Avoid These Common Interview Mistakes in Indonesia
How many times have you been in a job interview and they’ve asked you a question - you literally have no idea how to answer. You ramble off some BS answer, to cover your tracks, look up, seeing if you got away with it. The interview has glazed over. They make a note on their paper, it looks like a ‘x’ mark. You’ve ruined it.
From there on, it all falls apart, your confidence is gone. What are you doing here anyway? Why did you have to pick this job? Is it too late to walk out? Can you live on ramen and Govt welfare forever?
It’s easy for things to spiral, but it’s really not that bad, if you know what to expect. So we’ve thrown together a list of the top 5 common slip-ups in Indonesian job interviews, along with tips to skate right over them:
What to Avoid #1: Poor Research
It's a familiar scenario: you're asked about the company's values, and your mind goes blank. Although you might have a dozen of these interviews this week, to the employer it just comes across as disinterest or unpreparedness. Rude.
How to Prepare: Check out the website, social media, and press mentions etc. Whatever you can find, to get the gist of their mission, values, and culture. Make sure when you answer, you can drop links to the job description. Don’t be the guy that sits there having to admit “I don’t know”!
What to Avoid #2: Bad Body Language
Your body language can scream, even if your mouth is shut. We are wired to subliminally recognise things like slouched posture, crossed arms, or lack of eye contact and it's pretty much universal - low confidence or disinterest.
What to Practise: Upright posture, shoulders back and chin up. Throw in some nods and avoid blocking off your body or showing defensive body language. Many studies say well over 80% of communication is nonverbal, aligning your body language with your intent. Because if you don’t consciously do it, you’ll subconsciously do it.
What to Avoid #3: Poor Communication
Whether it's speaking too quickly, rambling, or overusing filler words “like, uhm, you know, so, well”, these habits can weaken your message, clear communication is a must.
How to Improve: Work on mock interviews to know how to react and answer well with confidence. Skills like public speaking classes (Toastmasters) can help this a lot.
What to Avoid #4: Lack of Knowledge
Trust me, I’m all about the fake it til you make it life. But you gotta at least have an idea of what's going on in the field you’re applying to. Hiring managers look for and appreciate candidates who display genuine interest and knowledge in the industry. Even if you’re new or don’t know, just be honest “I’m not sure about that area specifically as I’m still learning, but based on what I know about x thing, I’d say xyz”.
Stay Informed: Check out industry-related blogs, popular Youtubers, stay in there with groups.
What to Avoid #5: Negativity
It’s painful when you’re listening to someone and everything is somebody else’s fault, or they are the victim, it just leaks out of everything they say and that negativity, even when masked by nerves, can ruin an interview. You want to be the optimistic face in the chair and even if you’re not feeling 100%, at least being enthusiastic is useful.
Stay Positive: We’ve all got our stuff going on, but that’s not the interviewers problem. Try a little journaling etc, for getting rid of negativity building up in there, or just a couple minutes of gratitude before you walk in, appreciate the positives, even if just for 20 minutes in that room.
Avoiding these common mistakes— through prep, strong body language, good communication, staying well read, and being a positive force— you can make the next job interview your best one yet. Get yourself over to Workclass if you’re running low on interviews, we’ve got loads of jobs and you can apply super fast.