Make sure you avoid these pitfalls

"Anticipating interviewing trapdoors:
Make sure you avoid these pitfalls
and faux pas during your interview."
by Joyce Lain Kennedy
excerpted from Job Interviews for Dummies

No matter how well you're doing as you sail through an interview, certain things can leave a bad impression on your interviewer. Here's how to avoid them:

The silent treatment
Remember this mantra: Never should the unnecessary be volunteered by the unwary for the unforgiving.

Anticipate this trapdoor by closing it with good questions or by waiting it out. Interviewers use silence strategically. Moments, even minutes of silence, are intended to get candidates to answer questions more fully -- and even to get them to spill harmful information. Instead of concentrating on your discomfort during these silences, recognize the technique and either wait out the silence until the interviewer speaks, or fill it with intelligent questions. Do not bite on the silent treatment ploy and spill your innermost secrets.

Interference
As you rehearse, keep in mind that not everything that happens during the interview is related to you. Your meeting may be interrupted by a ringing telephone, the interviewer's coworkers, or even the interviewer's needs. Add some interference to your mock interviews. Because the show must go on, find methods to politely overlook these interruptions with patient concentration being your purpose. Practice keeping a tab on what you're discussing between disruptions in case the interviewer doesn't.

Not a pretty interviewing picture
Watch out for the don'ts on these lists:

Don't say:

* uhm
* uh
* yeah or yup (instead of yes)
* y'know
* like
* okay
* I guess
* pretty good.

Don't:

* jingle pocket change
* tap feet or fingers
* twirl, pull or rearrange hair
* fold arms
* sit with arms or legs far apart
* offer a limp handshake
* fidget
* maintain constant eye contact
* display shy eyes
* have gum or anything else in or near your mouth
* mumble
* interrupt
* speak too fast
* slump
* twiddle props -- pens, paper or desk items.

Joyce Lain Kennedy is the author of the Los Angeles Times Syndicate's column "Careers." She is the author or co-author of eight books, including Resumes for Dummies, Cover Letters for Dummies, Job Interviews for Dummies and Joyce Lain Kennedy's Career Book.