Top Job Interview Mistakes New College Graduates Must Avoid
New College Graduate answering a hiring manager's job interview questions
Whether you graduated from college a year ago or just received your degree, are an undergraduate, a new MBA, or a graduate student, you are facing a challenging job market. As a career counselor, I help many grads prepare for that all-important job interview. That has given me a first-hand view of the top mistakes you may be making. These are avoidable errors that, if made, can result in someone else being hired.
To excel in your next interview, avoid these common pitfalls.
Stumbling on answers to situational interview questions
By far, situational interview questions are the most difficult for everyone. They require a specific story about work or an academic situation. The critical mistake is that you lose the interviewer early on because you do not paint a clear picture when you begin to answer, which is necessary to set up the story.
Details are essential. Where did this happen? Who is involved? Use first names to make it easier to follow the story. Include the specifics when you describe the situation in which they occur. Be sure to state the outcome and ensure the story portrays you in the best possible light.
For example, suppose you were asked to describe a situation about dealing with a difficult person on a job or in a class project. In that case, you can highlight how you effectively resolved a customer complaint or describe what you did to resolve a conflict with a group member.
For more details on developing good answers to situational questions, read my Forbes article, Ace Your Next Interview Using The STAR Method
Not projecting confidence
Gen Z candidates struggle the most with maintaining eye contact during interviews, according to a recent survey of 800 hiring managers, https://nypost.com/2024/01/06/lifestyle/gen-z-grads-are-tanking-job-interviews-struggling-to-find-full-time-positions-study/, conducted by the research group Intelligent. The candidate appears to be unaware that they are looking around at the ceiling, down, or to the sides, anywhere but directly at the interviewer. That is where you must direct your attention, whether interviewing in person or online. When you don't, you come across as insecure and inexperienced, making your response seem questionable. That is a key concern for employers as it indicates how you will appear and interact in a group or with a client.
The solution? Practice and practice some more. Engage with everyone you meet, and always maintain eye contact, which becomes a natural response.
Giving weak or generic answers
Employers frequently complain that new graduates are often unprepared for interviews. Hiring managers state that the candidate has given little thought to how they replied and seems to be winging it. Unimpressed, they will move on to the next candidate.
Use Google to find a list of typical interview questions. Analyze your credentials, academic work, internships, activities, and leadership roles to craft a great response. Write out your answers to the hard questions, such as, What is your greatest weakness? Tell us about yourself. What is your greatest accomplishment? Why should we hire you? Keep your answer to no more than 60 seconds.
Having inadequate preparation
One Head of Recruiting shared a story with me about the ridiculous mistakes candidates make. She had a great applicant who looked terrific on paper, but when she asked him, 'Why do you want to work for our company?' he responded by naming a different company. Now, that is an error you never recover from.
Conduct a deep dive to learn as much as possible about the company and the job duties. Look for connections to get some insider information. Check out the recruiter, hiring manager, and anyone you will be interviewing. Review their LinkedIn profile so you're familiar with their background. Note any similarities, such as that you attended the same college. Send a LinkedIn connection request, including a personalized message that notes you have an upcoming interview with them.
Aren't asking good questions
The interview is not the time to ask about job perks or unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO). All questions should be related to the work duties you'll be doing. Otherwise, you will come across as uninterested or only concerned with the job's salary and perks. This gives the impression of how you behave in the workplace, in meetings, or as part of a collaborative team. It's time to impress the employer by asking the right kinds of interview questions and learn more about whether you would want to work for that boss and organization.
For more insight on how to ask good questions during an interview, read my Forbes column, Hiring Managers Reveal What Really Impresses Them In Job Interviews
Ignoring your appearance
Employers frequently complain that people have forgotten what professional attire looks like. It cannot be emphasized enough that business casual is not synonymous with wearing sloppy clothes, such as a t-shirt, a baseball cap, or having your hair in a ponytail. But don't overdress either; most jobs don't need you to show up in a suit and tie.
Pay close attention to your appearance, especially when employers are resuming in-person interviews. For men, opt for collared shirts, dress pants, and dress shoes, and consider getting a haircut to achieve your best look. For women, wear a professional dress (no party attire or see-through materials), or dress pants paired with an attractive blouse, dress shoes, and a blazer if it complements the outfit.
Regarding cell phones, employers frequently complain about an applicant checking their phone during an interview. Avoid making that mistake. Do not have the phone out during the interview and turn it off so nothing distracts you. If you won't do that, turn off the ringer and set it up so it doesn't vibrate. Keep your hands free so you can shake the interviewer's hand without having to juggle your phone.
