Ace the Job Interview By Minimizing Gobbledygook Phrases
June 21st, 2010 by lewis
TweetHow often do you use the following words and phrases during the job interview?
- “next generation”
- “flexible”
- “robust”
- “world class”
- “scalable”
- “easy to use”
- “cutting edge”
- “well positioned”
- “mission critical”
- “market leading”
David Meerman Scott discovered that these were the six most commonly used phrases in press releases. His research was based on 388,000 news releases in a nine-month period.
What’s the problem? As Scott points out, these overused phrases are not only trite, but also meaningless. It’s like a cursory cocktail party conversation — it’s a whole lot of nothing.
Experienced interviewers can detect when you’re filling up interview time with fluff. Just because your marketing or public relations department uses gobbledygook to describe your products and results, it doesn’t mean you have to do it too.
During your next mock interview, have a friend count the number of times you use gobbledygook. Then go back and determine whether you can replace the gobbledygook with a more specific description or example. If not, consider removing that phrase from your response.
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