THE MOST INTERVIEW MISTAKES

Top Eight Word Mistakes Candidates Make in Job Interviews

1.Use language that is too informal

It is important to remember that you are interviewing for a job, not trying to make a new best friend. Too much familiarity can hurt your chances by making you look unprofessional.

Poor Phrase:“I’m sure you guys are aware that the job market is in the dumps right now. It’s been one heck of an uphill battle for me for the past year.”

Perfect Phrase: “Unfortunately, as I am sure you are aware, the job market is still tight, and there is a great deal of heavy competition for the same jobs.”

2.The use of words that are vague

Words such as “a lot,”“various/multiple,” and “great deal of” are vague and don’t give the interviewer the needed information.

Poor Phrase: “I have had a lot of experience with various lines of multiple products. I am proud of the results I’ve had in saving the company a great deal of money.”

Perfect Phrase: “With over eight years experience working in the paper industry and primarily selling photo paper, I consider myself an expert on the subject and have saved my clients as much as 20 percent on orders over $5000.”

3.Misuse of pronouns

It can be very confusing and words can be misinterpreted when pronouns are misused. Be especially alert to this when you are using the pronouns “we,”“I,” and “you.”

Poor Phrase: “We were behind on our project, and we decided that we would stay and finish the job rather than miss our deadline. We pulled it together, and we were able to meet our deadline.”

Perfect Phrase: “I worked with a team of designers to bring a project in on time. We each took responsibility for a particular area. We worked closely, but at the same time we were completely disconnected from one another. This seemed to work because my four counterparts and I managed to pull the project together on time.”

4.Using company-specific words

Each company has certain terms that are indigenous only to that company. Outsiders will not know what you are talking about if you use these terms. This is especially true if you have worked for a public organization or the military. You should use as many specific words as possible in your interview so that the hiring manager knows you are familiar with your industry.

Poor Phrase: “While I was working on the 767 project,

I discovered an error in the “Whichamaculit” used to produce our 656 product line.

This was a really costly mistake.”

Perfect Phrase: “At my last company there was a particular marketing project that involved a software conversion.

Because of my strong attention to detail, I was able to catch an error that would have cost the company millions of dollars.”

5. Assuming everyone knows the acronym you are using

Acronyms are used at every company—shortcuts used internally to eliminate a lot of words. Avoid using these in an inter- view because the hiring manager may not be familiar with the acronyms used at your current company.

Poor Phrase: “I was considered an SAR and supported three line reps who were in the SWSC area.”

Perfect Phrase: “My position title was sales associate representative, and I supported the sales representatives who were responsible for the southwest area of South Carolina.”

6. Describing skills by using “weak” words

Beware of small words that can sabotage your credibility—words like “pretty,”“most of the time,” and “kind of.”

Poor Phrase: “I’m pretty good with computers—at least most of the time I am. I kind of taught myself most of the programs.”

Perfect Phrase: “I am very knowledgeable about Unix software. When I was unfamiliar with programs in the past, I taught myself in less than two weeks. I am a very quick learner.”

7.Use too few words to answer the question

One pet peeve many interviewers have is not getting enough information. When a candidate answers a question with one or two words, it’s impossible to make a judgment as to whether this person is the right person for the job.

Poor Phrase:“Yes, I have had experience in that area.”

Perfect Phrase: “I have over 10 years working with biotech testing. If you were to ask any of my coworkers, they would tell you that I hold the record for the least number of mistakes when using testing equipment.”

8.Talking too much—not getting to the point

When you fail to prepare for the interview, you can easily ramble and go off the subject down some other road. A rule of thumb is, “Your answers should be no longer than two to three minutes long.”

Poor Phrase: “My last company has developed software to support government enforcement of firearms violators. This nationwide project will be the first of its kind and will allow users to investigate firearms traffickers and purchasers. The software is able to track violent offenders and unscrupulous federal firearms licensees. This product will allow users to investigate and prosecute violators and felons by tracking their activities from remote locations. The product has been developed in cooperation with the U.S. government and will hopefully be purchased and used by all branches of law enforcement agencies that could use this tracking method. The company has invested over two years in developing and perfecting this product and has invested a great percentage of the company’s revenue in it, betting that this is going to have a big payoff long term. Short term it has put a considerable squeeze on the finances needed to run everyday work projects. If it is successful, it will be a huge coup for those who have hung in there. If it is not successful, it will be a huge loss to the company and will probably result in massive layoffs. So the whole project is going to make or break the company and it’s future.”

Perfect Phrase: “At my last company I served as lead in getting a new tracking product launched nationwide. The product will be used to track firearms violators and bring them to conviction through evidence collected. I worked closely with the U.S. government and followed the regulations necessary to develop such a produ

TIPS ON COMMUNICATION

GETTING READY TO COMMUNICATE

THINGS TO CONSIDER

1. Make a chart.

Deliberately writing succinct facts instead of just vaguely thinking

about something makes you become aware of all the forces in an

upcoming encounter, whether you're the originator of the meeting or the

person summoned.

2. Take the time to discover and state your own goals.

If you dig, you'll find out all you really want to have happen at the

meeting, and you can use that as an agenda to be sure it happens.

3. Analyze your audience's goals.

What outcomes would that person or group logically want from the

meeting? See their position clearly. What does he/she or they want from

you? Know that they can't give you the fulfillment of your goals unless

they get some of theirs, too.

4. Be honest about your emotional needs.

Without judging whether they are worthy and should be there or

not, acknowledge and allow yourself to have emotional needs. Have the

courage to find, recognize, and state them, in writing.

5. Uncover the other s emotional needs.

Through imagination and perception, become aware of what your

opposite number's or audience's feelings probably are in relation to the

upcoming meeting. Reverse roles to find out what you, or anyone, would

need in that situation.

