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<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-11344" src="https://www.collegecareerlife.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/handshake.jpeg" alt="Job interview body language" width="800" height="533" /></p>
<p>You&#8217;re sitting there listening to your interviewer. Then, it happens. She asks you a question and your mind goes blank. What do you say? What do you do? How do you recover? Everyone&#8217;s been there. Not everyone recovers. Here&#8217;s how to overcome some of the worst job interview blunders you can make.</p>
<h3><b>Showing Up Late</b></h3>
<p>This almost guarantees that you won&#8217;t get the job. If you can&#8217;t show up on time for your interview, how can your employer-to-be expect you to show up for work every day? Still, if it happens, own it. If you&#8217;re late, then you&#8217;re late. Acknowledge it. Apologize for it. If there&#8217;s a legitimate reason for your tardiness, then say so. If you just woke up late, say so.</p>
<p>By owning up to it and apologizing (which is especially important), you&#8217;re showing self-awareness of your mistake &#8211; probably the only good way to recover from this one.</p>
<h3><b>The Ringing Cell Phone</b></h3>
<p>Another common mistake that people make during the interview process has nothing to do with what they say or don&#8217;t say. It has to do with what they do (or don&#8217;t do). Shut off your cell. Just as you&#8217;re telling your interviewer how responsible and polite you are, your phone starts ringing.</p>
<p>And it doesn&#8217;t end there. The ringer is the latest hip-hop song that&#8217;s played endlessly on the radio. Yikes. Once your phone has become the unwelcomed pest, shut it off. Don&#8217;t just hit the &#8220;ignore&#8221; button. Shut the phone off &#8211; as in off-off. Power off so you can&#8217;t make or receive phone calls.</p>
<p>To clean up your mistake, apologize to the interviewer and tell him that you thought it was off before you came in and that this never normally happens.</p>
<h3><b>Feeling A Little Too Relaxed</b></h3>
<p>There are two kinds of mouths: the kind you use at home and with your friends and the kind you use at the office. Don&#8217;t bring the potty mouth to your interview. Swearing is just as natural as breathing for some people. However, you can&#8217;t assume that your interviewer will think this is cute or saucy in a good way.</p>
<p>If cussing is second nature to you, do practice interviews and try to hold your tongue. Learned behaviors are hard to change &#8211; especially overnight. So, give yourself some time and practice before you go in for the real deal.</p>
<h3><b>Your Brain Freezes</b></h3>
<p>It happens. You&#8217;re asked that all-important question: why do you think you would be a good fit for this company? You freeze. You don&#8217;t know what to say. You know you&#8217;re an amazing employee, you do your job and then some, and you always show up on time.</p>
<p>A good way to save the interview would be to ask &#8220;what would you like to know that would be helpful for you to determine that I&#8217;m a qualified candidate?&#8221; That will give you more time to think of a good answer and kill the brain freeze.</p>
<h3><b>You Bad-Mouth Your Former Boss</b></h3>
<p>If it&#8217;s one thing that tips off interviewers, it&#8217;s bad-mouthing old bosses. Doing this makes you look classless and it&#8217;s inappropriate. Even if you think the criticism is deserved, your future employer might want to know that you won&#8217;t go blasting him at your next interview &#8211; if it ever comes to that.</p>
<p>Try to turn your former job into something positive. Talk about what you learned from the bad experience instead of focusing just on the negativity itself.</p>
<p>Louise Hudson has extensive experience with international headhunting. Her articles mainly appear in employment blogs. Visit the <span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Dubizzle Egypt</span></span> for more details and information.</p>