I was having a good discussion with a job candidate who was talking about having the worst interview in his life a couple of weeks ago. He said he knew within the first 10 minutes that this employer was not for him, yet he didn’t know how to gracefully bow out of the interview without coming across as disrespectful.
Even though he might have felt like running out the door as fast as possible, it would have been a mistake had he left the interview for a couple of reasons: (1) it would have left a bad impression with the interviewer, and (2) he would have missed out on a great opportunity to learn from it.
The interview you perceive as bad may actually be a gift in giving you a great lesson that will make an impact on you for future career moves. First of all, it’s important to know the difference in having a case of interview jitters versus being a bad match for the company. Most everyone gets nervous and it’s human nature to want to avoid an uncomfortable situation, but that’s not the same thing as being a bad match.
It could be the interviewer is having a bad day and the job position and company would be a great match for you. Interviewers have bad days as well and even though you might want to run out the door it pays to listen and observe what’s happening around you.
You might be wondering what made him sum up the interview as being the worse one of his life in 10 minutes. Truthfully, the lesson he took away was being unprepared to recover when his nerves took over some of the key questions being asked.
The one question that caused him to fumble was one that he practiced many times and was predictable, “Why do you want to work for us?” To hear him describe how he botched such a common question was painful while at the same time it was a good lesson in how to recover from a bad answer.
Instead of losing sight of why he was invited to the interview and wanting to bow out of the bad meeting, he could have regrouped and saved his confidence by using a couple of strategies.
Here are some things to do the next time you are asked an interview question that causes your mind to go blank and stumble for a good answer:
Stop for a moment and regain your thoughts before continuing. It’s ten times better to stop for a few seconds than babble on hoping to give a good answer. When you are more focused on being the best candidate rather than the question asked, you tend to lose sight of why you are there – to help the employer succeed.
Always keep in mind you were invited to the interview for a reason – the interviewer saw something in your background that interested them and would add value to the company.
You could repeat the question back to give you a few seconds to help you focus.
Taking a drink of water helps a dry throat while at the same time stops the flow of jitters.
You could always use a little humor to help you get over the blank answer, most interviewers understand when candidates are nervous — it’s how you recover that counts.
Every job candidate makes interview mistakes and even though this job candidate struggled with a simple question, it doesn’t mean he is not a good match for the employer. His nervousness just got the best of him.
Learning how to gracefully recover from an interview mistake can be a strength through the eyes of an interviewer. The key is not to beat yourself up and doubt your ability to be a great contributor. The worst interview you have might turn out to be the best lesson if you quit replaying your mistake and instead focus on the solution.
How have you handled a bad interview? What lessons did you learn?
