5 Things to Never Say in an Interview

Five things? Only five things? Well, of course the list could be much longer and filled with plenty of examples of things not to say during an interview; but I wanted to keep this more condensed and easy to digest in one sitting. Plus, I have written on such interview plunders in previous posts, and wanted to look at some other angles to this issue that I had not written on before.

1. Irrelevant illnesses: Do not discuss illnesses during an interview unless they are relevant to the position. Allergies and illnesses may be seen as weaknesses that could hinder job performance. Obviously if you are for instance allergic to peanuts, you would not want a job where you work in direct contact with peanut related materials. This is different than making a comment like “my knee is killing me, and this time of year my asthma always gets the best of me.”

If you were out of work due to a serious illness or hospitalization, this might be something that is noted due to the gap in time on your resume. If it comes up, simply state you were out due to an surgery (or whatever the case) but that it has not been a problem since. This is not information that is necessary to expose, and in general, you should avoid discussing anything that would put the interviewer in a place of feeling the need to offer a sympathetic remark. This can break down the professionalism and make things become more personal than they should be at this stage.

2. Getting personal: As mentioned above, keep things on a professional level. Stay away from flattering compliments about the interviewer’s appearance. Those types of comments are a bit too “familiar” and again break down the professional initial relationship. Not only might it be taken the wrong way, but depending on the sex of who is speaking and being spoken to, can come off as derogatory, sexist, or simply “sucking up” to them.

Patricia Lenkov, an executive recruiter at New York City-based Agility Executive Search had this to say on the topic:

“You’re really taking a risk by saying something even as innocuous as, ‘I like your boots,’” says Lenkov. “What if the person hates those boots and only wore them because they broke a heel on their other shoes? It could really work against you.

3. Don’t Force a Connect: Trying to find and force a connection or common interest is again crossing the too-familiar territory in what should be a profession meeting, and also comes off as fake. If you see they have a photo of their kids, avoid saying things like “I love kids,” or if you see they have hobby related paraphernalia in their office, do not try to connect with them through it if in fact you have no connection to it at all. Faking a connection can backfire and should be avoided.

4. Avoid saying “Fired”: Even if you were technically fired from a previous job, avoid using that term if possible. The word can trigger a switch in the tone of the interview, and now instead of looking at you as a candidate, they may start looking at you for issues that made you a bad candidate. Maybe you were totally qualified and good at your job, but the company just was not a good fit for you; it shouldn’t be construed as a negative against you and your skills.

Now, do not lie about it, but just explain the situation briefly without throwing the term “fired” into the conversation. Explain it just was not a good fit, and you’ve learned a lot from the experience and bring that to this new position.

5. Bad mouthing prior employers: Tying in to the last point, do not bad mouth previous employers, co-workers, or anything that reveals a rotten attitude in you. If there were having issues, simply state there were issues, and that you have learned from them and had found a solution to the problems and they were resolved.  You will be much more likely to be hired if you can show you have strong people skills, so attempt to highlight that aspect of any prior issues – focusing on the positive things that came from it.

In all things, keep it professional, truthful, and a positive way of selling yourself during the interview.