Hey, guys.

It's Chelsea from The Financial Diet. And this week, I wanted to talk all about the way you carry yourself in a job interview.

This may feel like a bummer topic. But it's one of those things that can totally change the trajectory of your life if you manage to master it. I'm someone who was blessed with unbelievable confidence.

In all seriousness, I'm someone who's always been fairly good at the job interview process, and yet has been fired from so many jobs. So clearly, I really have it backwards in terms of how you should perform at any given employer. But I will say that being pretty good at the job interview process has consistently in my life allowed me to do things that I otherwise would not have been able to do.

I don't have a degree, for example. I didn't do a lot of the right internships. I don't have all the typical qualifications of a lot of the jobs that I've applied for and gotten.

But because I've always carried myself with a certain level of self-assurance in job interviews, I think I've projected the right image that somehow managed to cancel those things out. And at TFD, I've interviewed a lot of people for a lot of positions. And in many cases, a really good interview can outweigh someone who on paper might be more qualified for a job.

Because ultimately, what you're doing in an interview is giving these people a glimpse into what it would be like to be with you every day, to share a space with you, to work on projects with you. We often forget that the people that we work with, we spend more waking hours with than our spouses in most cases. So coming across as someone with whom you could feel a certain level of trust and ease and even camaraderie is so important.

But despite the many interviews that I've been on either side of, I am personally not an expert on job interviews. Luckily, though, we at TFD sat down with a professional recruiter who told us all about the six things you should never do at a job interview. This may not be a perfect recipe for effortless confidence.

But it is a really good glimpse into how to counteract some of the bad habits you might be likely to slip into in your next job interview. So without further ado, here are the six things you should never do at a job interview according to a recruiter. Number one is do not give a long-winded answer when asked, tell me about yourself.

The best piece of advice that this recruiter gave to us-- the one that she says has served her more than any other-- is to create an elevator pitch for yourself. You should be able to describe your work history, your aspirations, and the value that you bring to a team in under a minute. Imagine it this way.

If you happen to run into an important executive in the elevator of the building, how would you manage to capture their attention and motivate them to follow up with you in just the time it takes to rise to a certain floor on an elevator? So be concise. You don't need to talk about every single job you've ever had.

If you graduated 10 years ago, you probably don't need to talk about your college experience. You can just focus on the highlights and the things that are most relevant to the job at hand. You can craft each pitch to be slightly different depending on the person and the role you're talking about.

But more importantly, you shouldn't be monopolizing the time in this interview. It always sends the right signal when you're keeping your responses brief and making sure to listen acutely. If you're long-winded in the high pressure environment of a job interview, you're likely to be the person that never shuts up at the office.

Number two, do not give too many details about your personal life. So one thing that the recruiter stressed to us was that you want to be cautious to avoid any personal biases that the hiring manager might have. Yes, this is unfair.

But it's the reality of being a human being. Everything from where you went to school, to your marital status, to all of these different things might influence the opinion of a recruiter. And yes, discrimination based on these things is often illegal.

But in many cases, you'll never really know. And what's more important is that you are not in any way obligated to divulge personal details. And in many cases, they should really have no place in your professional life.

By keeping the information you share about yourself relevant to the professional context, you're making sure to be judged only on what will really matter to your job and to avoid possibly walking into the landmine of a personal bias on behalf of the hiring manager. Now, of course, if you feel that you have been discriminated against based on a protected class, that is illegal and something that you should look into recourse for. And we'll link you to resources on that in the description.

But in general, even something as innocuous as talking about your favorite hobby could potentially be a turnoff to the hiring manager if they happen to like the opposite hobby. There will always be time later, if you feel comfortable with your team, to share more about your personal life. But for the context of the interview, keep it professional.

Number three, don't talk about what we did, talk about what you did. So the recruiter pointed out to us that in many experiences she found that the candidates shared more about what the team did than what she in particular contributed. This often comes from a good place, which is a desire to show that you can work well within the context of a team, which is usually a very important part of most jobs.

