Top 10 Myths About Job Interviews

CNN Money lists the top 10 myths about job interviews as follows:

Myth #10: The interviewer is prepared.

Myth #9: Most interviewers have been trained to conduct thorough job interviews.

Myth #8: It's only polite to accept an interviewer's offer of refreshment.

Myth #7: Interviewers expect you to hand over references' contact information right away.

Myth #6: There's a right answer to every question an interviewer asks.

Myth #5: You should always keep your answers short.

Myth #4: If you've got great qualifications, your appearance doesn't matter.

Myth #3: When asked where you see yourself in five years, you should show tremendous ambition.

Myth #2: If the company invites you to an interview, that means the job is still open.

Myth #1: The most qualified person gets the job.

Here's my take on these:

#10 - I've interviewed hundreds of candidates in my career and I didn't prepare for most of those interviews. The article is right -- I was usually over-worked and busy and simply didn’t have much time to prepare. The exception: when someone was to be hired in my department or working for me directly. Then I prepared well in advance.

#9 - I have never had and never seen offered any sort of "how to interview" training.

#8 - I agree -- refuse the drink unless it's right there or you really need to get hydrated.

#7 - The only time I've ever been asked for references' contact information was days after an interview. I've never been asked to provide them immediately, though I guess it wouldn't hurt to be prepared (it shows you can anticipate questions).

#6 - I wouldn't say that there's a right answer to every question, but I would say that there's a general way to answer most questions. It is to weave your accomplishments (along with facts, statistics, quantifiable results, etc.) into as many answers as possible, demonstrating to the interviewer that you are the sort of person who makes great things happen.

#5 - You need to balance between brevity/conciseness and accomplishing the tasks I noted above in #6, so I'd say you need "medium-length" answers. In reality, the interview should flow like a conversation -- with you doing most, but not all, of the talking.

#4 - Looks always matter. You need to be well-groomed, dressed appropriately, and look as attractive, energetic, etc. as possible. IN other words, look like someone that somebody else would like to hire.

#3 - I always answer that I want to continue growing and contributing to the company throughout my career. So I would see myself in a position commensurate with my performance for the organization which, based on my past experiences (insert an example or two here), would mean more responsibility/ability to influence positive outcomes for the company.

#2 - Generally this is true -- it's not a myth in most cases. IMO, it's especially true if the company flies you in for an interview and/or somehow spends a decent amount of money to have you talk with them.

#1 - Obviously, someone has to be qualified for the job to get it (unless an interviewer thinks he can "grow" into it.) But once that criteria is met, a whole host of other factors enter in: who has the best "fit" with the company, who the hiring manager likes best/thinks will work best with his team, who can be secured for the lowest total compensation, who can make the move quickly (most companies hiring need someone NOW), and so on. So it's not as simple as being the "most qualified."

Anything I missed? Any disagreements with me or CNN Money?

Comments

[jim]

I would agree with all these.

I've conducted several interviews myself in the past. I can say with experience that #10 & #9 are not always true. I *think* I had a 1-2 hour class once on how to conduct an interview, but I forgot that years ago. That was the extent of any training I got.

#4, who actually thinks appearance doesn't matter? I've never heard that.

[Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey]

I completely agree with the #9 and #10. In my work experience, when I talked to my coworkers that were about to conduct an interview, many of them didn't even fully understand why they were selected to do the interviewing! haha

[Sarah]

#4 can actually be true in some circumstances. My boyfriend showed up to an interview in shorts and an old t-shirt, but did so well technically on the interview that he received an offer by e-mail an hour after the interview ended.

[MBTN]

The only training I ever got was interviewing was a short training video about what questions we were not allowed to ask by law.