10 Giving answers that sound good to you (but aren’t)

 

You may think you’re prepared, but there are some common mistakes that people make without realizing it. It’s important to review your answers and compare them to the list of potential problems to make sure you avoid them.

It can be hard to see the flaws in our own answers, so try to look at them from a different point of view. Imagine you’re looking at someone else’s answers as you review the following potential mistakes.

Answers that are too long

A very common mistake is to give answers that are too long (i.e., more than 2 minutes). This can be due to many possible reasons:

  • Rambling either because you’re nervous (everyone is in job interviews!), you don’t really understand the question, or you’re trying to make something up.
  • Providing too much context or background information prior to describing your actions.
  • Giving too much detail about your actions before describing your results.
  • Using too many filler words such as “um” or “uh.”

To avoid this mistake, you must properly prepare (see chapter 1) and practice answers to anticipated questions. Do not simply talk faster so your answers will take less time!

Answers that are too short

Using acronyms, talking in Tech Speak or Industry Speak that may be unknown to your interviewers

Focusing your answer mostly on what you did rather than how you did it and why it mattered

Not giving answers that relate to the job, company, and industry

Leaving out the results in stories

Overusing “we” and underusing “I”

Failing to balance confidence with humility

Bringing things up that you shouldn’t: lack of experience, negatives, compensation, time off or other benefits

Not answering the “why should we hire you?” question from the employer’s perspective

Giving a general answer instead of a past example

Think about

Key takeaways