Fear not. Reddit has your back.
Those who have had successes based on their interviewing experiences shared their helpful tips when Redditor Cage_Dreams24 asked:
"What is your # 1 job interview tip that helped you ace your interview and land your dream job?"
If you truly want that dream job, you may want to take notes.
A Redditor shared two main points based on his experiences from his recruitment days.
When readers found his contribution helpful, he updated his points by adding a few more examples.
An Expert Weighs In
"I could write a lot on this from my recruitment days, but I'll just keep it to two main points."
- "Answer their questions. Lots of people will start answering the question but never really finish because they go off on a tangent halfway through. It's frustrating as an interviewer to have to ask someone to get back on point, but it's also a little embarrassing for the candidate and it can throw you off your rhythm. I want to know the information because it's important. It also shows you listened to what was being asked of you and you delivered what was required."
- "At the end of the interview, ask if they have any concerns about your resume, your interview answers or your application in general. It's a great way to see if there is anything they perhaps misunderstood or you didn't explain well enough. I've asked this in every interview and in all but one it's given me some immediate feedback and the ability to allay any concerns they might have. For example, I once had someone say I interviewed great but they were concerned I lived too far away, something that didn't come up in the interview. I was able to then say I would be relocating."
"Edit: as requested, a couple more things."
3. "Do interview prep before you go. You should be able to predict most of the questions, but just writing down what your strengths are and thinking about them will increase your confidence. Make notes on the company and role from the job description; how does that match up with your skills and experience? This crossover is important because it's usually why they will hire you."
4. "Take a notepad, for example the one you used for your interview notes. Make sure you ask if it's okay that you have your notes out, or if you can take notes during the interview. You won't always be able to do this because of a strict NDA, but that's why you ask. Good things to write down include the person's name since it can be easy to forget, especially if more than one person is interviewing you."
5. "Ask what the next steps are and when you might be hearing from them. Use your instincts when it comes to follow up. If you interviewed at retail and it went well, check in with the manager in a week and let them know you enjoyed your interview and you'll be available to start very soon if they pick you. But if you interview at a large company that specifically doesn't take phone calls then don't harass them. If I'm in HR you email me asking when you will hear, chances are I'm chasing the hiring manager for an answer too."
6. "Do not be scared of failure. If you perform poorly, you'll know it straight away and my best advice is just to take the rest of the day off and forget it. Then when you're feeling better try to figure out why it went poorly; bad preparation etc. I find a big one is the stress of getting somewhere new, where to park, who to ask for when I get there etc. Then work on these for the next interview."
"If you did well and didn't get it, there was probably someone better. Don't take it personally. I've had to call great people and say no, and by and large the younger people took it rough and the older people took it on the chin."
"On a personal note, I actually really enjoy interviews now. It's you on your own talking about yourself, who doesn't like doing that? If you dread it, it will probably not go as well as if you look forward to it. You have a captive audience listening to you telling them how great you are. How many times do you get that opportunity?"
Some points were expanded on while new suggestions were made.
Turn The Tables
"Start asking them questions - reverse interview always helps your position."
Follow-Up
"I always come with a long list of questions. My favorite being, 'What is the company culture like at CompanyX?' Then when I write my thank you letter after the interview, I make sure to include a reference to something they said when answering my questions to make the letter more personal."
Manner Of Speaking
"I've noticed that if you treat it like a conversation with people you're going to work with, it tends to go a lot better than if you're thinking of it answering questions from people who might drag you out of unemployment."
Become The Interviewer
"Wait until they ask if you have any questions, and then HAVE QUESTIONS PREPARED! It makes it seem like you're either a know-it-all or not very thoughtful if you have no questions. Have at least one in mind, even if it's something like 'How long have you been at this location?' or some other question that was not answered on the website or through others."
Awkward
"Though it sucks when the person whose hand you're shaking doesn't know how to shake hands. I had a job interview yesterday and the woman who interviewed me missed my hand initially and had the limpest handshake I've ever experienced, it felt like I was just holding her hand up."
