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It happens to the best of us. Not all positions are meant for us, even if we get an interview. Therefore, it’s best to cut your losses and move on after you bomb an interview. However, to do this, you must check your ego and have some self awareness about your performance. Below are a few indicators that it’s not going well, and some lessons that they teach us.
1. You exaggerated on your resume and when the interviewer inquiries about that experience, your response does not match what’s on your resume, or because you don’t actually have that experience, your response is vague.
Lesson to learn: Do not exaggerate on your resume. Present exactly what you did, just in the best possible way.
2. You did not review your resume prior to the interview and when the interviewer asks a questions about what’s on it, you need to look back at what you wrote before answering.
Lesson to learn: Even if your resume is a truthful representation of what you’ve done, you must review it prior to the interview so that what you’ve presented to the interviewer is fresh on your mind. Your job 10 years ago may not be front and center in your memory, but it’s important to brush up on your former experiences as an interviewer will likely inquire about them.
3. You are not prepared when an interviewer asks you a question that is pretty obvious based on your resume—perhaps there is a gap of 3 years between employment, or there is a dramatic shift in the type of work you did and are currently doing.
Lesson to learn: Ask someone else to look at your resume and highlight some of the easy questions an interviewer might have. It’s best to rehearse answers to the questions you can anticipate. We’ve all done it for the questions like, “What’s your weakness?” but many of us haven’t done it for the obvious questions a person might have based on our resumes.
If you find yourself caught in one of these situations, you should still continue with the interview and work your tail off to impress the interviewer. However, afterwards, don’t be surprised when you don’t get a second interview. Instead, reflect on how you could alter your preparations to do better next time. These are preventable issues, they just require some time for reflection away from your ego.
How do you know when you've failed an interview?