Things Better Left Unsaid

As interviews have been the theme for this week, I have to end it with some detested interview bits that always seem to find their way into professional situations. When in an interview, the idea is to exchange information relevant to the position but some candidate insist on words and phrases that hinder the whole process.

When describing former jobs, employers, and tasks, it's important to avoid tacking "and what not", "and such" or "et cetera, et cetera" to the ends of those descriptions. If it's relevant then name it, if not then just end the sentence at the end of the list. There's no point to being vague.

"Ya know?" In all likelihood, probably not.

"Ya know?" may be one of the worst infractions of the professional interview - the questions implies a casual realtionship that might not exist quite yet. In which case asking likely does nothing to help the interview.

Filler words "like", "uh" and "um" are so hard to avoid as they are pretty much used to punctuate our thoughts. These little words make us sound unsure and require some concentration to eliminate completely ...which is fine because in an interview you should be carefully considering everything that comes out your mouth. To cure this problem it's best to think about where it stems from, taking time to think. So, my best advice would be to slow down and just pause whenever a filler is about to come out; that pause will seemingly take forever in your mind but really it's just a few seconds. Practicing this with friends always helps.

It's just better to come off as pensive and considerate than hasty and vague.