Job interviews are some of the most important moments in many people’s lives. This is not surprising, since what happens in a few minutes can totally affect the direction of one’s life over the next months or even years.This is why it is advisable to watch out for those weak points that can put us in a vulnerable position in a job interview .

This indicates that reviewing one’s personal weaknesses before attending one of these appointments becomes an essential step when preparing to find a job .

Weaknesses to be polished before a job interview

Let’s see what those little loopholes are that can make our chances of getting a job go away when we go to a job interview and all eyes are on what we do and say.

1. Give an artificial image

Many people try to give a more serious and professional image by “making up” their image to the extreme, even if this is to the detriment of naturalness. This is a mistake, since, although looking good is valued positively, it becomes a subtractive element if the whole looks very artificial .

For example, a 22-year-old interviewing for a job as a computer engineer can look very artificial if he or she is overdressed. The message is that the candidate is playing a one-card game ; specifically, the aesthetic card. This effect is more harmful in young people, since they are not so used to wearing elegant clothes in their day-to-day life.

2. Dodging questions

A job interview is not like a press conference by a politician: you have to ask the questions up front or your options for getting the job you want will be drastically limited. In the face of omissions and answers that are not really so, those in charge of personnel selection imagine the worst of the possible options .

3. Stick to what is said

Non-verbal language is extremely important in job interviews, especially if we are applying for a position where we have to deal directly with customers. This is why it is important not to become obsessed with what is being said without taking into account the gestures and positions adopted .

4. Do not look into the eyes

This weakness is related to the previous one, but it is so important that it deserves its own section. Keeping the view low is fatal in the context of a job interview . It is preferable to look into the eyes and show signs of nervousness (which normally diminish as the minutes go by) than not to look into the other person’s eyes and constantly remain in an attitude of helplessness.

5. Lying about the past

Recruitment departments can find out with some ease when a candidate is lying and when he or she is telling the truth about his or her past. If the position being applied for in the job interview is important, they will invest more effort in researching these aspects .

6. Lack of curiosity

A frequent weakness. Assuming that the job interview is an event one will talk about oneself is a mistake. It is good to show interest in the company and in what it does , and it is also highly valued that questions are asked to solve doubts about work dynamics, organization in general, etc.

7. Strongly agree on everything

It is very noticeable when a candidate tries to please the person conducting the interview at all costs. For example, by nodding effusively when the other person makes statements that are not really important, or by pretending to laugh at little jokes that appear throughout the interview. This, like the weakness of dressing up too much for a job interview, gives an image of Machiavellianism and falsehood.

8. Speaking ill of the previous companies

It is not wrong to talk about how previous jobs did not meet our demands, but this has to be done tactfully. On the one hand, the confidentiality of the internal workings of these organisations must be preserved, and on the other, it is inadvisable to attribute the blame for everything to the company itself except in exceptional cases where workers’ rights have clearly been violated. It is advisable to present it as a clash of philosophies or, in any case, to refer to conflicts with specific persons in the organization instead of talking about the whole.

9. Failure to investigate the company

This weakness is often exposed in a large number of cases, but it is still serious. Attending a job interview without knowing basic ideas about the organisation to which one wants to belong is a symptom of lack of interest that, in the eyes of the people who select personnel, can easily be transformed into disinterest and lack of involvement in the tasks to be carried out .

10. Megalomania

Another weakness that can be shown in a job interview is, paradoxically, acting as if one had no weaknesses. This gives the message that one is incapable of detecting one’s own imperfections and will therefore give rise to problems in the workplace. Megalomania is a bad sign and denotes an unanalytical mind when judging what works and what does not .