11 Phrases That Kill Your Job Interview

Think about the kind of impression you want to convey to your interviewer or hiring manager:  experience, ability, and confidence.  If you’ve been paying attention to me, you’ve got the experience and ability portions down:  a winning resume, a brag book, a 30/60/90-day plan, and high-quality references.  Your confidence comes out in your physical presentation, your body language, and what you say and how you say it.

Worthy communication skills are essential.  Sounding even remotely uncertain of your ability to do the job you’re interviewing for (and do it well) is an interview jaw-dropping.  No employer is going to hire someone who isn’t even sure himself if he is capable, or who promises to bring inferior communication skills to the job–especially in pharma sales.  What phrases convey uncertainty?

I think

I hope

I’d hope that…

Hopefully,

If

Try

Maybe

Sometime

With luck

If possible

Possibly

You don’t want to “hope” to handle this job, and you don’t wanna “try” it.  You wanna do it. 

There is no try, only do or do not.  – Yoda

Confident speaking is an interview skill that I coach candidates on all the time.  These phrases often sneak into your everyday conversation, but you don’t want ‘em in your career opportunity interview. 

Can you think of any I have missed?

Article courtesy of  Peggy McKee - Owner / Senior Recruiter at the nationally
recognized clinical laboratory and laboratory sales recruiting team of PHC Consulting.
© Copyright 2008 PHC Consulting | All rights reserved

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11 Phrases That Kill Your Job Interview