During
job interviews, employers remain alert over specific warning indications, such as tardiness or lack of preparation, as they can greatly impact hiring decisions, Nolan Church, former Google recruiter, said.
In an interview with CNBC, Church, who is currently
CEO of salary data company FairComp, noted various red flags in a
job interview. According to him, showing up late for an interview or being unprepared to talk about the job are some of the red flags, while certain phrases might get you rejected.
Church stated that phrases like – “I work too hard” and “I’m a perfectionist” -- can inadvertently convey a negative impression.
What to do?
“I always tell people to come with stories,” Church said. “People are so scared to talk about their imperfections or their blemishes during interviews... And I actually think that that’s a strength,” he added.
One such story he recommends sharing is to talk about the “time when you f***** up,” and share in detail “what happened and what you learned” from it.
He shared that he does not expect to hire people, who think that they are perfect. He is more concerned about hiring those who are going to take in the lessons when they do mess up performing their duties. but later figure out how to be better going forward.
“I want people that reflect... I want people that improve over time, that have a growth mindset,” he stated.
While
appearing for interviews people should come up with a work story that illustrates both -- making a wrong decision while working on a project and detailing how it made you better at your job, he added.
‘Mental agility’
Further, Church asserted that another type of story he likes to hear is to talk about the times when people were willing to go against their instincts.
He said while appearing for a job interview people should talk about times when they “were really hell-bent on doing it one way and you changed your mind and did it another way”.
Such stories showcase your capability of working as a "team player," he said.
It's a common thing for the human ego to come into play in the workplace as many want to believe that their approach is the best. Whether it was the path you intended to take or not, he asserts that in a professional setting, “getting to the right answer is the thing that the business cares about.” To achieve that, you must be prepared to put your ideas and ego aside and collaborate with your team.
Once people are willing to show that level of mental agility, Church feels “employers love that”.
Experiments
Besides them, Church shared that he loves to hear stories about experiments. Anecdotes about how you “ran an experiment to validate the hypothesis” can be impressive, he told the publication.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
