10 Toxic Words
you Must not Say in a Job Interview
There’s
plenty advice out there to rehearse what you’re going to say in a job
interview: research questions the interviewer might ask, practice your answers,
come up with salient questions of your own…
But what about rehearsing what you’re not going
to say?
I
put together a list below of some words you’ll want to try to avoid at your
next job interview, because even though they seem like just ordinary words,
they could be major red flags for an interviewer or recruiter.
No.
First
of all, if asked even a simple question, you don’t want to give a single word
answer (yes or no). But when the answer is no, definitely don’t leave it there!
For example, if asked if you know a particular computer program, and you don’t,
you could say, “I haven't yet had a chance to learn it but would be interested
to do so,” rather than simply saying “No.”
Er… Um…
That
old saying, “If you don’t have anything to say, don’t say anything at all,”
applies here a big. Rather than hemming and hawing while you try to think up an
answer, just be silent and think. Saying er or um too much could make you seem
unprepared or as though you’re not paying attention.
Whatever, OMG, bae…
groovy?
Lose
the slang when talking to an interviewer. You want to come across as polished
and professional, and you don’t want them to have to dig out their urban
dictionary to understand you.
Sure, cool, kinda…
These
kinds of words are just too casual, even in a casual workplace. You should be
presenting the best version of yourself, not the sloppy, casual version.
We
This
one seems innocuous at first, but if you use it a lot when discussing job
duties and accomplishments, the interviewer might start to wonder if it was you
or your team that was responsible. Try to use “I” as much as possible.
Dedicated, motivated, team
player...
Lose
the resume speech and jargon. Besides the fact that these words are incredibly
overused in interview situations, they’re also better demonstrated than just
stated. If you want to convey your dedication or motivation, share an example
from your past work experience; examples will go much further to making your
claims believable.
Leverage, synergy,
ideation…
I’d
avoid using too much business jargon. The chances that you’ll come off sounding
like an idiot are just too high. Too much business buzzwords or jargon tends to
make people sound pretentious, or worse, downright stupid.
“Hit the ground running,”
“Circle back…”
These
kinds of cliches have little to no meaning, they’re just verbal fluff, and they
don’t add anything to what you’re saying. So leave them out.
Hate
I
can’t think of a single instance when saying you “hate” something in a job
interview is appropriate, but it’s exceptionally inappropriate to say anything
about hating your former job, co-workers, boss, etc.
Perfectionist
It’s
become almost a cliche in and of itself to answer a question like, “What’s your
biggest flaw?” with a positive flaw like, “I’m a perfectionist.” Any good
interviewer will see right through that, so just don’t do it.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10-toxic-words-you-must-say-job-interview-bernard-marr?midToken=AQGIPog6-r4O6Q&trk=eml-b2_content_ecosystem_digest-recommended_articles-270-null&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=1gSM53e2DU66E1
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