But by not highlighting what specifically on the project was your accomplishment or your responsibility, you're really leaving the hiring manager in the dark about what your specific competencies and values are. So while you can share information about what your team accomplished, it's always good to follow up with details about what you specifically contributed to that accomplishment. It doesn't just make sure to highlight you as a valuable individual, it also means that you're able to take out of the larger group project the individual components that helped make it a success.

Working well with others is important, but so is being able to demonstrate that you, yourself, have a specific and high value on any team. Number four, don't use examples from volunteering, school, or your personal life. One thing that is very important to keeping the focus on your professional life and keeping the conversation based on what you can do for this job in particular is to make sure to keep the examples that you're providing based in your relevant professional experience.

Aside from potentially, again, wandering into those landmines of personal biases, sharing anecdotes about what you did to organize a ski trip with your child's school is going to be much less relevant to the task at hand than a similar situation in a previous job. It could also potentially signal to your employer that you were more driven and focused on the projects outside of your work life than the ones that were in your actual work domain. Ultimately, the employer wants to know what you will be able to do on their professional team.

So demonstrating what you were able to do on another professional team is the best way to communicate that. The recruiter did make the caveat, though, that the one time these auxiliary anecdotes can be beneficial is when you're fresh out of school and don't really have that much professional experience to draw on. Then is a good time to maybe look at the other areas of your life where you do have a richer level of experience to look at to provide anecdotes that convey a similar skill set.

Yes, you may have never organized a professional team to accomplish some big, complicated, logistical event planning, let's say. But you could have planned a similarly complicated event in your personal or volunteer life, or maybe in a project you did for school. Once you're well into your professional life, though, stick to the professional.

Number five, don't forget to ask informed questions about the role. A recruiter pointed out that one of the things that can often signal a lack of true interest in the role, or preparation for the interview, or even personal interest in one's self and one's own place within a company is the failure to ask nuanced and important questions about the role itself. Usually in any interview, you're going to be prompted to have an opportunity to ask questions about the role itself.

The more relevant and detail-oriented these questions are with regards to the role, the higher level of attention to detail and interest in the role itself it will convey. And aside from the fact that it sends the right signals, it also avoids a situation in which you may not have been right for the role or prepared as you thought you were. The recruiter said, on many occasions, she's seen people accept a role only to find out that it contained an important element that they were not necessarily prepared for.

This is why the prompt of, do you have any questions about this role, is always given. Use it to the fullest for both your benefit and the employers. Lastly, number six is do not disrespect the receptionist, HR admin, or other candidates.

Our recruiter pointed out to us that often hiring managers and recruiters will speak to the various administrative employees that the candidate might have spoken to when coming in for the interview. Anywhere in the process, you are likely to interact with someone who does not have a role in directly hiring you, but could be an important part of giving an overall impression of how you interact with the team. You should never feel entitled to speak with any less respect to someone like a receptionist than you would the hiring manager who's actually conducting the interview.

Aside from the fact that it's just the right thing to do on every level, you'd probably be surprised at how often these people are asked about their experience with you. Because being part of a team doesn't just mean interacting with the people above you, it means interacting with everyone at the company. And if you're liable to be rude to some members of the team, that does not bode well for how you'd interact with everyone.

Making sure to always be incredibly polite, respectful, and courteous in all of your various communications with every member of the team is of the utmost importance. Outside of the job interview, it's just the right thing to do. Ultimately, even the perfect job interview is not going to guarantee you a job.

But getting really good at this process doesn't just help you have a broader range of options for a better range of jobs than you otherwise would, it also teaches you important skills about navigating the potentially high stress moments of any professional job. Even once you landed the job, there are going to be moments that feel really scary to you-- whether it's a big presentation, an important meeting with the higher ups, or just launching a project that you've been working on for a long time. So learning how to go into these higher pressure moments with a market level of confidence and self-assurance and compassion for everyone around you is going to help make you an indispensable member of any team.

So get out there and kill it. So as always, guys, thank you for watching. And do not forget to hit the Subscribe button and to come back every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday for new and awesome videos.

Buh-bye.