One of the most difficult things a candidate will need to do during a job interview is discuss their previous employment. There are ways to make this easy, and we will discuss them in this post so you can better prepare for job interviews.
Plan What You Will Say Ahead of Time
An excellent tactic for discussing previous employment during a job interview is to plan what you will tell the interviewer ahead of time. This means that you should sit down with a family member or friend prior to going to the interview and go over what you will say. This will make it easier to tell the interviewer about your previous jobs and employers. You will be less likely to say something irrelevant or disparaging about your previous employment, which can sink you during an interview.
Tell the Truth
Even though you should never talk negatively about your previous employment, it is still a good idea to tell the truth during this portion of the job interview. It will only help in your chances of being offered employment. Don’t regale interviewers with your top ten times you were mad at your boss, that only looks bad on you. You need to admit to the interviewer if you were ever discharged from a previous position or disciplined by a former employer. You will also need to tell the interviewer what you learned from that experience and how it will help you should you be offered employment with this company.
Do Not Offer Too Much Information
Another excellent tip is to avoid offering too much information to the interviewer. When you offer too much information, you are more likely to make disparaging remarks or to say something negative about your former employer. When you say too much, you are opening yourself up to questions that could be very difficult to answer, and you take the attention off the true focus of the interview – why they should hire you!
Say Something Positive
Do your best to say something positive about your previous employers. This goes a long way during a job interview. It can be almost anything positive that you liked from the job, including the training programs, the break room, the co-workers or even the flexible schedule. Even if you absolutely hated your previous job, or your supervisor, you still need to find something to say that is positive.
Speak with an experienced recruiter at Halpin Personnel today to learn about the best ways to discuss previous employment during a job interview.