What can you do if you flub an interview question? Are you quick-witted enough to know that you messed up the answers?
It’s hard to be in a job interview situation. Almost everything is stacked against you. You are outnumbered most of the time, you are nervous, and most of all you are put in a grinder.
However, you can’t do anything about it. The interview is an essential part of job hunting. Obviously, the only thing you can do is be the best you, you can be.
If you make mistakes in interviews, there are ways to recover from it. Remember, once you are given the authority to talk, you can steer your answers back to recover from a flub.
How to recover from a bad answer
- What if you accidentally curse?
Cursing is a no-no during interviews. But you must realize that not everyone, even CEOs, are prudes. Swear words are not professional, but you can excuse yourself like a professional. You can say, “Excuse me, I got excited” something like that.
- You accidentally divulge that you hate your job.
Saying that you hate your job can have negative undertones during interviews. So, you need to explain yourself right away. Follow up your answer with, “what I’m trying to say is that I’m not used enough at work and I know I can do more to help that (your current) company.
- You flub or forgot something in your resume.
In the interview you will be asked about your resume. If you fail to answer information you wrote in your resume, the interviewers will assume you doctored info. You need to be quick and tell them that you write your resume custom-made for specific job interviews. Thus, forgetting info from a custom-made resume doesn’t seem so bad.
- Stumped when asked where you want to see yourself in 5 years.
First of all, you really need to prepare for questions like this. If somehow you blank out when this is asked, you need to talk about how “you want to always see yourself improving and learning new skills that will help you become more productive in the company.”
- You say you’re not comfortable with change.
This one is easy to maneuver in the conversation. You can follow it up immediately with, “I’m not comfortable with change, but I’m open to it and accept it as a challenge to my flexibility as an employee.”
How to recover from an interview gone wrong
Now, even if you reacted accordingly to what was being asked, there is still a possibility that you won’t get the job. Some people can handle this gracefully, but some people take it personally. Some get depressed and could find themselves scared of having another interview.
The best course of action after a failed interview is to move forward.
