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The surprising word you should never say in a job interview
A job interview is nerve wracking. You're trying to keep cool, not go blank on your employment history and remember all the prep you did, all while making eye contact.
However, there is one surprising word that might undo all of that hard work and lead your employers to question your suitable for the role. That word? 'We'.
This tiny word might seem innocuous, or even feel like a good way of showing you're a team player, but according to a new article by job advertisement platform Seek it could actually hinder interviewers from really understanding your contribution.
The article outlines five 'oversized buzzwords' that should be vetoed from any interview –and explained that using the word 'we' means your interviewers don’t get to know exactly how you contributed to a task or project.
'The word “I” is always better,' they explain. 'The interviewer doesn’t want to hear “we did XYZ in our department”. The interviewer wants to know what part you played in the success and how you took ownership.'
The piece also specified four other words that should be left out of your answers, these were:
Workaholic - This is a common answer to the question 'what is your biggest weakness?' but you are much better off citing skill you could develop such as public speaking.
Challenge - 'Never say “I love a challenge"', recruitment specialist Scott explains. 'Rarely do people follow this up with a good explanation of what challenges them or even examples of challenges they have met, their reaction to the challenge at hand and the result of their response.'
Motivated by change - It can jar with the reason why you are leaving a company as most of us struggle with change.
Obviously - As your interview is likely the first time you're meeting someone from the company you want to work for, don't assume they know anything. They're trying to see if you are a good match, so this might mean you need to spell things out slightly more.
Though of course using these words doesn't necessarily mean you won't get the job (and not using them doesn't mean you will), but it's a good reminder to be aware of the language we are using in interviews, as well as our body language and actual answers.
Now we've got buzzwords in interviews covered, let's move on to what not to say when asking for a pay rise.
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