5 Mistakes to Avoid in Your Interview

4 min readOct 14, 2022

You are fresh out of college, and now you can finally breathe a sigh of relief! All those years of stress are finally behind you. But wait, it turns out, you cannot relax as yet? Apparently, those were the golden years of your life, and now you have to face the big, bad world all by yourself!
But the upcoming years do not have to be so dreadful. You can have just as fulfilling time at your workplace as you had in your college, if not more. Just avoid these 5 common interview mistakes and get that edge that can help you land your dream job.

1. Working on something you do not love

The first mistake you can make while looking for a job is during the application process itself. Before applying to every job at random or trying to determine its value through parameters of money or status, evaluate your own passion. You will be spending more or less 8 hours of your life daily doing this job. Can you keep doing it diligently if you do not like it? Being passionate about your work is the first secret to a long and happy career where you can progress comparatively quicker.
Taking the financial aspect out of the equation is an excellent way to determine where your passion lies. List the things you love doing even without expecting any monetary gain. And then see which of these jobs match your skill set.

2. Clueless about the job

Knowing about the job and company you are applying for is as crucial as knowing yourself. Learning about the company and its background, goals, and competition should always be a part of your preparation. You should also have a fair idea about the job profile to assess your strengths and weaknesses based on the responsibilities.
Thanks to the internet, it is easier than ever to research anything. A quick look on the search engine presents the details of the company and what you can expect from the job role instantly.

3. Sloppy CV

You make an impression on the recruiters even before you get a chance to showcase your knowledge about the company or tell them what makes you suitable for the job, and your CV creates this impression. How you write about yourself and your skills can make or break your prospect for a job.
It is also essential that you write honestly about yourself, so avoid copy-pasting your friend. While you can scour the internet to grasp the professional format of a good-quality CV, refrain from using the same generic content. It is also necessary to proofread the document well.

4. Inappropriately dressed

Turning up in unwashed clothes, wrinkled in places, can hardly make a good impression, and it sends the message that you did not think the interview was important enough. Even during online discussions, it is always advisable that you dress professionally.
You do not have to spend an exorbitant sum to dress well. Clean, ironed clothes tucked in well can leave a powerful impression as soon as you appear. The dress code can depend on the industry as well. In case of confusion, it is safer to arrive too formal than too casual.

5. Poor body language

Now that you have applied for the right jobs, done your research, polished your CV, and got the right clothes, it is time to take advantage of those to present your best asset — yourself. The correct body language during your interviews is imperative. It is obvious to get nervous during the final day, which may result in talking a lot or getting completely quiet altogether.
You do not have to hurry. Before you answer a question, make a mental structure of the points you want to talk about. And it is also okay to accept when you do not know something. Instead, you can offer how your specific skills can help you work around a problem you are unaware of. But do this only if the skills are relevant to the query.

Even after doing everything right, you may experience things derailing your dream of working a particular job. But that is merely a temporary delay, do not be disheartened. While you may have done a few things wrong unknowingly, but you are doing a lot more things right as well. Trusting yourself is the key.
Most importantly, do not be afraid to make mistakes. Do not be too fixated on the error; learn from it so that you can emerge victorious the next time.

Which of these mistakes did you make? Listen to my podcast here for more such conversations about the financial world.