Top executive recruiters say the most common interview mistake is verbosity — candidates who talk too much, according to the Executive Recruiter Index released this week by Korn/Ferry International.
Among more than 300 professional recruiters surveyed world-wide, 43% believe the most common interview error is when candidates talk too much, followed by 33% who say candidates are unprepared and 24% who cite over inflated ego.
Auguste Coetzer, Senior Partner with Leaders Unlimited Korn/Ferry International in Johannesburg said the strongest candidates effectively conveyed their experience in a concise and compelling manner.
“Given the general diminished demand for executives in South Africa and abroad, it is imperative in today’s market that candidates maximise every interview and opportunity.”
The survey also revealed that 41% of the recruiters surveyed believed the behaviour most fatal to a candidate’s chance to win a job was being unprepared.
In addition, 32% of the recruiters cited an “over inflated ego”, followed by 17% who said candidates “talk too much” and nine percent who denoted “bad hygiene/poor dresser.”
Coetzer said the survey showed that the most common mistakes during interviews were that 43% of candidates talked too much, some 24% had an over inflated ego, 33% were unprepared and about 1% were poor dressers and had problems with “personal hygiene”.
Asked which behaviour was the most fatal to a candidate’s chance to win the job, 17% responded that too much talking was the kiss of death, 41% said it was being unprepared, 32% were of the view that an over inflated ego killed a candidate’s chances while 9% rated bad hygiene as the biggest problem.
The Executive Recruiter Index is based on a global quarterly survey of more than 300 Korn/Ferry International consultants.