求职面试问答中的6大经典错误

    萨拉•林恩•布朗在面试求职者的时候，最怕听到他们说：“我希望利用我的能力，在这里得到成长和学习。”作为纽约咨询公司Oceanic Partners的合伙人，她希望招聘的员工能给这家医疗保健咨询公司增加价值。想要寻找浓郁的学习氛围的求职者是来错地方了——回学校去吧，她说。

    布朗说：“我不知道这种说法是他们大学就业办的什么人教他们的，但这样的话会传达一种错误的信息。如果有人对我说：‘我来这里是希望找到一个能发挥我才能的机会。’这时我的第一反应是考虑‘你到底有没有想过能为这家公司做些什么？’”

    她经常发现，提前准备好的答案只能表明，求职者根本没有研究过自己面试的公司或者公司面临的挑战，所以，她很快就会结束面试。招聘人员和招聘经理们给求职者的建议非常明确：不要再用事先编排好的话，别以为面试者想听到这样的回答。

    行为改变咨询公司Grey Matters的创始人凯文•弗莱明表示：“大多数人面试的时候都会这样想：‘我应该说出我真正的想法呢，还是说他们想听的话？’如果你曾经因为说‘合适’的话而不是真实的话得到过回报，那么你肯定会选择合适的\而不是真实的回答，而且沿着这条路一直走到黑。”

    弗莱明和其他专家认为，这是错误的。德科公司（Adecco）上个月公布的一项调查显示，接受调查的500名招聘经理中，34%的人表示，因为求职者在面试中不能清楚地回答问题，无法明确说明自己的能力或经验，因此无法得到工作机会。

    面试中老生常谈的话会暴露出求职者缺乏深度，没有进行充分准备，或者态度与雇主的价值或文化不符。

    《301道面试难题的巧问妙答》（301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions）一书的作者维基•奥利佛认为：“作为一名被面试者，你的任务就是让你和你的故事更加有趣，能与面试者产生共鸣。有些词会让人对你失去兴趣。他们不会再关注你。你变成了白走一遭、陪太子读书的众多求职者中的一员。你没能让自己脱颖而出。”

    于是，我们邀请布朗、奥利佛、弗莱明和其他招聘专家共同指出一些在求职面试中可能出现的、最不可容忍的重大错误，同时解释一下为什么求职者应该彻底忘掉这些说辞。

    “我对公司所做的任何事情都很感兴趣。”人们很自然会将自己描绘成是任何空缺职位的合适人选。但这是不现实的。招聘经理想要找的是对于公司必须填补的空缺，既有能力又充满激情的人，而不是不顾一切接受任何工作的人。

    《职场登顶战略》（Getting to the Top: Strategies for Career Success）一书的作者、硅谷招聘人凯瑟琳•乌尔里克称，如果求职者能指出适合自己背景的具体职位，也可以两头下注。但一定要对公司进行详细调查，分析它所处的竞争环境，以及具体职位所需要的能力，来为自己的主张提供支持。

    When Sarah Lynn Brown is interviewing job candidates, she dreads hearing them say, "I want to use my skills and grow and learn." The partner at New York-based Oceanic Partners looks for new employees who can add value to the health care consulting business. Candidates seeking a rich learning environment are in the wrong place -- go back to school, she says.

    "I don't know who in their college placement office is telling them to say this, but it sends the wrong message that it's all about you," Brown says. "When someone says, 'I'm here to find an opportunity to utilize my skills,' my first impulse is to think, 'Has it occurred to you to tell me what you're going to do for this company?' "

    She usually finds that probing past the pat answers reveals a job candidate who hasn't researched the company or its challenges, and she quickly ends the interview. Recruiters and hiring managers' advice to job seekers is clear: Stop using rehearsed phrases that you think the interviewer is expecting.

    "Most people have this bubble above their head in a job interview: 'Do I say what I really think, or do I say what they want to hear?' " says Kevin Fleming, founder of Grey Matters, a behavior change consulting firm. "If you've been rewarded in the world for saying the 'right' thing and not the real thing, you're going to go down this road [of] choosing to be right over being real."

    That's a mistake, according to Fleming and other experts. In an Adecco survey released last month, 34% of 500 hiring managers surveyed said candidates didn't get a job because of an inability to clearly answer questions and articulate skills or experiences in the interview.

    Cliché comments in job interviews can betray a lack of depth, insufficient preparation, or an attitude that is inconsistent with the employer's values or culture.

    "Your job as an interviewee is to make you and your story interesting and relevant to them," says Vicky Oliver, author of 301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions. "Some words just click people off. They stop focusing on you. You become one of the many candidates who strolled in there. You're not distinguishing yourself."

    With that in mind, we've asked Brown, Oliver, Fleming, and other hiring experts to identify the most egregious job interview blunders and explain why you should eliminate them from your vocabulary.

    "I am interested in everything this company does." It's natural to want to portray yourself as a good fit for any open position. But that's simply unrealistic. Hiring managersare looking for someone who will be skilled and passionate for the specific role the company needs to fill, not someone so desperate that he or she will take anything.

    You can hedge your bets if you can point to specific positions that fit with your background, says Kathryn Ullrich, a recruiter based in Silicon Valley and author of Getting to the Top, Strategies for Career Success. Make sure to back up your assertions with research you've done about the company, its competitive environment, and the skills needed for specific positions.