– sl4y4
Breaking The Ice
"When they ask about your weaknesses tell them you are terrible at interviews. I have always gotten laughs when I have said it and after that I find the interview easier because everyone seems to be in a better mood."
– VSahota
About Former Employers
"Don't say bad things about your last employer. You next employer can assume that you will do the same for him."
– Chrys
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Confidence
"The goal in any job interview is to make the interviewer feel like THEY are losing something if they don't offer you the job. I have interviewed so many people in my life that think that being humble and projecting how badly they want the job is the way to go. It isn't. You aren't trying to get a job, you are trying to convince another human being that it would be stupid of them to let you walk out the door and not come back."
Showing the interviewer you care by putting in the following basic efforts could make you stand out from the rest.
Show Them It's Your Dream Job
"Prepare. If your dream job is something corporate then it is very easy to take an hour or two and read some articles about the company, look over their annual reports. Pick out a few tidbits of information, not super random ones that you would have to say 'I was looking over your annual report and...' because then that sounds like you're boasting (I'm kind of assuming this would be closer to an entry level job than an executive job, the exec job you would need to do mad research and would want to reference that ish). Basically you want to be able to reference a few of the company's key initiatives/policies/strategies as touch points throughout the interview."
"You need to do more than stick your reference into one answer or ask a canned question. You need to be able to create a cohesive story that not only shows you're capable of thinking critically but also demonstrates either how you embody a characteristic of the company/position or that you understand the impact of the company's strategy/business model on the larger market. (Etc. That is by no means an exhaustive list of examples). If you can do that then you'll be much more successful convincing/tricking/demonstrating your abilities."
"Assuming it's genuinely your dream job this part shouldn't be that hard, but you need to actually care about the conversation/questions. You shouldn't care about whether or not it was a good answer, you should care about your talking points and the talking points that are in the question/are teased out in the ensuing answer. Caring is much, much better than having a canned answer."
Overall, having the confidence to show you are dependable, easy to work with, and right for the job are essential.
Anyone can be technically prepared to show how knowledgeable they are of the company they want to work for by taking the time to educate themselves.
But at the end of the day, they want to see your personality as well.
Because with artificial intelligence already taking jobs away from people, no one wants to work with a robot.
But there are those jobs that are not worth holding on to. Maybe the job description was deceiving. Or it could be the boss is a tyrant who views their workers as than human beings.
Are these conditions worth the weekly paycheck? Not always. Sometimes, maintaining one's dignity is more valuable than being a cog in a machine.
Curious to hear from those who have reached the limit of their patience, Redditor Firelampan asked:
"People who've quit their job on the spot--what did it for you?"
Bosses are supposed to be the ones setting good examples. Not these bosses.
Lazy Manager
"Worked at Best Buy years ago. This was my second job, that I worked at for fun and the discount. I only worked weekends because I had a full time job during the week."
"Back then, when the next weeks schedule was done a manager would hand it to a person on the team and they'd put it in our little media backroom. Well, I didn't have my schedule for next week yet and it was Saturday. There were none to be found which was odd. I asked a manager for a copy so I knew when to come in and she refused, 'I'm tired of printing out new copies for people.'"
"Well, I can't come in if I don' t know when I'm supposed to be there. So, I just never showed up again. Best part was that I still got the discount for like 6 months."
– nicless
The Bad Boss
"Worked at Staples when I was a teen, I had never called in sick before to this job. In fact, I covered other people's shifts when they were sick quite frequently. I would get called in at least once every couple of weeks to work for someone who had called in."
"So the one time I'm sick and call in, the worst manager was working... total b*tch... she told me I had to come in or bring in a doctor's note. I told her to go f'k herself and quit."
"Later that day, the general manager called me to ask me to stay... so I stayed. The s**tty manager lasted another 2 or 3 months, I lasted about 6 months after that and quit for a better opportunity."