By overcoming the mistakes many other candidates will make, you set yourself up to be successful and land the job you want.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The hard-working Gen Zers who prefer life in the office
'Gen Lay-Z'. 'The WFH generation'. 'Nobody wants to work any more'. Depending on who you ask, Gen Z are the ultimate office refuseniks. Their early careers unfolded from bedrooms and kitchen tables, shaped by lockdowns and Zoom fatigue. The watercooler chat? Dead. Al desko lunches? Forgotten. Post-work drinks with the team? Fat chance. They were firmly hooked on back-to-back video calls, Slack pings and a digital nomad-esque life with Wi-Fi as the only real anchor. For love nor money nor free lunches, Britain's under-30s could not be tempted by face-to-face working. Or so bosses thought. Contrary to this narrative, plenty of Gen Z workers have been consistently coming into the office, even when most of their colleagues chose to stay at home. Tamara Salloum moved to London from Beirut three years ago to work at PR firm, ING Media. Although the company has recently mandated workers to go in three days a week in person, she's been a steadfast office devotee since her start date. 'I need that clear line between home and work,' she explains. 'In the office, I can brainstorm ideas, learn from seniors, collaborate across teams and clients and socialise. Then, when I'm home, it's just for decompressing and tuning out.' Although 28-year-old Salloum had worked in the sector before her move to the UK, she knew being in five days a week would help her adjust more quickly to the new culture and communication styles. There are more tangible pluses, too – she works across two monitors, from a proper chair and, as summer hots up, she's enjoying the building's air con. Financially, it makes more sense than working from home, as ING Media provides breakfast, snacks and coffees. Salloun spends around £6 a day on travel. An increasing number of Gen Z workers like Salloum are choosing to be in for most of the week, far more than older peers. A March survey of 12,000 workers in 44 countries by property group, JLL, found that workers aged 24 and under are more likely than any other generation to be in the office, and come in an average three days, compared to between 2.5 and 2.7 days among other generations. While commercial real estate companies like JLL have skin in the game in the return to office tussle, several other large surveys show similar shifts. In mid 2024, the urban policy research unit and charity, Centre for Cities, surveyed office attendance in six global cities, finding that in London, the youngest workers (aged 18-24) spent the most time working in the office each week on average. That's despite having the lowest mandated time in the office – 3.1 days on average, compared to four in Sydney, 3.6 in Singapore, 3.4 in New York and 3.3 in Toronto. This younger cohort of Londoners was also the most likely age group to say they work best in the office, at 43pc. There are signs the trend will extend to those who have yet to enter Britain's workforce, or are just starting out. Bright Network, which connects graduates and young professionals with recruiters in global companies, surveyed 15,000 UK students and found that six in 10 (59pc) of graduates want to go into the office five days a week. Of those who want to be in five days a week (31pc), there's been an increase of 6pc since last year. So, amid clamours of return to office mandates – with companies such as JPMorgan Chase, Boots and THG ordering staff back to the office for five days a week – why are some Gen Zers heading back of their own accord? And what does the younger cohort's boomerang move mean for the rest of the workforce? Against the backdrop of the 'working from home revolution' in the UK, it's easy to overlook a quieter crisis: the young people who missed out on fundamental, identity-shaping experiences during the pandemic – chances to make friends, build networks and find their footing in adult life. While older generations often relied on pre-existing communities, forged through university, long-term employment, hobbies or local ties, many younger adults had no such foundations in place. Can you miss what you never had? Perhaps – and the data suggests as much. A report by the think tank, Onward, shows that one in five Britons aged 18-24 have one or no close friends, a proportion that's tripled over the last decade. Supporting this trend, earlier figures show that those aged between 16 and 29 are at least twice as likely to report feeling lonely often, or always, than those over 70 (9.7pc versus 3.7pc). Courtney Boateng, entrepreneur and co-founder of To My Sisters, a community and podcast empowering women in academia and the workplace, believes Gen Z's appetite for the office is centred around 'community and the sense of belonging that comes with that'. Young people – herself included – see this as a way to accelerate faster in a career, not in a superficial or transactional way, but out of genuine connection. 'That's what people are seeking in so many areas of their life, and Gen Z wants that from the office,' says Boateng. Salloum, who has made close friends with her colleagues at ING Media, would agree. Many of her work buddies are of a similar age and like going to the Shoreditch site almost as much as her. 'We go on coffee runs and lunch together, and sit on the office terrace when the weather is good,' she says. There's a social committee which organises game nights, team quizzes and during Ramadan, a team iftar. She says she'd get FOMO if she stayed home. 