Words and Phrases You Should Never Use in a Job Interview

If you receive a job offer, that can be the happiest moments of your life. But that happiest moment will be converted into a sad one if you don’t crack the interview rounds and that also only because you dint make the correct choice of words in. There are many odds waiting for you to decrease your chances of being selected for the job. Doing your homework about the company is a must. Below listed are some words and phrases which you should completely avoid using in an interview and some of your odds will turn into your favor.

Words carry a lot of weight and especially during a job interview. Your intention of saying a word will not matter but what your employer interprets it to be will matter. So whether your employer notices or not notices these phrases or words is not the concern, but if you avoid using them you will be increasing your chances of being selected and the interview round will be a cakewalk.

NO

There will be many situations when saying a no will be your best decision in life, but a job interview is surely not one of those situations. Imagine, the recruiter asks you “would you be willing to do extra tasks assigned to you?” If you say no, then you yourself have ruined your interview round and now nothing can increase your chances of selection.

You yourself think, what a powerful word it is- A “no”. On the face of it carries an aura of negativity. So don’t even think of using it at least in a job interview. You can use some less powerful words like “maybe”, “perhaps”, “possibly”.

WHATEVER

If you want to come up as a professional, then surely this one word won’t help you in that during a job interview. This word usually indicates that you have given up on your chances or probably that you take a back step. Using this word will put forward a careless attitude of yours and it will land you up in trouble. If you want to say that something was not a problem for you, then justify it.

BASICALLY

It is the most over used filler word. You might not also know that how many times you have used this word but your employer is noticing it. This word when used creates ambiguity in the thing you just said. “Basically, I can work well in finance department”, this can mean that you have failed in other departments when this was not what you intend to say. So avoid the temptation of using this word.

I

In today’s dynamic job environment everyone is looking for the quality of team work in you. So saying that” I was responsible for increased sale of a product” will convey that you will not work in team and focus on being at the top alone. State all your achievements to the recruiter but with sense of not taking all the reward by yourself.

Dedicated, Experienced, Hard working

The word dedicated is too mainstream and instead of saying, you should prove that with your work profile history and your future performances.

When using the line that” I am experienced in software code designing”, this actually convey nothing. Show your accomplishment and credentials to support that.

And finally, no one would say in a job interview that they are lethargic. Everyone is going to say that they are hard working. So avoid using the same thing and instead tell an incident in which you worked overtime to submit a report or anything like that.

My former boss was a headache

If you say that the reason why you are looking for a new employer is because you dint get along with your ex boss, then surely you’ll land up yourself in the worst situation. Employers want to know your problem solving capabilities. They are not sitting there to listen to any of your problems. So instead say that you are looking for new opportunities and restrict yourself from defaming your ex boss.

I can perform any work here

No matter how badly you want that job, but never use this phrase. It will not help you in getting that job but it will make you sound desperate. This might also reveal your past failed attempts in landing up not having a job. They are not hiring you to perform all the work and they also won’t pay you that much. Others are there too. So just say that you are ready to work on anything that go by your area of expertise.

There are more words and phrases which one should completely avoid while in a job interview and the above described were a complete NO.  Resist yourself from using any of the filler words like “um”, “err”, “uh” as these make you appear less confident. Never say that you “hate” doing a particular work or you hated your previous job. While putting forward your qualities, don’t land up saying that you are “perfectionist”. It will not put anything positive about you but the employer will surely see an arrogant side of yours and will make sure that you abide by that word (which of course you won’t be able to). One more thing is, never describe a victim’s ability. Employers want to see how you overcome each difficulty so never portray yourself as a victim.

The list goes on and if you apply the above points while facing a job interview you will surely minus some of your odds. Good luck.