Negative Personal Traits Can Sink Your Job Interview

During an employment interview, you must strive for perfection. After you have left the the interview, it is too late to address any small foible that may have cost you the job offer. Now is the time to privately evaluate your own personal traits and decide if you need to make some improvements. Below are the top five negative traits that may keep you from receiving a second interview or a job offer. Do any of these describe you?

1. Inadequate personality; Often expressed as a poor attitude, lack of poise, or lack of self confidence. These traits are very common in job seekers who have been in the job market for some time. After receiving no response from resumes, no returned calls after an interview, your self esteem, poise, and confidence are all likely to suffer.

2. Lack of goals and objectives; This person appears poorly motivated and indecisive. They lack a clear plan and cannot articulate their goals and interests. They may be hesitant during the interview and their answers may wander from the what was intended by the interviewer's question.

3. Lack of enthusiasm; Generally perceived as a failure to demonstrate drive or initiative. You may not be sufficiently assertive or may have low self esteem. These people often have difficulty "selling" themselves during the interview. They may feel incapable or not sufficiently intelligent to perform in the position that they are interviewing for.

4. Inability to express yourself; This person may have poor communication skills, they are unsure of their speaking skills, speaking voice or vocabulary. These people are often quiet during the interview, providing only short, non-descriptive answers that fail to "sell" the job seeker to an employer.

5. Poor personal appearance; This applicant lacks neatness, may be a careless dresser, or have poor personal hygiene. The job seeker may be unaware of this and walk out of the interview believing they have the position, but never get the call.

Unfortunately, these factors often overlap and each may compound the impact of the others. If you did find yourself anywhere on this list, take heart, recognizing your negative trait is the first step to overcoming it. And you can overcome these negatives with a little effort.

Begin by setting a self improvement goal and committing yourself to reaching that goal. Next, develop an action plan that will work for your life and circumstances and will ultimately reach your goal. Your plan may invovle taking a class, joining a club, or reading the latest self-help best seller. No matter what path you chose, remember to write down your plan. An idea remains in your mind; a plan is written down on paper. Show your plan to a spouse a trusted friend and ask them to hold you accountable for your self-improvement plan.

We have limited our discussion to the 5 most common negative traits, but there are many, many others that will be examined in following articles. Overcoming the 5 negative traits discussed here will produce a positive synergistic effect in your professional and personal life. A healthy sense of confidence will help to improve your poise, attitude, and speaking skills. You can then ask for some help in correcting any fashion faux pas in your wardrobe! Define your goals and enthusiastically pursue them. Your efforts will benefit you in the next job interview as well as your personal life.