Unsatisfied Store Manager
"I was the overnight assistant manager at Walmart a long time ago and was scheduled for 12 hour shifts with only 6-8 associates a night to stock an entire store. It was a pretty high volume store so it would get a GM and grocery truck every night. GM trucks would have about 2000 boxes of merch and the grocery would be about 1300-1500 pieces. You have to prioritize grocery obviously because it expires, so I would put every employee in grocery. Every one of them had their particular aisles and refused to go anywhere else. If someone called in, I did their job on top of managing the entire store. It f'king sucked, and I got regularly yelled at by the store manager for not getting everything done. This meant working 2-4 hours past the end of my shift to finish stocking and scanning overstock."
"One night, I had 4 call ins, this meant I only had 2 employees working and me. I stocked 4 aisles by myself, faced the store, scanned overstock, and still had to run the overnight operations of the store. I messaged my co-managers (the management structure was so convoluted) that I had literally no one and I was doing everything I could. They got the department managers to come in early to help stock their sections, but that meant there wasn't as much coverage for the day."
"The store manager comes in at 7:30 every day to inspect work and give notes to assistant managers for what needs fixed for the day. He came in and saw all the department managers stocking their merch, and flipped his sh*t on me. Called me into his office and put me on with our market manager and they both just ripped me apart. I explained the situation and they literally said 'that's not a f'king excuse to not do your job. You should have told them to come in and do their job or write them up.' I looked at my store manager and said 'nope. I'm done.' Threw my badge and keys on the table and walked out. Said goodbye to my (now former) employees and friends, got in my car, and never looked back."
Absolutely No Sympathy
"I worked at a customer support centre for a pretty big company. Employees were just numbers and our manager was a total d*ck."
"An employee's mother had an operation for the removal of a tumor (don't know what kind or where) and it was only a 50% chance she'd survive."
"When he asked for 2 days leave, the manager said no because the influx of calls and emails was too high. The man quit on the spot and so did half the team and I."
"I work at a better company now with a manager that appreciates good work and tells us to take time off himself if we look like we need a break."
The Arsonist
"Boss was arrested for murder. Turns out he burnt down one of his buildings for insurance money and someone died. I had been there for only a couple of weeks, he was the most abusive person I've ever worked for by far. I was debating it, so when the police burst in and arrested him, I locked up and left."
Leaders are supposed to set good examples but also have moral codes. These bosses' personal lives were out of control.
Internal Affairs
"My boss not letting me have a weekend off for my best friend's wedding because a co-worker wanted a dirty weekend away with the married guy she was having an affair with. The married guy was my boss by the way."
"I was a bridesmaid and had booked the weekend off 10 months in advance. I quit on the spot and told my boss' wife he was cheating on her. My best friends wedding was lovely."
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Refusing Illegal Tasks
"Company asked me to forge documentation so we don't get in trouble with health and safety. They choose me cause I needed and love the job. When I said no it got worse. Other started bullying me too. I walked out not knowing how will I pay bills next month. on Thursday evening. Even though I am not religious and I haven't been in church for decades for some reason last thing I thought was 'be the stone that breaks the waves' from old testament. I am ok now. Got new job and long term contract. Half of the management got fired 6 months after that."
Power Trip
"Got food poisoning the night before a shift at a family-owned farm/farm stand/plant nursery. The protocol was to call or text the manager who was on duty the next day as early as possible so they had time to find someone to cover. Well what I got back was a tirade from said manager saying that she feels like shi*t every day and that it's no excuse for missing work, even though I was really the only one busting my a** on the daily - there at 4 am to prep for market, staying late to help fix things and care for the animals, etc. The next day I went in to pick up my last paycheck and told the owner that I would not be returning to work because her daughter was way out of line and I refused to be treated like I had been. Apparently I wasn't the first person to quit because of this."
Raciest Policy
"My boss in an electronics department told me (and my coworkers) that if my customer was black, don't let them buy the new iPhone with cash and insist that credit is the only option, because that way he can record their names and it prevents them from using 'all the stolen drug money', which is what he called cash whenever it was from a black male."