'I'm lucky that I really like my colleagues, so I never worry it will be awkward or that we won't have things to talk about,' says Lewis White, 27, a research officer at the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute. 'For me, there's no amount of Slack channels that can replicate the feeling of hanging out with people, and chatting while you work.' A psychology graduate, White began his career as a healthcare assistant at a men's psychiatric intensive care unit, and after three and a half years, began looking in the third sector. He was pleased to find a role that aligned so well with his interest in mental health, and after a six-month internship at the charity, White moved into a full-time position. Staff are required to be in the office at least two days a week, but White usually goes in for roughly three days – a number that might increase when the office relocates from central London to east London, where he can cycle easily from home. The stereotype that Gen Z is universally work-shy has seeped into the workplace. According to Statista, a quarter of UK business owners and employers describe these younger workers as struggling with professional boundaries, displaying informality and being resistant to criticism – traits often mistaken for laziness, rather than signs of needing better support. Boateng believes that many Gen Z workers are simply under-equipped and eager for guidance. 'They want to be mentored, not just micromanaged,' she says, noting it's often far easier to achieve this in person. White, being new to the sector, appreciates the immediacy of in-office communication. 'If I need to run something by someone, I can pull them aside, bring my laptop over, and have a quick chat,' he explains. 'It cuts out the 5-10 minutes of messaging on Slack or setting up a Google Meet.' As these young people enter the workforce, Kirsten Barnes, chief executive of Bright Network, explains that they definitely see the office as 'the place to learn by osmosis and upskill in both soft and hard skills to propel them into the future'. Indeed, Bright Network's research found that the chance to learn from others remains the top reason young people want to go into the office (39pc), followed by the opportunity to build their networks (18pc), then teamwork and collaboration (11pc). Proximity to managers and senior leadership matters, too. 'Gen Zers don't expect to be best pals with the chief executive, but they shouldn't be these mystical figures at the top either,' says Boateng. She likens her generation to toddlers, always asking why. It can be annoying, she admits, but it stems from a genuine desire to understand the workplace and the complex systems within it. 'Asking the hard questions – and getting the hard answers – builds our understanding of the social environment, and helps us become more invested, mature contributors to a workplace.' Recent graduate Neel Shah works as a digital marketer for JDM Distributors and has to go into the office-cum-warehouse every day, although this suits him fine. 'I've never worked from home, but I'd get really lazy if I did,' says Shah, who begins his day with the gym at 5.30am, before heading home to change and then drive from Harrow to Watford for an 8am start. He handles JDM's email marketing, influencer collaborations, social media marketing and website, so if he's not in the office, he's managing or attending events and meeting with collaborators. Shah feels well-liked and trusted at work and that he's fulfilling the expectations made of him. Doing a five-day week on-site, he says, has helped him adjust quickly to working life after his degree. 'I feel lucky to have got an internship at JDM and then a job, because tons of my friends are still looking for any kind of permanent work,' he explains. 'I know lots who finished their degrees three or four years ago, but have only been able to find zero-hours contracts since then, which is scary when you're in so much debt from uni.' Under the thumb of intensifying labour market pressures, the outlook for graduates in Shah's cohort is far from rosy. With the threat of Trump's tariffs, and higher taxes for employers taking effect, job vacancies fell to the lowest level in nearly four years in April. It's understandable then, that rising numbers of younger workers would sacrifice working from home to secure a new role. According to a new analysis of over two million jobseekers by Flexa, 12pc fewer Gen Z job seekers listed 'location flexibility' as a key criteria for new roles in March, compared to the start of the year. By contrast, demand for location flexibility increased among all other age groups over the same time period. For the youngest Gen Zers fresh out of further education, the balance of power clearly sits with the employer. While around 59pc of UK professionals now work in a hybrid capacity, a four percentage point increase since 2024, according to Michael Page's Talent Trends Report 2025, many are anxious about the future of flexible working. Work arrangements consistently top candidate concerns during job interviews facilitated by Michael Page. These fears, however, may be misplaced. Despite bold declarations from high-profile chief executives calling for bums on seats, the data tells a different story. Research from King's College London shows remote work rates have held steady since 2022. Drawing on over a million Labour Force Survey records and 50,000 responses to the UK Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes, the study also found growing resistance to full-time office mandates. In 2025, half of UK employees said they'd consider leaving their job if forced back full-time – up from 40pc in 2022. The share who would quit on the spot has doubled, from 5pc to 10pc. 