Then, given those needs we would all share, go from the general to

the specific. If it's someone you know, use your perception and

knowledge of this particular person or group to add to your insights about

what this person(s) would need emotionally in this situation.

6. Find out what you expect to have happen.

Derail that knee-jerk reaction. Make yourself recognize and rethink

your conditioned style and response to the upcoming situation. Analyze

whether that's the best way, given what else you now know.

7. Imagine the other s expectations of the meeting.

What do they probably expect? Build on that stereotype of what is

expected, going for the element of surprise. Open new avenues to a

closer meeting of the minds by using another tack than the one most

expected.

8. Disarm

Use that greatest element of surprise and persuasion—the truth! And

don't do the expected: Try a new approach to get attention. And, most of

all, don't forget the power of humor.

ALL ABOUT FEAR

WHAT IS FEAR?

Fear is what we feel when we are unable to predict what is going to

happen, and we think that what is going to happen is likely to be bad

for us. Fear is a very useful emotion, because it helps keep us alive. If

we never felt fear, we wouldn’t be aware of danger, and so we wouldn’t

do what’s necessary to protect ourselves.

However, many of our fears are misplaced, or out of proportion to the

danger we are in.

WHAT ARE WE AFRAID OF?

We fear anything that threatens our survival. We need to survive in two

ways: as a body, that is physically, and as a person, that is psychologically.

Death threatens us in both ways. We try to survive as a body by staying

healthy, avoiding illness and physical danger that could damage or kill

us. We try to survive as a person, and overcome our fear of death, by

believing that when we die some important part of us will continue

on. This could mean our soul or spirit, our children, our work, or the

memory people have of us.

Surviving as a person means being the person that you know yourself

to be, not giving yourself up to be what someone else wants you to be.

It’s about not shrinking under the weight of humiliation or cruelty to

become an object, a nothing. It means not falling apart, or disappearing,

when overwhelmed by unexpected events.

We try to survive as a person by maintaining our sense of self-worth,

personal pride, dignity and respect. All of these are threatened when

other people don’t respect us, when they ignore or humiliate us, or

treat us like an object to be used and abused.

When we are faced with a crisis that reveals a serious difference between what we thought our life was and what it actually is, we try to survive as a person by interpreting what has happened. We can choose to do so in one of two ways. We may tell ourselves that the crisis is a challenge, which we will master, and thus we become courageous. Or we may tell ourselves that the crisis is our punishment for our wickedness, or that we are weak and helpless and there’s nothing we can do to protect ourselves. In this case, we increase our fear.

SO HOW DO WE CONQUER FEAR?

• Know yourself. Know what your priorities are and what these

priorities lead you to fear.

• Value and accept yourself. Don’t set yourself impossible standards

and judge yourself harshly. Don’t believe that you have to deserve

all the good things that happen to you. Don’t believe that you

deserve the bad things that happen to you.

• Look after yourself. Eat food that’s good for you, exercise regularly,

get plenty of sleep and relaxation, and be moderate in your vices.

Don’t carry any health measure to extremes. If you do, it’s because

you haven’t recognized the presence of your greatest fear.

• Assess dangers realistically. Understand probabilities, for example

that you are more likely to be killed by smoking than by being

struck by a meteorite. Understand and accept that we live in a

world where things happen by chance.

• Remember that things are resolved, one way or another, and that

everything passes. Don’t try to control everything or to force people and

things to be what they can’t be. Let people and things be themselves.

• Know that our greatest fear is fear of something that can’t happen.

No matter what happens to us, we can’t be annihilated as a person.

When people treat us badly, when they humiliate, betray or ignore

us, and when we discover that the world and life is not what we

thought, we can feel that we are fragmenting and diminishing to

the point of disappearing. But this will not and can’t happen. You’re

still there, observing this process. It's not you who are fragmenting

and disappearing, but some of your ideas. These are the ideas that

no longer give an accurate picture of what is happening. You go on

existing, but you have to change some of your ideas. This can be

painful and confusing, but time will pass and you’ll survive.

If you do all these things, then fear will present you, not with a

disaster, but with a challenge that you can master.

A WISE OLD MAN

A WISE OLD MAN

A man of 92 years, short, very well - presented, who takes great care in his appearance, is moving into an old people’s home today.
After waiting several hours in the retirement home lobby, he gently smiles as he is told that his room is ready.
His wife of 70 has recently died, and he is obliged to leave his home.

As he slowly walks to the elevator, using his cane, I describe his small room to him, including the sheet hung at the window which serves as a curtain.
- " I like it very much", he says, with the enthusiasm of an 8 year old boy who has just been given a new puppy.
- "Sir, you haven ’t even seen the room yet, hang on a moment, we are almost there. "

" That has nothing to do with it ", he replies.
" It is already decided in my mind that I like my room. It is a decision I take every morning when I wake up. "
" Happiness is something I choose in advance. Whether or not I like the room does not depend on the furniture, or the decor – rather it depends on how I decide to see it. "

" I can choose. I can spend my day in bed enumerating all the difficulties that I have with the parts of my body that no longer work very well, or I can get up and give thanks to heaven for those parts that are still in working order. "

" Every day is a gift, and as long as I can open my eyes, I will focus on the new day, and all the happy memories that I have built up during my life. "
" Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw in later life what you have deposited along the way. "

So, my advice to you is to deposit all the happiness you can in your bank account of memories.
Thank you for your part in filling my account with happy memories, which I am still continuing to fill…

1. Free your heart from hate.  
2. Free your mind from worry. Remember these simple guidelines for happiness.
3. Live simple. 
4. Give more. 
5. Expect less.

If you have been blessed by this message, send it to your loved ones and your friends….it is the way we touch each other with simple truths that spread goodness in the world. Who knows, a miracle may happen as a result….