Do you know that recruiters start to pay attention to everything you say and do as soon as an interview starts? They look at your appearance and the way you talk. They pay attention to your grammar. They also pay attention to your video background as well. These things could raise eyebrows and get you questioned or even be a dealbreaker for a recruiter.
When you are in an interview, there are a couple of more serious things that could get you rejected for the job and I would like to point them out in this article.
While all of the points I am about to mention might not be crucial to the job you’re being interviewed for. They are important still and some of them might specifically apply to you. Whether you get the job or not, your recruiter is going to note these things down during an Interview.
Your Language Proficiency
In a previous article on this blog and also on a Tiktok video I made a while back, I talked about how your language proficiency influences your job application and your job in general. It’s one of the very first things that a recruiter pays attention to, from the start of the Interview.
Once the interview starts, they’re going to take a look at your appearance and also take a look at your background to be sure that there are no distractions or noises in the background. They would listen to you speak and present yourself, and your language basically starts to show from there. Note: I said language, not accent.
So, what about accent? They would only pay attention to your accent if the job requires you to speak with customers on a call and they’re looking for a specific accent.
If it’s a job that requires you to speak English, they are going to want to find out if your English is fluent or if you can present yourself in English. Now, I understand that you might be nervous at the first stage of the interview. But it shouldn’t be so bad that you cannot present yourself without ruining language. Now, of course, this does not just apply to English alone. If you’re being interviewed for a French position or a Spanish position, you might also want to make sure your French and Spanish are in check before the interview, because once the interview starts, the interviewer might start speaking in Spanish or French and you would have to follow suit. So they look out for this.
In some companies, they don’t even pay attention to your language during an interview. They send you an assessment before the interview to test your language proficiency. When you take the assessment, your scores will indicate if they should go ahead and interview you or not.
Your Availability
When a recruiter is faced with an option to hire someone who is fully available to do the job and someone who’s partially available to do the job, they are going to hire the person who is fully available to do the job. So another thing that recruiters look out for during interviews is who has more time on their hands to get the job done.
When you are in an interview, they are going to ask you what your availability is like. Are you currently in school or are you currently working? Are you looking to work with us full time or you’re looking to work part-time?
It doesn’t matter If the job is part-time or full-time, make sure to indicate your full availability because no recruiter wants to hear about how you have tests and exams coming up but expect to get paid at work still. If it’s a part-time position, you can go ahead and be more specific… tell them you’re fully available. to work the specified time or shift for the job.
I would also recommend not bringing up the other things going on in your life. So you don’t have to mention all the other things you do on the side when you’re looking for a job. They are not important at that time. If you’re 100% sure you’re going to be available for the job, then you don’t need to bring up all the other things taking up your time right now.
Most companies want someone who can stay on the job and commit to time because it costs a lot of resources to hire, fire or train employees. My definition of resources in this context is time and money.
Your Experience
Another thing your recruiter would look out for when in an interview with you is how much experience you have with work in general. Not necessarily the role you are being hired for. Not that that doesn’t also count. Recruiters are always looking to hire someone with more experience than someone without experience or less experience. Now, this doesn’t mean that you’re not going to get hired if you applied for a job without experience. It just means that your chances of being hired are lower compared to someone with experience.
Hiring someone with more experience costs fewer resources to hire and train. It would cost a lot of resources to hire and train someone with no experience. This doesn’t mean you should back off… If you really believe you can do a job, don’t worry, go ahead and apply still. It’s not all about the experience at the end of the day. Some experienced candidates can turn out to be rude, expensive or both.
How much do you understand the role?
I once attended an interview with a manager who asked me how much I understand the role he was hiring me for. I gave him cliche responses because he simply told me it was a Virtual assistant + support role, then told me to go through the website. I didn’t fully understand what the website did. So it was difficult to explain the role to him when he asked me during the interview.
I ended up not getting the job, and he specifically reached out to me a week after the interview to tell me that he had found someone who understood the job better and also had experience. So, this is another thing that recruiters look out for during an interview. You don’t even have to have worked the job before. They’d simply want to know how much you understand the job.
Sometimes they don’t directly ask you how much you understand this job. They can simply ask If you have done something like this before? Or If you have any questions for them so far? Your knowledge about the job will inform their decision during and after the interview.
So before you go into an interview. Do your best to understand what the role is about and ask questions during the interview, if you don’t understand some parts of the job. Also, ask if training is going to be provided as training is going to make your life easier.
Your Behaviour and Soft Skills
I once interviewed someone and during the interview, he lifted his laptop left the room while still on the call with me. I wasn’t sure where he was going at first until I heard him pouring something into a cup. He was in the kitchen making coffee while on a call with me. And after he was done making his coffee, he picked it up with his right hand, laptop in his left hand and walked back to his workspace.
He never took permission or apologized. He just moved around while we were having the interview. I am not making this up. While I do not particularly find this rude, I thought it was awkward because he was in an interview and could have asked me first.
So recruiters also look out for your behaviour during interviews. The behaviour could be how you move your body during the interview, react, the things you say, how you talked about other people, how much you understand diversity & inclusion and so on. They might also try to find out if you’re comfortable working with other people.
When you go into an interview, you are expected to be prepared. And to ask questions during the interview. Exhibiting unhealthy or nonchalant behaviour might get you flagged and eventually lead to disqualification.
Your Work Environment
This isn’t a big deal if you’re going to be working from an office, but if it’s a work-from-home job, they are going to observe your background to see if you have any distractions, adult content or noise in the background. Your environment is very important if you’re being offered a remote job because nobody wants to hire you if dogs are going to be barking whenever you’re on a zoom call. So make sure to set your background in order. Make sure to suppress all background noise with a USB headset or noise cancellation software like Krisp. Make sure to do this during Interviews. Do not wait for later.
So these are the basic things that recruiters look out for when they are looking to hire you for a job. If you have any questions for me, please feel free to leave a comment here and I’ll get back to you.
