Ex-Google Recruiter Reveals Job Interview Phrases That Are "Red Flags"

During a job interview, you can take several effective approaches to stand out to the hiring manager. However, there are a few behaviours you'll want to avoid, such as that could turn your interviewer off. Speaking to CNBC Make It, Nolan Church, CEO of salary data company FairComp and former recruiter with Google and DoorDash, revealed the major red flags that might cause the recruiters to raise an eyebrow. 

"To begin with, when an interviewer asks what you can improve on, don't use phrases that make it sound like you think you have nothing to learn," Mr Church told the media outlet. "These can be phrases like 'I work too hard' or 'I'm a perfectionist,' says Mr Church. They're framed as character flaws when they're compliments."

Mr Church said phrases like these build the perception that the candidate is "inauthentic". 

"They could think you're either not being honest about who you are as a person or you genuinely think you can't get better as a worker," Mr Church said. "I'm not hiring you to be perfect. I'm hiring you to grow with us," he added. 

Instead, Mr Church recommended that they should use an example of a mistake the job seeker made and what they learned from it. 

Mr Church said that a negative remark about former colleagues/company or manager during job interview does not give a good impression. "Anything that transfers blame from you to someone else" sounds bad, Church told CNBC Make It. "The people you want to work with take full ownership and accountability," he said adding that taking responsibility indicates that the job seeker is humble enough to admit that they are not perfect and are willing to learn from your mistakes to get better.

"You want to work with people who have the self-awareness to know when they were wrong and to update their mental models to fix it," Mr Church said.

Recruiters interpret statements like "I don't know" as a dead end in the conversation. This implies the job seeker isn't interested in finding a solution, which can be a negative sign.

For freshers, however, the expert suggests a more measured approach. Instead of simply saying "I don't know," they can acknowledge the lack of experience but demonstrate their problem-solving skills. For example, they could say, "I haven't encountered this specific situation before, but here's how I would approach finding a solution..."