Written by Vaclav Koranda

Beyond Resuscitation: Fatal Signs in a Job Interview Indicating Your Job Prospects Have Flatlined

After completing a job interview, it’s natural to want to know whether it went well or if you rather bombed it. However, you won’t receive feedback from the interviewer until a few weeks later, and perhaps never if they end up ghosting you. The sooner you find out you didn’t succeed, the better – you can then move on and fully concentrate on pursuing other job prospects.

As I mentioned in one of the previous issues of my newsletter, there are signs that can indicate whether your interview went well. Similarly, there are also signs that can almost certainly tell you that you messed up. If you spot them, you can safely move on and focus on other more promising opportunities. So, what are they?

That killer question

Sometimes, it’s just one answer that ruins your chances. For instance, if the role requires frequent travel, but you say you are unwilling to travel, that’s pretty much the end of the story. This can happen when you misunderstood a requirement from the job description, or they forgot to mention it (or omitted it on purpose).

The interview was too short (or empty)

An average in-person interview typically lasts between 45 minutes and one hour. Most interviewers adhere to a rule that an interview shouldn’t be shorter than 20 minutes to avoid giving the candidate the impression that they were not properly evaluated. Of course, the duration depends on the position; interviews for less complex jobs can be shorter. What matters though is the quality of the content. If the conversation feels empty, with little meaningful discussion about your background, but instead, it quickly veers into irrelevant topics, and the interviewer is anxiously checking the watch, hoping the “mandatory” 20 minutes will soon be over, you can be sure you are not the chosen one.

They were unprepared

Normally, an interviewer will study your resume, take notes, and prepare specific questions regarding your background they need to ask in order to make a complete picture about you. If you observe that the interviewer doesn’t know who you are, what to ask, or is otherwise obviously unprepared, it is a clear sign that they are not serious about you as a candidate or about hiring someone at all.

They keep interrupting you

In a typical interview, the interviewer is mostly in a listening role. They ask a question and then provide space for the candidate to express themselves. When you notice that the interviewer is impatient, frequently interrupting you, jumping from one topic to another, and not letting you finish a sentence, it is a clear sign that they don’t like you.

They make derogatory comments

Sometimes the interviewer will not even try to conceal the fact that they think you are not the right fit for the job and start making obvious negative comments about your skills and experience, or emphasising even the smallest shortcomings related to the job requirements. If that happens, you can be 100% sure your interview is heading south.

Why does this happen?

Sometimes, your interview starts off well, but as it progresses, it becomes clear that you are not the right fit. However, there are instances when everything goes wrong from the first moment, and you might wonder why they invited you for an interview in the first place when they seem so obviously dissatisfied with your background or simply disinterested. Many things must have been clear to them from your CV, though.

Well, there can be a few reasons. Some companies have a policy that requires interviewing a certain number of candidates for every vacancy. This sometimes leads to interviewing people who clearly don’t meet their criteria from the start, and they know they don’t want to hire them. However, they still interview them just to meet their quota.

Alternatively, someone else may have convinced the interviewer to see you even though they didn’t want to initially—either because of a personal recommendation or because different stakeholders have different ideas about who to hire for that particular job.

What you can do

Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do if you find yourself in such a situation. Just stay calm and continue doing your best. Even if you don’t get the job in the end, you can still make a good impression on at least some of the interviewers and practise your interviewing skills.

Good luck!

You may also like:

What would you like to hear about next? Tell me at vaclav@getyourdreamjob.co

Do you want to get new posts directly to your mailbox? Subscribe here.

3 Ways how I can help you further:

  1. Get my book – Learn all the job search insider tips and tricks and use them to your advantage.
  2. Get my online course – Get access to aids, guides, workbooks, checklists, cheat sheets, and other exclusive content to speed up your job search.
  3. Work with me 1:1 – Book one of my coaching packages and get my personal support.

Leave a comment