When heading to a job interview—whether virtual or in-person—you want to put your best foot forward. Most people know that arriving late, being rude, and misrepresenting qualifications and job history can spell disaster. But what about the job interview mistakes you might not know you’re making?
In this article, we’ll cover some of the lesser-known interview missteps to help you polish your presentation. Plus, we’ll explore some of EveryIT’s latest career opportunities.
1. Displaying negative body language
Communication isn’t always about what you say. Nonverbal cues—the way you listen, look, move, and react—can make or break an interview. So, you’ll want to ensure your body language reinforces your words rather than detracting from or undermining them.
You want to appear relaxed, confident, and open to new ideas and experiences during an interview. Therefore, avoid crossing your arms, fidgeting, slouching, or failing to make eye contact. These non-verbal cues can give the impression you’re closed off, bored, unprofessional, or even untrustworthy. To uncover your personal trouble spots, ask a friend to assess your habitual posture and movements, and then practice using non-verbal communication effectively before your interview.
2. Using the wrong words
Silence can feel awkward, but a thoughtful pause or asking a question will serve you far better than plodding forward with “um” or trailing off with “whatever.” The fact is that these filler words can make you appear unpolished or dismissive. So strike them from your interview vocabulary.
Other words you should nix include buzzwords that no longer buzz and negative words such as “hate,” “don’t,” “can’t,” and “no.” Hiring managers are tired of hearing about “dedicated, hard-working, motivated perfectionists” and don’t want to hire someone who might have a negative attitude. Instead, focus on using positive words and expressions employers want to hear, and talk about the unique skills and attributes that set you apart. Record yourself rehearsing interview responses to see where you might make improvements.
3. Not listening well
We’ve talked about this before in 4 tips to help you nail your next conversational interview, but it’s worth touching on again. Sometimes, interviewees get nervous and are so busy thinking about answering the question that they forget to actively listen. Active listening means being fully present and engaged with the person speaking. It allows you to build a deeper connection and ensures you pick up on subtle cues you’d otherwise miss. In addition, it positions you to share relevant experiences and ask insightful questions.
Eliminate these three mistakes to present with greater polish and ease at your next interview. If you’re ready to put your interview skills into practice, check out the latest career openings at EveryIT.
Explore career opportunities at EveryIT
Sr. Chief of Staff / Operations Executive (Bellevue, WA): Are you a creative, results-driven professional passionate about organizational effectiveness and building a strong, diverse, and inclusive team culture? In this role, you’ll drive the overall process of North American business, fulfilling responsibilities that range from defining strategic direction to ensuring strategic execution.
Account Executive, Staffing Solutions (Bellevue, WA): Are you adept at understanding the needs and process pains of customers? In this role, you’ll use these skills to identify opportunities where EveryIT solutions can add long-term value. You’ll actively drive growth in our staffing solutions business, working closely with the Business Decision Makers to understand their unique needs and to identify and drive opportunities.
Back End Engineer (Fremont, CA): Develop and deploy full-stack solutions with our robotics and industrial automation client. You’ll be responsible for maintaining the automation back-end solution, auto-recovery systems, and test-automation solutions. You’ll also perform field solution deployment, operations, and reporting.
Business Development Manager (Remote): In this role, you’ll work with the company’s strategic clients to ensure that business requirements are met. Chief responsibilities include analyzing the client’s business operations, determining strategies for meeting goals, and ensuring products and projects are ready on time.
Client Partner, Engineering Services (Redmond, WA): Are you a top-notch communicator with demonstrated success in selling IT engineering services? In this role, you’ll drive growth within assigned territories. You will be responsible for account strategy planning, generating business opportunities, and closing sales with new and existing enterprise clients.
Compliance Test Engineer, EMC (Redmond, WA): In this position, you’ll support EMC/RF Regulatory compliance testing of ITE products. As part of a skilled team of compliance professionals, you will prepare and conduct tests according to test plan, per the scheduled test programs and instructions from the EMC Lab Manager.
Mobile Software Automation Engineer (San Diego, CA): Analyze, plan, and implement test automation standards and strategies onsite at a high-profile, technical client location. This role requires automation experience and a strong understanding of PYTHON and Jenkins, Version control system (SVN, Git, etc.).
Program Manager (Remote): Partner with clients to support business objectives in an efficient yet consensus-building fashion. You will be accountable for successfully managing and delivering multiple, simultaneous projects from discovery and design through delivery and completion, meeting agreed-upon schedule, budget, and scope.
Project Coordinator / Customer Assurance (Boise, ID): Are you a master of logistics with excellent communication skills and experience in customer support practices? Be part of a team focused on how external customers will use products in their own environment. You’ll help identify design issues before products are released to the public, facilitating solutions by R&D that result in higher quality products.
Project Manager, Regulatory Compliance (Remote): Support one of our leading clients in Redmond, WA. As a member of a skilled team of compliance professionals, you’ll obtain international regulatory certifications for products in areas of EMC, Radio & Safety Compliance to enable product launches in international markets.
Quality Assurance Analyst (Boise, ID): Do you have strong attention to detail, a passion for accuracy, and the ability to discern patterns and themes in large datasets? Collaborate with team members to drive warranty cost savings opportunities for the OPS printer business. You’ll participate in quality meetings, evaluate case data for support interventions, and provide insights into product issue trends.
Software Development Engineer, HP WorkPath (Boise, ID): Triage and debug issues and develop testing tools and processes for verifying application functionality. Experience needed for this role includes C# and JavaScript, development experience on the Android platform, and cloud communication and functionality expertise.
Software Test Engineer, Network / Network Security (Boise, ID): In this role, you’ll develop and execute test strategies and test planning for printer network security functionality. Qualifications include a strong understanding of Network Security; test writing, planning, and automation experience; and verifiable C# experience.
Sr. Implementation Analyst, Marketing Analytics (Remote): Does the development of analytics, data collection, and big data technologies fire you up? Play a key role in supporting the production of business analytics tracking technologies in the digital marketing field for high-profile clients. Primary responsibilities include defining, documenting, and testing the data collection and tag management steps for supporting analysis and insights of site user engagement activity.
Test Engineer, Mobile Applications (San Diego, CA): Do you have expertise testing mobile applications in various mobile products? Join our team supporting one of our largest clients – Hewlett Packard. You will be responsible for communicating with teams in different locations, developing and executing the test cases on mobile applications, and performing special requests from the developers.
Manufacturing Tech (Corvallis, OR): Work onsite at a high-profile client location where you will be responsible for completing manufacturing assignments in a cleanroom environment under limited supervision.
Printer Test Technician 1 (Vancouver, WA): Do you have a willingness to learn and grow? Here’s your opportunity to break into the technology field. Responsibilities include performing tests on printers to determine the functionality of mechanical equipment.
Printer Test Technician 2 (Vancouver, WA): In this position, you will determine the functionality of mechanical and computer equipment and ensure instruments are calibrated and verified regularly. You’ll also work with engineers to test, debug, and troubleshoot equipment and products.
Printer Test Technician 3 (Vancouver, WA): Put your strong analytical skills to work maintaining and troubleshooting equipment and systems. This position requires electro-mechanical experience and safety certifications, plus familiarity with Tech I and II activities. You may also be responsible for training or leading new technicians.
Sr. Technician (Boise, ID): In this role supporting Hewlett Packard, you will provide technician services to support the analysis and testing of the LaserJet family of products. This position requires knowledge of electrical/electronic circuitry and strong mechanical skills.
