6 interview deal breakers that could cost you the job

While there’s a lot about the interview process you can’t control — the hiring manager’s mood, the candidates you’re up against, that gap in your résumé from three years ago, the fact that the weather is making your hair do a weird thing — there’s also a lot that’s in your hands.

A recent Quora thread posed the question: “What are some of the biggest red flags in an interviewee?” And while every hiring manager is different — that’s part of the minefield that is interviewing — some deal breakers seem to pop up again and again.

Below, we’ve compiled a few common, costly, and fixable interview mistakes that could undermine your chances, no matter how good you’d be if you got the gig.

1. You can’t explain your previous job in human terms

“For me, the biggest red flag is the candidate’s ability to explain their previous work,” writes Quora user Pradeep Chandran. He’s not alone in that assessment.

User Prashanth Sriram asks candidates to explain a complex project they’ve worked on in the past — what the problem was, and how they solved it. “If the candidate is unable to come up with a simple enough analogy or explanation,” it shows either that a potential hire genuinely doesn’t understand their work, or that they’re “incapable of explaining a complex concept in a simple manner.” Either way, it’s a deal-breaker.

2. You’re a show off

“I once had a candidate say to me, ‘Ok if you are so good, show me how it’s done. Sell me this pen,'” recalls Quora user Mira Zaslove. “After I gave my answer, they proceeded to try to ‘one-up’ me with an overly amped, full-press, standing presentation.” For her, it was a red flag. “It’s difficult to train people who ask questions, not for an answer, but only to show how smart they are.”

3. You don’t actually answer the question

“For me, the #1 red flag was a pattern of failing to answer the questions being asked,” writes user Beth Hutton. There’s nothing wrong with asking for clarification if you’re not sure about something. What you don’t want to do is “bluster in the face of ignorance,” she says. “Better to admit, ‘gee, I don’t know'” than to plow past a tough question.

4. You’re a robot

In the future, robots will steal the jobs and we’ll all be obsolete, but for the moment, you’re still interviewing as a human, so use that to your advantage. “Having no feelings — nothing they’re passionate about, nothing they can say, ‘man, that was tough, but I got through it'” is a major red flag, writes user Erin Berkery-Rovner.

User Andrew Collins agrees: “You have to show a little of yourself in order to gain trust, which is vital in the interview process.”

5. You’re a little too polished

“I have a collection of questions that few people can be prepared for. If you are, then that’s not a knock-out blow, but it does worry me,” writes user Dan Holliday. “When I ask, ‘Tell me about your worst failure on a job, where you thought you were gonna get fired. Explain the outcome,’ and you have some smarmy, slick answer, I start to worry.”

6. You’re late

“In this day and age there is no real excuse for being late or getting lost,” says user Marcus Zack Ronaldi. “More than once I have gotten a call from a candidate 15 minutes after the start of the interview telling me they took the wrong train and he is lost and late. I tell them to get there when he gets there but they have never been offered the position.” Not that everyone is so unforgiving — if you have a transit explanation and a good apology, user Berkery-Rovner says she’ll “sometimes (sometimes)” give you a pass.

One caveat: complain about the trials of modern transportation with too much verve, and you may seem like you can’t handle the commute. It’s not an unreasonable concern. “I’ve had a few good people quit after only a few weeks on the job because the commute was just too much,” says Zaslove.