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Stop Wrecking Your Job Interviews

Twelve Things NOT To Do In A Job Interview

Bill Cole, MS, MA
Founder and CEO
William B. Cole Consultants
Silicon Valley, California

Mental Game Coach Bill Cole Peak Performance Playbook

A high-quality job interview coaching program should include everything you could need to conduct a highly successful interview campaign. You need to cover company research, questions and answers, how to practice, stress control, contingency planning, body language, eye contact, posture, hand usage, rapport building, selling yourself, negotiation, following up and self-coaching. As important as it is to know what you should be doing, it is very instructive to know what NOT to do. Here are a dozen things you should stop yourself from doing during any job interview.    870 words.

A high-quality job interview coaching program should include everything you could need to conduct a highly successful interview campaign. You need to cover company research, questions and answers, how to practice, stress control, contingency planning, body language, eye contact, posture, hand usage, rapport building, selling yourself, negotiation, following up and self-coaching.

As important as it is to know what you should be doing, it is very instructive to know what NOT to do in a job interview. Here are a dozen things you should stop yourself from doing during any job interview.


Twelve Things NOT To Do In A Job Interview


  • Job Interview Tip #1: Stop looking at the clock or your watch.

  • Job Interview Tip #2: Stop asking about pay, benefits, vacation and other non-essentials in the initial interview.

  • Job Interview Tip #3: Stop fidgeting with your jewelry, glasses, or pen.

  • Job Interview Tip #4: Stop going off-focus and wandering into content the interviewer did not ask you.

  • Job Interview Tip #5: Stop devolving into irrelevant personal data when you answer questions. Keep it business-like and professional.

  • Job Interview Tip #6: Stop doing all the talking. You should be having a conversation. If you are talking more than 40%, stop and begin asking the interviewer some questions.

  • Job Interview Tip #7: Stop bad-mouthing anyone or anything. Don't be a Gloomy Gus. Be a Happy Hal. Or a Happy Harriet.

  • Job Interview Tip #8: Stop looking away from the interviewer as you think about how to answer.

  • Job Interview Tip #9: Stop saying "That's a good question". It makes you sound trite and weak.

  • Job Interview Tip #10: Stop saying "Umm" and "You Know" to fill empty conversational space from feeling embarrassed in the silence.

  • Job Interview Tip #11: Stop answering the question you think the interviewer asked. Listen carefully and answer the real question.

  • Job Interview Tip #12: Stop thinking your job ends when the interview ends. Follow up with an email, letter, note or phone call later.


Remember these 12 important tips about what NOT to do in a job interview and your chances of success will increase dramatically.

The Interview Success Guide Ebook

This article is an excerpt from the Interview Success Guide, which contains eight chapters about interview mistakes to avoid, in addition to 11 chapters with tips for a successful interview, and much more. This guide is an indispensable tool to make your interview campaign a big success. It is a 216-page master blueprint that helps you understand and navigate the interview process so you can mount a successful interview campaign. This book has deep, insightful and immediately applicable interview wisdom that demystifies the world of interviewing. It also has over 400 questions, listed by category, for a variety of careers and jobs, which you could be asked in an interview. There are also over 1200 interview task reminders, questions and guidelines in checklist form so you leave nothing to chance in your job hunt. This guide gives you a step-by-step approach to mastering the interview process. Everything you need to do, from the moment you begin your job hunt to when you accept the position, is covered. We have thought of everything you could possibly need to know to conduct a comprehensive, smart job hunt campaign. Learn more about The Interview Success Guide and purchase it in pdf format, downloadable directly from this website. The Interview Success Guide eBook is also available in Amazon Kindle format and Barnes & Noble Nook format.


To learn more about how interview coaching can help you improve your abilities in media situations, oral test and exam situations, and job interviews visit Bill Cole, MS, MA, the Mental Game Coach™, at: www.mentalgamecoach.com/Services/InterviewCoaching.

Bill Cole, MS, MA, a leading authority on peak performance, mental toughness and coaching, is founder and CEO of William B. Cole Consultants, a consulting firm that helps organizations and professionals achieve more success in business, life and sports. He is also the Founder and President of the International Mental Game Coaching Association (www.mentalgamecoaching.com), an organization dedicated to advancing the research, development, professionalism and growth of mental game coaching worldwide. He is a multiple Hall-Of-Fame honoree as an athlete, coach and school alumnus, an award-winning scholar-athlete, published book author and articles author, and has coached at the highest levels of major-league pro sports, big-time college athletics and corporate America. For a free, extensive article archive, or for questions and comments visit him at www.MentalGameCoach.com.

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