You may be wondering why you didn’t get hired, why your CV hasn’t made it to the next round of evaluation, why the employer hasn’t contacted you for a second interview, or why you never heard from your dream company.
Well, we may have some answers for you. We asked a few employers at Bayt.com, the #1 Job Site in the Middle East, to give us a few scenarios where they declined a candidate, their reasoning for doing that, and what advice they would give job seekers so they can avoid the same mistakes.
There are many bad job interview signs that employers pick on when assessing a candidate. Here are some of them that you should definitely avoid:
From Roba Al-Assi, Director of Communications at Bayt.com:
1. The Unprepared:
I once interviewed a job candidate who truly had no idea what we, as a company, do. Trust me, no one wants to hire a person who doesn’t do the bare minimum. With some research and reading, the job applicant can easily find a ton of information about the company and the position at stake.
My advice to all job seekers is to research the organization thoroughly before coming in for the job interview. The best people I have hired are the ones who spent some time getting comfortable with our website, our products, and our services.
From Roba Al-Assi, Director of Communications at Bayt.com:
2. The Salary-Obsessed:
A few years ago, I interviewed a candidate with several years of relevant work experience. During the job interview, the candidate kept deflecting all my questions about their skill sets, their performance, and their experience, replacing them with questions about salary, benefits, and leave days.
My advice is: Don’t be all about the money, the vacation days, and the benefits, or at least not until you prove your qualification and have an offer. While having the salary discussion is really important, it’s essential to first impress the employer with how perfect you are for the position at hand. That will probably make it easier to negotiate, too, once the employer really wants to hire you. You can also have a look at Bayt.com Salaries to know how much you should ask for.
From Sinan Jaber, Country Manager at Bayt.com:
3. The Bad-Listener:
I once interviewed a candidate who simply did not listen. You can easily tell when someone is not an effective communicator. If they are not answering the job interview questions correctly, if they are constantly interrupting the employer, and if they disregard everything that is said during the interview, then these are bad signs.
I would recommend job seekers to truly pay attention and listen during the job interview. Don’t be too eager to answer a question to the extent that you interrupt and risk fully understanding the prompt.
From Ola Haddad, Operations Manager at Bayt.com:
4. The Accusive:
During an In-person interview, the job candidate I was meeting with was very qualified and had made it to the final interview round. But when we asked him about his previous work experience, he was extremely disdainful. The candidate spent a lot of time blaming his past employers, coworker, and managers, pointing out all the negative attributes, and never mentioning any positive experiences he’s gained. Even worse, the candidate failed to mention how he turned these experiences into learning lessons and opportunities for growth and development.
I encourage job seekers to be cautious when discussing previous work experiences. It is not wise to spend the majority of the interview blaming and complaining. Instead, acknowledge the limitations and concentrate on how you over-came them as a stronger and more skilled professional.
From Ola Haddad, Operations Manager at Bayt.com:
5. The Overly-Competitive:
Assessment center: we brought in a group of short-listed candidates for the final round of interviewing. This was an assessment intended to measure the candidates’ communication and cooperation skills. The objectives were clearly stated at the beginning of the assessment. However, soon after the exercise began, the candidate, who was later declined, adopted a very aggressive approach. He completely forgot about being a team-player, didn’t cooperate or communicate, and simply failed to meet the objective of the assessment.
I would advise job seekers to be persistent and confident during the application and screening process. But at the same time, know that having a full understanding of the skills that are being assessed is the key to succeeding. Don’t be inclined to compete too aggressively.
From Shobha Jaison, Senior Manager of Human Development at Bayt.com:
6. The Clueless
One time, I walked into an interview with a candidate for a sales position. After the initial ice breaker, I started getting to know more about him. The dates he mentioned did not match the ones documented on the CV. When asked about the specific job responsibilities, targets, and achievements mentioned on his CV, he had no idea how to answer and very causally mentioned that his friend wrote the CV and that he did not get a chance to go through it before attending the job interview.
Moral of the story: Never ever walk into an interview unless you know every dot and dash that is mentioned on your CV. Make sure that the information listed is also 100% truthful and accurate.
From Shobha Jaison, Senior Manager of Human Development at Bayt.com:
7. The Careless
During the second round of interviews for a particular position, I asked the candidate about the name of her manager in her previous company. And she replied, “Are you sure you need that? I doubt that guy will ever say anything good about me.” She then spent a good chunk of time telling me why her last boss was “an absolute jerk.” I smiled and probed a little more just to see how the interview would progress. When I asked her about her current manager, she told me “John… don’t ask me for the full name, I can’t remember.”
Moral of the story: Be careful how you present information during a job interview. Being too condescending, too negative, or too neglectful are all bad interview signs that the employer will tale seriously.
