The Worst Interview Mistake: You Badmouth Your Former Boss
Posted May 7, 2014 & filed under Interviewing, Job Search
Let’s face it – not every job is going to be peaches and cream. Maybe it’s the office atmosphere or maybe it’s an incompatibility with your employer, but the fact remains that you were unsatisfied on the job. When the opportunity arises to badmouth your former boss in an interview, you may be tempted to just open up and vent. Here’s why that urge is one of the biggest interview mistakes you can make.
How It Happens
No interviewer will bluntly ask you to badmouth your former boss. This interview mistake is normally made through one of three ways:
- The conversation becomes too casual and comments start to slip into unprofessional territory.
- The interviewer asks “why are you leaving your current job?”
- The interviewer asks “Tell me about how you dealt with conflict at work.”
In the moment, candidates simply want to be honest and if they weren’t at fault, it seems hard to imagine that the interviewer won’t sympathize with their plight. Yet disparaging remarks never sit well with hiring managers.
A Negative Image
When you badmouth your former boss, it speaks poorly of you. Even if you have verifiable evidence that proves you were wronged in a previous job, the interviewer will only see a cloud of negativity around you. Negativity begets more negativity. How long will it take for your bad attitude to infect your peers?
Finding the Positive
The first thing to do is keep yourself from letting your professional demeanor wane. Even if your rapport is natural and it feels like you’ve been lifelong friends, don’t allow yourself to slip into your casual comfort zone with the hiring manager. Job interviews, like first dates, are about making the best impression.
When asked “why are you leaving your current job?” or “talk about how you dealt with office conflict,” your answer should always be framed in a positive light. Candidates blunder into this interview mistake because they don’t want to lie. However, in that moment they overlook the power of perspective.
A job interview is an opportunity to take control of your professional story and brand by highlighting what you feel are the most important aspects of your career. The most important part of time spent with a bad boss or in a hostile office should be the skills you built in the process.
For example, instead of choosing to badmouth your former boss and detailing how you were always at odds, focus on how you learned to work with someone with differing opinions. Focus on your positive compromises, your learned problem-solving skills, and your ability to adapt to different situations.
That way, you exude a positive aura and keep yourself from stumbling into one of the worst interview mistakes.
by James Walsh