'Anyone facing a return to office mandate should hold their ground – resistance is more than reasonable,' says Professor Heejung Chung, director of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership and lead author of the study. 'In the UK at least, flexibility is the norm – and will continue to be so.' For young professionals hoping to make themselves indispensable in a tough economy, the office can be a place for connection, mentorship and growth – but not at the cost of flexibility. White believes the appeal lies in having the option to work from home when needed. 'Several of my close friends still work in healthcare, and it's complicated – they're right to be jealous of my hybrid setup,' he says. 'When I was at the hospital, I felt the same way about anyone in an office job.' Salloum agrees that having flexibility is key: 'I love being in the office – but I also love having the option to work from home when I need to.' Sign in to access your portfolio
Fast Company
an hour ago
- Fast Company
Block's CFO explains Gen Z's surprising approach to money management
One stock recently impacted by a whirlwind of volatility is Block—the fintech powerhouse behind Square, Cash App, Tidal Music, and more. The company's COO and CFO, Amrita Ahuja, shares how her team is using new AI tools to find opportunity amid disruption and reach customers left behind by traditional financial systems. Ahuja also shares lessons from the video game industry and discusses Gen Z's surprising approach to money management. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by Robert Safian, former editor-in-chief of Fast Company. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today's top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode. As a leader, when you're looking at all of this volatility—the tariffs, consumer sentiment's been unclear, the stock market's been all over the place. You guys had a huge one-day drop in early May, and it quickly bounced back. How do you make sense of all these external factors? Yeah, our focus is on what we can control. And ultimately, the thing that we are laser-focused on for our business is product velocity. How quickly can we start small with something, launch something for our customers, and then test and iterate and learn so that ultimately, that something that we've launched scales into an important product? I'll give you an example. Cash App Borrow, which is a product where our customers can get access to a line of credit, often $100, $200, that bridges them from paycheck to paycheck. We know so many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. That's a product that we launched about three years ago and have now scaled to serve 9 million actives with $15 billion in credit supply to our customers in a span of a couple short years. The more we can be out testing and launching product at a pace, the more we know we are ultimately delivering value to our customers, and the right things will happen from a stock perspective. Block is a financial services provider. You have Square, the point-of-sale system; the digital wallet Cash App, which you mentioned, which competes with Venmo and Robinhood; and a bunch of others. Then you've got the buy-now, pay-later leader Afterpay. You chair Square Financial Services, which is Block's chartered bank. But you've said that in the fintech world, Block is only a little bit fin—that comparatively, it's more tech. Can you explain what you mean by that? What we think is unique about us is our ability as a technology company to completely change innovation in the space, such that we can help solve systemic issues across credit, payments, commerce, and banking. What that means ultimately is we use technologies like AI and machine learning and data science, and we use these technologies in a unique way, in a way that's different from a traditional bank. We are able to underwrite those who are often frankly forgotten by the traditional financial ecosystems. Our Square Loans product has almost triple the rate of women-owned businesses that we underwrite. Fifty-eight percent of our loans go to women-owned businesses versus 20% for the industry average. For that Cash App Borrow product I was talking about, 70% of those actives, the 9 million actives that we underwrote, fell below 580 as a FICO score. That's considered a poor FICO score, and yet 97% of repayments are made on time. And this is because we have unique access to data and these technology and tools which can help us uniquely underwrite this often forgotten customer base. Yeah. I mean, credit—sometimes it's been blamed for financial excesses. But access to credit is also, as you say, an advantage that's not available to everyone. Do you have a philosophy between those poles—between risk and opportunity? Or is what you're saying is that the tech you have allows you to avoid that risk? That's right. Let's start with how do the current systems work? It works using inferior data, frankly. It's more limited data. It's outdated. Sometimes it's inaccurate. And it ignores things like someone's cash flows, the stability of your income, your savings rate, how money moves through your accounts, or how you use alternative forms of credit—like buy now, pay later, which we have in our ecosystem through Afterpay. We have a lot of these signals for our 57 million monthly actives on the Cash App side and for the 4 million small businesses on the Square side, and those, frankly, billions of transaction data points that we have on any given day paired with new technologies. And we intend to continue to be on the forefront of AI, machine learning, and