Don’t Do These 4 Things When Describing Your Current Job In An Interview

By Chelsea Babin

One common element of the interview is describing your current job. From title to responsibilities to a vision of your day-to-day work life, these explanations can often go awry. You shouldn’t do any of these 4 things when describing your current job in an interview. Here’s why and what to do instead:

1. It Just Can’t Be Explained: If your current job involves a lot of complex tasks and responsibilities that are difficult to explain it might be tempting to just say that you can’t sum it up in just a few sentences or refer them to your resume. This is a huge mistake because it makes you look lazy or like you lack effective communication skills. Instead, try saying the main tasks you do every day and, instead of going into depth and explaining what they are and how you do them, explain how they add value to your current company.

2. Jargon, Jargon Everywhere: Every industry has their own jargon but you never know if the person or people interviewing you are from your specific department or from another department like HR. Try to avoid throwing jargon everywhere when you’re explaining what your job requires and instead give a straightforward answer that mentions some of the technologies you use. If they want to know more details, they’ll ask!

3. One Long, Winding Tangent: We’ve all been in a situation where we ask someone how their day has been and instead of just saying “fine” or mentioning a few important bullet points they go into every detail of their day from sun up to sun down. These kinds of long, winding tangents are deadly in interviews because they turn it more into a monologue than a dialogue. Instead, try to think up a few important bullet points ahead of time so when you’re asked to explain your current job and what your day-to-day looks like you can hit the big points without forgetting anything or taking up too much time and dominating the conversation.

4. Declining to Explain Multiple Times or Expand When Asked: No matter how talented you are as a communicator, misunderstandings happen. It’s important not to get flustered after delivering your prepared bullet points of a job description if an interviewer asks you to repeat or expand on a point. This makes some people clam up and they decline, saying something along the lines of, “I thought I already went over that.” Most interviewers don’t expect you to be able to sum up all of your strengths and responsibilities in your current job in just a few sentences so be prepared to expand or repeat and don’t let it fluster you.

Because interviews are such high-stress situations, they’re laced with pitfalls and potentially fatal mistakes. However, if you’re prepared and know what to avoid, you can rock an interview and land your dream job. Now you know how to avoid these 4 things when describing your current job in your interview. Good luck!