one or the other of us, its not okay.5. Not making eye contact.We were hiring for a field IT technician, and that schrift of job requires people skills, as they will need to converse with clients, says Marc Enzor, president of awkward.If you want to nail an interview, Enzor says to be sure to make a comfortable amount of eye contact and talk with confidence.Assure the hiring manager that you will be a great candidate, and that will go a long way.6. Spreading negativity.While engaging in amiable small talk about the med ia industry, the candidate went off on a tirade about their views of a media organization they had clearly disliked the candidate went into great length and negativity on the subject, even as I had tried to change the trajectory of the conversation, especially because that media organization was one of our closest partners over the years, says Zachary Weiner, CEO of Emerging Insider Communications.The lesson here is two-fold, Weiner says. Do your research to have an idea of a companys clients, partners and business objectives before the interview. And also, lean towards the positive when it comes to discussions on any topic, as you never know who has friends, colleagues, coworkers or even significant others at wherever youre discussing.7. Not taking the interview seriously.Many interviewees I have seen in my career are guilty of mistaking an interview for some jolly prom they are guilty of the professional abomination of coming to an interview rusty and unprepared, and its as crimi nal as puffing a cigarette in the Vatican, says Michael D. Brown, director at 8. Not doing their research.In an interview for a marketing position, I asked a candidate for one suggestion about how they might change or improve how our organization was represented online, and the candidate began their response with saying they had not yet looked at our website or social media, and then continued by telling me they werent even sure what a Chamber of Commerce was, says Kari Whaley, president and CEO of the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce. Their answer came across as unprepared and unprofessional, especially for someone in marketing.Whaleys says that it was clear that they didnt take any time to research the organization and the nature of its work, or generate any ideas about how they could make a unique contribution to the team.It could have been avoided if the candidate had taken some time before the interview to at least briefly familiar themselves with the scope of the organization or if they had researched, but didnt understand fully what the organization did, it would have been great if they had come with some clarifying questions to ask.9. Showing poor judgment.I had a candidate tell me that he was very good at quickly reading people, so I then asked him what he thought of the senior executive he interviewed with just prior to my interview, and he characterized the executive as a disingenuous egomaniac, which was far from the truth, says Rod Brace, a CLO and executive coach who has taught C-level executives what to look for in their employees. His mistake demonstrated his lack of maturity and poor judgment. He would have been better off to not make such a claim and to stay professional in his remarks. He, of course, didnt get the position.10. Getting stuck in their phone.I personally interviewed a person for a sales support team that did not take his smartphone earphones off for the whole interview duration, says Ola Wlodarczyk, HR Specialist at 11. Saying th ey just wanted the money.When we were interviewing prospective college mentors to join our team, we asked one candidate why she wanted to work here, says Jason Patel, former career ambassador at George Washington University and the founder of 12. Making sexist comments.I have been an active part of multiple interview panels, and I noticed one classical mistake that is, unfortunately, going to stay in my mind forever, says Ketan Kapoor, CEO and co-founder of Mettl, a HR technology company. I was interviewing a candidate for Mettl, and the guy looked promising as far as skills and competencies are concerned. After I was done assessing, we were having a hearty laugh talking about characters from a recent flick. Everything looked right, but then suddenly, the guy came up with a few strong, highly opinionated and stereotypical statements about women that clearly showed his sense of gender bias.Although Kapoor spent a considerable amount of time assessing the candidate and had almost made the decision to hire him, he says he quickly changed his mind that moment.I feared that the person might not fit the company culture.--AnnaMarie Houlis is a feminist, a freelance journalist and an adventure aficionado with an affinity for impulsive solo travel. She spends her days writing about womens empowerment from around the world. You can follow her work on her blog, HerReport.org, and follow her journeys on Instagram her_report,Twitterherreportand Facebook.