data science to be able to empower more people into the economy. The combination of the superior data and the technologies is what we believe ultimately helps expand access. You have a financial background, but not in the financial services industry. Before Block, you were a video game developer at Activision. Are financial businesses and video games similar? Are there things that are similar about them? There are. There actually are some things that are similar, I will say. There are many things that are unique to each industry. Each industry is incredibly complex. You find that when big technology companies try to do gaming. They've taken over the world in many different ways, but they can't always crack the nut on putting out a great game. Similarly, some of the largest technology companies have dabbled in fintech but haven't been able to go as deep, so they're both very nuanced and complex industries. I would say another similarity is that design really matters. Industrial design, the design of products, the interface of products, is absolutely mission-critical to a great game, and it's absolutely mission-critical to the simplicity and accessibility of our products, be it on Square or Cash App. And then maybe the third thing that I would say is that when I was in gaming, at least the business models were rapidly changing from an intermediary distribution mechanism, like releasing a game once and then selling it through a retailer, to an always-on, direct-to-consumer connection. And similarly with banking, people don't want to bank from 9 to 5, six days a week. They want 24/7 access to their money and the ability to, again, grow their financial livelihood, move their money around seamlessly. So, some similarities are there in that shift to an intermediary model or a slower model to an always-on, direct-to-consumer connection. Part of your target audience or your target customer base at Block are Gen Z folks. Did you learn things at Activision about Gen Z that has been useful? Are there things that businesses misunderstand about younger generations still? What we've learned is that Gen Z, millennial customers, aren't going to do things the way their parents did. Some of our stats show that 63% of Gen Z customers have moved away from traditional credit cards, and over 80% are skeptical of them. Which means they're not using a credit card to manage expenses; they're using a debit card, but then layering on on a transaction-by-transaction basis. Or again, using tools like buy now, pay later, or Cash App Borrow, the means in which they're managing their consistent cash flows. So that's an example of how things are changing, and you've got to get up to speed with how the next generation of customers expects to manage their money.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sober karaoke on the rise as Gen Z ditch booze
Young people who shun alcohol are driving a boom in 'sober karaoke', putting them at odds with older generations who typically only sing after a few drinks. Charlie Elek, chief executive of Britain's biggest chain of karaoke bars Lucky Voice, said he had seen an increase Gen Z eschewing booze during their singing sessions – breaking with the popular image of karaoke as a late night activity only undertaken when the pubs have shut. He said 8pm was now the most popular time for bookings, compared to 10pm 'back in the day', because of a shift in drinking culture. 'Back in the day we were very much about post-pub activity. People would feel the need to have five drinks before coming to Lucky Voice. With Gen Z not not drinking the same ways that we used to, that that has changed over time,' he said. He said that older people were still drinking more ahead of karaoke sessions. 'There's definitely some people who feel – it's an older generation – that, 'well, I'm not going to do karaoke until I have about five pints'. 'There's something kind of more guarded about the older generations.' It comes amid a broader shift away from traditional pubs in terms of where younger people socialise. While Britain's pub industry has suffered many closures in recent years, so-called 'competitive socialising' venues offering activities like karaoke, axe throwing and shuffleboard have become more popular. Younger people in particular are cutting down on alcohol – with many now going completely teetotal. In a survey by Kantar last year, 59pc of Gen Z – which are defined as people born in or after 1997 – claimed not to have drunk any alcohol in the last 12 months. Mr Elek said this meant the chain was having to cater to a 'different type of customer'. 'They do come earlier,' he said. 'We have had to work a lot on our low & no [alcohol] menu, and that's getting really big pick up.' Founded in 2005 by Martha Lane Fox, the Baroness of Soho and her business partners Julian Douglas and Nick Thistleton, Lucky Voice is Britain's biggest chain dedicated exclusively to karaoke. It runs five bars in London and one in Brighton. As drinking habits have changed, the chain has also begun taking more corporate bookings and hosting more parties for children. The business pulled in its best Christmas on record in 2024, with sales rising 17pc compared with the prior year. However, as well as seeing a rise in sober karaoke, Mr Elek said he had noticed some customers staying out later on Sundays and week nights because they are working from home and do not have to go into the office the next day. He said: 'There's just a slight different attitude from the days where everyone was working five days a week and you knew that you were going to be at desk at 8:30am.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
