The biggest mistakes in job interviews according to LinkedIn

Hiring managers have observed some interesting behaviors in the interview process. Lindsay Mustain, a former recruiter at Amazon, once received a resume that had a picture of the applicant holding a shotgun on the third page. Former recruiter at Nvidia and now HR consultant Stefanie Fackrell once had someone tell her that he wasn't particularly interested in the position she was interviewing him for.

“It's not my first choice,” Fackrell says of the candidate's statement. “I'm waiting for a possible offer from that other place.”

This may be a bit extreme, but there are other common interview mistakes that hiring managers make. LinkedIn recently surveyed 1,024 hiring managers about what motivates them to hire someone and what turns them off.

Here are the 10 biggest mistakes candidates can make during interviews, along with how many hiring managers flagged them.

• Arriving late for an interview (53%)
• Use of swear words or cursing (52%)
• Appears disinterested or uninvolved (51%)
• Looking at your mobile phone during the interview (50%)
• Inappropriate clothing (46%)
• Do not seem prepared to answer basic questions (38%)
• Bad comments about previous employers (32%)
• Don’t ask questions about the job or company (25%)
• No prior research on the company (21%)
• No subsequent thank you letter (16%)

Some of these mistakes have long been considered bad etiquette, says LinkedIn career expert Drew McCaskill. “You show up to an interview on time, right?” he says.

But some of these may be symptomatic of a not-so-distant era of interviewing. A few years ago, during the pandemic, hiring managers might have been more lenient on certain behaviors. “We conducted meetings with toddlers on our laps,” he says. “We wore sweatpants and yoga clothes.”

Given the many return-to-office mandates in recent years as the pandemic faded into the background, candidates “just won't experience the same level of leniency,” he says. Hiring managers now expect a certain level of professionalism and familiarity with “workplace protocols.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 7.2 million people are currently unemployed, leaving hiring managers spoiled for choice. “They have a lot of options and a lot of incredible talent to choose from,” McCaskill says.

Ultimately, “employers want people who are truly the best the company has to offer.”

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