October 15, 2026

I have previously written about what to do when you get asked the tough questions, and when you get asked the same questions several times by different people for a specific job. This week, I thought it would be helpful to talk in more general terms about what NOT to say in a interview. You have the chance to blow it at the end of an interview when the interviewer smiles and asks, “Have you any questions for me?” This is notthe time for you to be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. On the contrary, it gives you

The last blog was about what not to say in interview, you know, the NORMAL dumb questions. This week, I thought I’d write about the absolute silliest things ever  that my colleagues have been told their candidates said on interview (not through Merit, I hasten to add)… You sometimes read articles like this on msn home page, but I thought I’d write about examples that I can swear actually happened (well, unless my colleagues were lying to me, of course, but that would never happen). I’d like to say that I’m relating these so you can learn from them. But

**with apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her fabulous romantic sonnet, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”.       1) You didn’t do your homework.  Mr/Ms Google is going to go to straight to heaven for coming up with a search engine that tells you everything you wanted to know, and sometimes more than you wanted to know, about all companies and most people. Depending upon the job, it may indeed sometimes be necessary to wade your way through annual reports but there are usually bite-sized bits of interesting information for you to chuck around

You went on a job interview. You prepared/could have prepared a bit better. You dressed in your interview best/you couldn’t dress appropriately because your boss would have guessed immediately what you were up to. You did your best/you weren’t on your game and totally blew it. You were the best candidate around but they put the position on hold/you were not even close to being the best candidate around. You thought before the interview it was the ideal job/during the interview you realized this would be a horrible fit.   All of the above  scenarios have ended up in your not being offered the

If I see that phrase “time out of your busy schedule” one more time in a thank you letter to potential employers, I shall SPIT. It is such a cliché, there is no excuse for using it ever under any circumstances. Remember, this blog is called “Margaret says” and this is one of those times  when Margaret says and isn’t going to listen to any “Yes, but what if”…Please don’t ever use it. Actually, if I had ten dollars for every time I’ve read it in a thank you letter/email, I’d be sunning myself on a beach, not listening to the sounds of the OWS protesters