Job Seekers: Avoid Saying This During Interviews

You’re sitting in a job interview and the hiring manager says, “Tell me what you dislike the most about your current (or previous) manager.” Your heart beats faster and the palms of your hands begin to sweat. Uh oh. How should you answer the question? Do you tell the truth about how much you detest your boss? 

Some hiring managers will purposely ask interview candidates about the worst aspects of working for a boss or employer. Heads up! These are trick questions to see if you’ll bad mouth a past job, employer, or manager. Answering these types of questions can be difficult, especially if you’re leaving an unhappy work environment or really do work for a terrible boss. While you might like to let loose and vent, a job interview isn’t the time or place – save your angry tirade for a confidential discussion with your best friend.

My advice in answering negative questions is to try your best to turn your answer around into positive comments. Let’s say a hiring manager asks you to explain the top three things you hated the most in a previous job. In your head you might be thinking: My boss was a jerk who wasn’t supportive of my career development, my work assignments were boring and pure drudgery, and I was severely underpaid with no opportunity for pay raises or bonus compensation – but don’t say this out loud!

Instead, say something like: “I’m looking for a job where I have a boss who is supportive of my career development, who will give me projects and assignments that are challenging and will help me improve my skills, and where I have opportunities to earn pay raises or bonus compensation based on my work performance.”

If a hiring manager puts further pressure on you to explain negative aspects of a job, boss, or employer – and you feel uncomfortable with the request – then tell him or her that. Say something like, “I’d rather not focus on the negative attributes. No job or manager is perfect, and I prefer to see situations as learning opportunities…”

When you desperately want the job for which you’re interviewing, it can be tempting to provide the hiring manager with the answers they want to hear. To avoid being caught off guard by trick questions, always maintain the highest level of integrity and avoid speaking negatively about past jobs, bosses, or employers.

Bottom Line: Negative comments from candidates during job interviews are unappealing to hiring managers because it causes them to wonder if you’ll speak badly about them or the company one day. So stay away from comments that bad mouth past jobs or bosses and, if possible, focus your answers on the positive aspects you look forward to in the new job.

~ Lisa Quast, author of award-winning book, YOUR CAREER, YOUR WAY!.  Join her on Twitter @careerwomaninc