What Not To Say In An Interview

It’s gotten to that time of year again when many of the RHS pupils are going through different kinds of interview processes. Many Year 12s are going through the process of interviews for leadership positions, year 11s are starting to think about job opportunities in their careers interviews and year 13s are about to start interviews for their universities. All of this started to make me think, what should we make sure NOT to say in these interviews?

We all know that these kinds of situations can be incredibly nerve-racking and often this can lead to things which would be better to not say in front of an important person. When I had to think of what to write about I started to think, how would an interview go if someone answered honestly?

‘What is your biggest weakness?’ This is quite commonly asked, it’s asked to gather whether you really recognise your flaws and how you’d be able to turn them into a strength within the workplace. Yet, if most of us answered honestly then the response would probably sound like: ‘My main weakness is that I cannot focus before lunchtime and can barely survive an hour of work without looking at a screen. If I am as lucky to survive the time without my screen, I will later probably spend ages doomscrolling and bed rotting instead of getting on with my schoolwork.’

If I were to ever enter a job in retail where they asked, ‘What are you most looking forward to do whilst in this job?’ I would immediately want to answer, ‘That I will able to get loads of presents for all my friends for super cheap!’ That’s definitely not something a future employer would want to hear. So to anyone who’s expecting to take an interview soon be very careful about how you answer (and remember it’s okay to tell a small lie sometimes).