What to keep silent about in an interview

bursa cpns - Cheating is not good, we were told in childhood. There are also white lies, we understood with age. What about employment? Is it possible to deceive a potential employer and what is better to remain silent at an interview?

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About situations in which the word is silver, and silence is golden, read the bursacpns article.

All the secret becomes clear

Trite, but true: one of the main rules for a successful interview is not to deceive the recruiter. Attributing to yourself duties that you did not fulfill, skills that you do not really own, jobs that do not exist - all this is an absolute taboo for a person who is configured for a successful career. An experienced hiring manager can easily recognize your lie - he has a lot of appropriate tricks in his arsenal.

But even if he does not succeed, then the candidate who got a job by deceit, most likely, will not expect anything good. Colleagues will quickly realize that, for example, his allegedly “fluent English” is actually not far from high school level, and “extensive experience in organizing events” is just the ability to order coffee for business meeting participants on time.

And yet it's no secret that some information can be a significant hindrance to employment. Is it worth it on your own initiative to inform the recruiter about some details of your life? What is better to be silent about in a resume and at an interview?

Too short period of work

It happens that the applicant has some negative professional experience. For example, a short period of work, not reflected in the work book - a person made a mistake, he did not like the team or the duties seemed uninteresting, and he quit a week or two after employment. Or he didn’t even quit himself, but the manager asked - as they say, it didn’t grow together, it didn’t work out.

Should such a short period of work be included in the resume? A resume is a document reflecting the skills and abilities of an applicant. Has the candidate acquired any useful skills in such a short period of work in the company? Hardly. So save the recruiter from unnecessary information - write in the resume only what is really significant.

Another thing is if a short period of work in the company is reflected in your work book. In this case, the question of the reasons for such a rapid dismissal will certainly arise with the recruiter - either at the interview, or already in the process of paperwork. You should not deceive the employer: honestly say that you made a mistake, made the wrong decision when hiring, and then realized your mistake and, without wasting time on a job that was not interesting for you, quit. It is better if the recruiter receives this information before he finds an entry in the work book already during the execution of documents.

Conflicts with former management

Most applicants in an interview cannot avoid being asked why they left their previous job. It’s good if you left the old company solely for the purpose of further professional growth and development - such an answer will demonstrate to the recruiter your high internal motivation for work and will be a point in your favor. But what if the reason for the dismissal was a serious conflict with management or colleagues?

You need to understand that a detailed story about how your boss bullied you and how you suffered from petty sabotage by colleagues will be a very serious minus of your candidacy in the eyes of the recruiting manager. Such an applicant may well be considered conflicting, unconstructive and unable to work in a team.

On the other hand, a clear deception on your part (“The relationship with the manager was excellent, I just wanted to develop in a related field”) is at least unethical, and at the most dangerous for your career. After all, a lie can be revealed if a recruiter, for example, decides to apply for recommendations at your previous place of work.

How to be? Look for the golden mean. Think over your answer so that it is not a deception, but also does not deprive you of a job opportunity. Do not criticize the former boss for the eyes, be prepared to find something good in the experience gained with his help. “My former leader and I had diverging views on some work issues. I realized that the company was not ready for the transformations that I propose, and decided to look for another job”; “I am grateful to the team for teaching me how to work within a frequently changing environment, but still my goal is a slightly different job,” such answers, if they sound sincere, will completely satisfy the recruiter.

About personal

Sometimes recruiters ask questions about the personal life of an applicant. It happens that they seem to candidates not too ethical, in which case you can delicately avoid answering. Of course, you should not lie, but no one obliges you to tell on your own initiative about the divorce you experienced or about plans to have a child in a year.

In this situation, it is important to dress your answer in a diplomatic form. For example: “It says on your resume that you are divorced. What caused the divorce? “I don’t quite understand what this has to do with my future work, but since you ask, I’m ready to answer. My wife and I just didn’t get along.”

Jobs, failures, problems...

What else can you keep silent about at an interview, unless, of course, you are asked about it, as they say, in the forehead? You should not, on your own initiative, tell the employer about the part-time jobs that you did as an employee of the previous company: this will make him think about whether you are ready to devote yourself to work entirely.

Think carefully before telling a recruiter about the details of an unsuccessful project with your participation, unless, of course, he himself asks you about it. It is better to remain silent about the fact that you once had problems with alcohol, but you coped with it, and about other personal problems that have been successfully resolved for a long time.

And yet the line between lies and silence is very thin. To remain silent about some serious circumstances that may later affect your work (for example, that your child is often ill and you will have to take sick leave from time to time) is to jeopardize your reputation as a decent person. In other words, it is up to you to decide what to talk about and what to keep silent about at the interview.

We sincerely hope that bursacpns recommendations will be useful to you in this.