Through all of my recruitment experience, I have definitely noticed certain trends in why candidates are rejected by companies as a result of their interviews.
Some reasons come up again and again, such as lack of enthusiasm and energy in the candidate, lack of preparation and research done by the candidate in the company and role they are interviewing for, candidates talking themselves out of the role because they focused on what they cannot do as opposed to what they can do. However, I have found that the biggest reason candidates get rejected is:
So why does this happen over and over again? Here are some theories:
The age-old adage in interviewing is to sell yourself as much as possible by maximising every question asked. However, this is old-school thinking. The interviewers know a lot about you already, having read your CV and if you went through a decent recruiter, they will have provided insights about you and your eligibility to join the company. Therefore, the interviewers want to fill in the blanks in the short time allotted for the interview but they can’t – because you won’t stop talking. This leads to frustration for the interviewer and it makes them think that this is how you will perform in internal meetings – slowing things up in the business.
We spend all our time in school learning how to talk and read – two of the three crucial elements of communication – but these are not the most important skills for job interviews. The third crucial element of communication, and the most important for interviews is listening. We don’t really get much schooling on how to listen effectively. Strange, isn’t it? So when someone asks a question, your mind may partially be elsewhere, making judgments on the person asking the question based on appearances or accent and you are not receiving the information being transmitted. Especially when under pressure in an interview situation.This means you could end up answering a question you think you heard as opposed to what was actually said. If you are interested in improving your listening skills, check out Active Listening. It’s a super course.
Candidates often go into an interview with an agenda of what they want to get across. However, in doing this, you risk only getting this agenda across and not answering the questions properly. These candidates often leave an interview thinking they nailed it and maybe they nailed it in terms of getting their story across but did a terrible job of answering the questions asked.
So, here’s a common interview scenario: You get asked a question, you don't know the answer, the room goes quiet...time is ticking...you feel you have to say something so you talk about something else, which isn’t relevant. People are terrified of saying “I don’t know”, but being upfront and honest shows more about you and your character to the interviewer, which is exactly what they want to see. You’re only human and it’s OK if you don’t have all the answers, but don’t pretend you do.
People are also terrified of silence in interviews. Most times, the length of a silence is in your head. Fearing the silence results in candidates rushing into answers instead of thinking things through before committing to something verbally. This is the mistake you feel regret about often. I’m not advocating for sitting there for two minutes pondering, but a four or five-second gap is fine to compose your thoughts and then go for it.
Want more interview advice? Check out the RECRUITERS interview guide here.
By Brian McFadden
Brian McFadden is a director at RECRUITERS with more than 20 years in the industry.
Stop sign photo by Jose Aragones on Unsplash
