It’s natural to experience a mix of fear and excitement leading up to a job interview. Interviews represent the chance to go from a job you dislike or have outgrown to a new opportunity that is full of potential. The pressure to succeed in your interview feels even greater if you happen to be in between jobs.
For these reasons, many job seekers become laser-focused on interview preparation, seeking advice and tips to refine the art of answering questions and building rapport.
If done properly, interview preparation can give you a significant advantage in your job search. However, beware of these five myths about job interviews because they will lead you to engage in counterproductive behaviors and make you more likely to take the wrong job.
Myth #1: Researching the company is the most important thing
Search online for interview preparation tips and you’ll inevitably find advice to research the company in advance, which is indeed something you should do. However, it is not the most important part of your preparation and many job seekers overinvest their time on this task.
The most important thing you need to be prepared to do in an interview is tell your career story. If you know a lot of facts about the company’s business results and history but fail to fully recall your own successes then you aren’t prepared.
Focus the bulk of your interview preparation time on drawing out what you have accomplished. If you have a long career history, this will mean refreshing your own memory on parts of your life you haven’t thought about in years.
For your recent and most relevant experiences, you probably have missing data points that will need to be flushed out prior to your interview. These are often things such as how many transactions you handled, the specific dollar amount you saved your previous employers or the size of the accounts and teams you supported.
Before walking into an interview, you should be ready to dig into any and all parts of your background with a finesse and command of detail that shows you are truly prepared.
Myth #2: Interviewers want to stump you
The worst fear of interviewees is that you might be made to feel like you are not smart enough or quick enough on your feet to land the job. This is understandable, because who wants to be put in that kind of situation? No one.
For the most part, this fear is overblown. Few job interviewers are actually looking to stump you and if they are, it’s a good indication of their competitive and likely draining culture.
Instead of preparing for your interview like you’ll be on the hot seat, assume that the interviewer genuinely wants to get to know you. In fact, most interviewers are unconsciously biased toward assessing if they would like working with you more than assessing if you are qualified.
Approaching your interview as a demanding test of your intellect will backfire. You will technically be prepared to answer harder questions, but you may come off as less likeable.
Do yourself a favor and assume the best of intentions. It will help you relax any interview jitters and position you to make a stronger connection with your potential employer.
Myth #3: You need to be ready to do the job on day one
Yes, you do need to be perceived as qualified to get any job. But you don’t have to check every single box to convince an interviewer of your competence. You’ll often find a discrepancy between what the position description says they want and the true “must-have” requirements for the job.
Your candid disclosure of where you might need a little time to come up to speed will show that you are honest and self-aware. It also gives you an important opportunity to address any gaps in your experience before a final decision is made.
Be confident in what you bring to the table, but don’t oversell your skills. Every job has some learning curve.
Myth #4: Being seen as unique is a bad thing
Unless you are in a creative industry, interviews are rarely the time to wear an eccentric outfit or drag out your quirkiest interests. However, you should work to show an authentic view into who you are and the kind of work cultures you excel in.
People sense genuine connection. While you might prepare all the right answers, the interaction will likely feel artificial if you hold back a significant portion of your true personality.
Instead, plan to put forward the best representation of your attributes. If you are quieter than others, lean toward a methodical approach or instead tend to be boisterous, bring that up in the interview. Tell stories about how you have used that part of your personality to make teams stronger or to address client needs in a unique way.
In today’s economy, any company that is looking for a homogenous team that sees and addresses problems in exactly the same way is doomed to failure. You don’t want a job at this kind of company because they won’t be able to innovate when they need to.
Don’t shy away from sharing your unique talents and style. In the long run, this will help you determine the best job for you.
Myth #5: You can’t prepare too much
As the old adage goes, fail to prepare, and prepare to fail. This kind of phrase can be comforting because it implies that if you prepare enough, you can avoid failure. Yet that simply isn’t true.
There are so many random and unavoidable reasons that you might not get this job no matter how much you prepare. In your desire to perfect and rehearse every question you think might come your way, you may be employing an ineffective strategy.
Those that overprepare are more likely to interview in a stiff, rigid style while they work to recall all the things they planned to say. This approach rarely resonates with their more relaxed interviewer who is in many cases making up their interview questions while they go along.
If you are doing it correctly, your interviewer should be talking for a fair amount (if not most) of the interview. You want them to be sharing their point of view on what it takes to be successful in the job so you can tailor your answers toward their priorities.
When you overprepare, you get stuck in your own pre-packaged answers and fail to adjust to the tone of the interview. Your prepared responses put you in a position of not being able to fully answer the nuanced questions the interviewer asked, and this formulaic approach will make you seem inflexible.
Remember that preparation is only effective when it leaves you feeling more relaxed and ready to have an informative, yet enjoyable, conversation. Avoid these common job interview myths and you will have a much better chance at letting your real talents shine through.