Job interviews are stressful enough as it is: Your hands sweat the whole time, you stumble through your answers and you develop a stutter that came without warning, so don’t even get me started on what you should be doing before you even head to an interview.
Some might overlook the entire interview preparation process, but as a college senior who has been to dozens of interviews, I have plenty of horror stories that could’ve been easily avoided had I taken more time pre-interview to get it together. Trust me, you don’t want to repeat what I did.
1. I Missed an Interview and Then Lied About It
After applying and hearing back for an internship at a local radio station during finals week of my junior year, I ended up missing the scheduled interview because I mixed up the days. After reading the email confirming the interview and not writing it down, I ended up realizing it only an hour after it was supposed to happen.
I told the employer that a final had ran late, so I couldn’t make it that afternoon and rescheduled for a later date. Moral of the story? Triple-check when your interviews are (WayUp actually has an interviewing scheduling tool), and more than anything, don’t lie!
2. I Wore a T-Shirt With Half-Naked Marilyn Monroe on It
Over the summer, I usually live and work somewhere other than where I go to school, and employers usually want to interview people in April or May. It would be a bit of a commute to interview across the country and make it back for class all in the same day, so thankfully, some employers will agree to a video interview.
This all seems straightforward enough, but in my case, I not only forgot what time the interview was, but because of this, I also had to rush to the interview donning a t-shirt that had a scantily clad celebrity on it.
That day, I wore a shirt featuring a half-naked Marilyn Monroe but planned on changing well before my interview that afternoon. In the span of a minute, my dog began to uncontrollably bark at the innocent UPS man at the door and my future employer video-called me for our interview. He not only saw my black lab barking like Cujo but also the unmistakable figure of Marilyn printed on my body.
Note to self: On the day of an interview, don’t wear a shirt featuring half-naked Marilyn.
On top of noting down when the interview is scheduled, if you have a video call interview scheduled, don’t wear anything scandalous. Stick to the professional clothing as much as you can that day because they could end up calling earlier than you expected.
3. I Didn’t Research a Company Beforehand (and Almost Joined a Scam)
Last summer, I applied to a position with a company that was looking for active participants interested in helping with the protection of Minnesota’s ecosystems. Of course, the Captain Planet inside me screamed with excitement and I agreed to an interview without even really looking into the company.
That was a mistake.
Showing up to an interview without knowing exactly what the company does would be like showing up to a midterm without having ever showed up for class. This is also a very good time to recommend at least looking into employee reviews that you can find with a simple Google search.
After doing the research after my interview, it turns out, the company that had reached out to me lures optimistic college students in with hopes of saving the world and what not, but it doesn’t actually do anything outdoors other than make employees canvass in local communities. This meant going door-to-door asking people if they would like to donate and learn more about protecting their local ecosystems from pollution and construction projects. They also had thousands of one-star ratings all across the board and were known to fire people if they didn’t meet their quotas of signatures each week.
The bottom line? Lots of time and energy would’ve been saved on my part and their part if I’d just headed to Google before heading over the the job application and subsequent interview.
4. I Lied on My Resume
While working at a call center for a test scheduling company one summer, it was mildly embarrassing to explain to my supervisor that my fluency in Spanish and French that were listed on my resume extended to the comprehension of two semesters of each in school.
During the interview, I knew I was under-qualified for the position so I added a couple things that I thought would make me look better. I was far from fluent in both French and Spanish, and once I started the job, I’d forward all of the non-English calls I got to some other representative. Part of the reason I had to eventually go to my boss was out of guilt for not being able to help those innocent callers, but also because there had been a growing number of Spanish calls being forwarded around to tellers and nobody knew who was doing it. Yikes.
Lying on your resume is a horrible practice that could lead you to becoming the office embarrassment for a place you don’t even work at. Noting that you have skills and experience you actually don’t have in your arsenal could lead to some pretty awful situations. You’ll be put on the spot and have to make a stage exit similar to Ashlee Simpson getting caught lip-syncing her own songs on Saturday Night Live.
5. I Came Off Too Cocky
If I were an employer, humility would be one of the golden traits that I would look for in a future employee. Nobody likes the overly cocky office tool who talks about his weekends partying with D-list celebrities and puts on his sunglasses before leaving the building. Don’t be that guy.
While interviewing with the owners of a quirky hat shop in a hipster-populated area of Minneapolis, I didn’t realize until after that I had talked myself up way more than what was necessary. I had answered every one of their questions while somehow making it relevant to something about me (and not in a good “self-promotion is awesome!” way).
I am far from the D-list-celebrity-partying-sunglasses-in-the-office guy, but I had just come from working in a leadership position elsewhere, and I was still living off of my past glory. The hiring managers had apparently thought the same thing and didn’t offer me a position after thinking I could just survive off of my ego.
Cockiness can be a very hard trait to overcome because, like myself, you’re proud of all the accomplishments you’ve achieved so far in life. We all get that you’re proud, but don’t live in the past. Employers are looking for those interested in making a change in their life with the help of their company. They don’t care about all of the great things that happened in your last job; they’re looking for someone open to new experiences and looking to the future. It’s not healthy to be living in the past, and it can also deter you from getting that much desired job.
Everyone has their own interview horror story, but it’s important to realize what went wrong and how you can improve for the future. Learning from your mistakes and making sure no careless errors are made could land you the dream job you’ve always wanted. As for me? Let’s just say I’m googling companies way earlier now, and I put that Marilyn Monroe t-shirt in the back of my closet.
