Interview Jitteriness - Simple mistakes candidates make

Today I interviewed six candidates for call centre jobs. These were their final round of interviews and as expected they were young, brash and bit jittery.

Following are some of the things which I thought they should have paid more emphasis at the interviews.

- Most come up with a standard set of answers for questions. For example they tell you all the right things (in their opinion) that you want to hear. That's no good. Any interviewer is quick to pick these up. I was blunt, I told them that I know that they are programmed. I think people should act natural and answer the questions on their merits rather than being pre-programmed.

- Relaxing seems to be the biggest problem for most. That's of course understandable considering their age and this being one of their first interviews. But people these days are much more matured than say what I was 10 years back. Surely they could put up a better show!

- Interviewers ask probing questions and unless and otherwise you are very good at bluffing you should not say anything which is contradicting. Haven't seen many finding their way out on that. Experienced interviewers pounce on these types of people. Be honest, they'll appreciate that! I do. And most often they give valuable advice.

- Career aspirations? My favourite question! Most get it wrong by practising this. Most think they need to align something in line with the job. Well, not always! For instance in this call centre jobs, I know these guys are not going to stay more than 18 months. That's like the maximum. But almost all tried to impress with all the right things they thought about call centre jobs. Again I was blunt.

- Sometimes attitude could make you a looser. One girl did today. She was ok material and I would have hired her for sure If not for her attitude! She was more like tit for tat! That cost her the job.

- Most didn't have proper dress sense except one boy. At entry level and specially for call centre that is not all that important to me. However first impressions do matter. Good interviewers are cautious about that. BTW I did confirm the smartly dressed guy. He was good. Good overall material.