Silent Interview Killers: Six Mistakes That Doom Both Sides (And What to Do Instead)

A Bar-Raiser's Guide to What Both Sides Get Wrong And How to Fix It

I've conducted over 850 technical interviews at Amazon as a bar-raiser, and trained thousands of people internally on how to interview candidates and evaluate talent. After nearly two decades of watching people interact in high-pressure situations, I've noticed that the same mistakes keep appearing on both sides of the table.

Some of these mistakes are obvious. Others are counterintuitive. But they all stem from a basic misunderstanding of what makes interviews successful.

Let's break down the three biggest mistakes I see candidates make, and the three biggest mistakes I see interviewers make. Whether you're interviewing soon or not, these patterns appear in all kinds of personal and professional interactions.

CANDIDATE MISTAKE #1: Announcing You've Prepared

Scenario: The interviewer asks you to solve a difficult problem, and you say "Just so you know,…