Insights

News and advice for job seekers and talent managers.

The 6 Words You Shouldn’t Say in Your Next Job Interview

The recent study Why New Hires Fail, conducted by Leadership IQ, found that 89% of hiring failures are due to candidates who have the wrong attitudes. One of the worst is black-and-white thinking: evaluating everything in terms of great or horrible, all the time or not at all. Viewing things in these extremes means missing the shades of gray that are part of almost every situation. As a result, during your next interview, you need to show your prospective employer that you have a positive attitude to help you succeed with their company.

Discover the six words to avoid using during a job interview and some alternatives you can use.

Words That Cost You the Job Interview

The study Words That Cost You the Job Interview, also by Leadership IQ, showed that low-performing candidates use absolutes like “all,” “always,” and “never” 103% more often than high performers. For instance, if an interviewer asked a candidate to discuss a time they received difficult feedback from their manager, the candidate may respond that they take all the feedback they receive seriously and work to implement it. They always believe in learning and building their career and never fail to meet or exceed company standards and expectations. The use of absolutes such as “all,” “always,” and “never” clearly show the candidate is not using specific examples of their experience.

Other Words to Avoid

The words “impossible,” “none,” and “every” are other words that generally should not be used during an interview. In most cases, they portray an image of being clueless about reality. You can avoid using these absolutes by practicing responses that involve your actual experiences. For example, a better answer to the question above about feedback may be that sometimes the candidate thinks faster than they type, resulting in rushing to put an idea in writing and hand it to their manager without checking it over. Their manager may ask them to reread and correct the document before resubmission. As a result, the candidate learned to slow down as they expressed their ideas on paper and to look over their work before handing it in. This shows the candidate truly is open to implementing feedback from their manager.

Are You Ready to Advance Your Sales Career?

Talk with The Charis Group’s recruiters if you have outgrown your sales role and are ready to work in a fast-paced, high-growth industry. As the leading sales recruiting firm for the industrial safety and PPE industries, we can help you take a step forward in your career.

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