"I protested, he thought I was joking. My coworkers thought this was run of the mill and just did what he said. Ethics department never raised a finger. I never showed my face there again."
"I worked with that company for 5 years and that was my dream job. Still haven't recovered from the whiplash."
– Sykes19
The pressures of the job itself made these Redditors put in their notice.
Understaffed Daycare
"I was made to take care of 20 toddlers under 3 with about half an hour of training at a daycare. I quit day 2."
Italian Restaurant Stresses
"Was working a high volume Italian restaurant chain on garmo (salads, appetizers, flatbread pizzas, desserts). Easily over 1000 covers a night. Had been there about a year and the last few weekends I had to solo the station when usually there were 3 of us. One beautiful summer Friday evening I found out I was soloing again, so I asked the chefs if anyone was available to give me a hand. They said they called a guy who'd be in by 6pm. 7pm rolls around and still no one. I was way too burnt out to do another weekend of this alone. I tell the chef right at the window I'm putting in my apron and towel - I'm done. Walked out, waved goodbye to the servers on the patio, and drove home. Best feeling ever."
Taco Hell
"I was working as an assistant manager for a large Taco Bell franchise. We were required to work 60 hour weeks (5 twelve-hoir shifts), on a shifting schedule. Each assistant had a roaring schedule (mine was opening Tue, mid shift Wed & Thurs, closing Fri & Sat). We had no general manager, so I was doing a lot of that work."
"So, here I am with no real, healthy sleep schedule, newly married and never seeing my wife, working insane hours."
"Well, the other assistant (there were only two when there should have been three) was young. Very young. Like, fresh out of high school young. So very immature with a lot to learn."
"I came in on one of my closing shifts (we were open until 3am, so shift was 4p-4a). Store was a disaster. Again. Dirty as f'k. Sh*t all over the lines and the floor. No food prepped or cooking. Again. As it was every day I came in behind this other guy."
"I stood there for like three minutes. Just...in shock. Furious. About to snap."
"Instead of carefully took my store key off my key ring, gave it one of our team leads, and asked him to go back to give it the other manager, and walked out."
– dk1701
Overworked And Underpaid Nanny
"I worked as a nanny during the day and a waitress at night. I nannied for two kids, a 3 month old and his 5 year old brother who was severely autistic. Needless to say it was very challenging but the 5 year old and I eventually got into a good groove. His parents did not offer any support to me or their child. The dad "worked from home" which meant he played call of duty on the couch all day while I took care of his kids and the mom was at work.
Eventually I noticed my paychecks were gradually becoming smaller and smaller so I brought it up. The dad told me he didn't believe I should get paid for the times he was in the room. THEN he asked me to choose between my waitressing job and my nanny job, as they were concerened my waitressing job was making me too tired. I was tired, but I was tired of trying to single handedly handle their son's autism without any support. I immediately handed him his baby and his housekey and quit. The look on his face was priceless."
The Punishment
"Got in trouble working at Walmart one time. Christmas season in the toys dept. Everything was everywhere. Didn't have enough time in the night to put everything away and restock all the shelves. I was given 3 days off without pay (which I probably would have put up with), but then they also wanted me to write an essay on what I did wrong and how I would correct it. I just told them to f'king do it themselves then, and walked out. Best thing, really."
I should have quit my first job working at a video game store inside a mall.
I barely started working there and my co-worker would always "take breaks" that ended up being her private shopping time.
And all the advanced transactions – some of which I wasn't trained for, like returns and exchanges – transpired when she was on her private shopping spree...I mean, break.
One time, a kid leaned over while I was helping another customer and stole one of the games. Of course, this happened when I was manning the tiny store by myself because my co-worker was on her over-extended thirty-minute break.
I called security and dealt with the little crook's angry mother who refused to believe her son helped himself to a five-finger discount on my watch.
When I found out my co-worker was on her hour-and-a-half lunch date with our boss when the theft happened, I was livid. But as a 15-year-old, I hadn't developed the guts enough to make a dramatic exit. So I suffered for another month as an employee and eventually quit when school and band practice resumed.