The 14 Best Words To Use In An Interview
In order to prepare for a job interview successfully, you should not only prepare answers to potential questions but also practice using effective interview vocabulary. During an interview, describe your qualities and relative professional experiences in the right way to convey your professionalism.
Preparing a list of descriptive and familiar vocabulary words will help you elaborate on your qualifications, skills, and unique personality traits in your interview. You can feel confident and poised during any interview by framing your discussion around positive and aspirational words. Practicing the best words to use in an interview before your meeting helps you present yourself to an employer as a qualified candidate and get the job you want.
Are you ready to learn the best words to use in an interview? Let’s get started!
The BEST Words To Use In An Interview
You can influence a prospective employer’s perception of you by using certain keywords. By using vocabulary that both a job candidate and an interviewer understand, they can guide and frame a conversation. Choosing the right keywords can help you describe your education, skills, and experience. According to employability experts, these are the best words you can use in an interview:
1. Passion
In an interview, interviewers try to determine whether you’re just going to show up and do the job, or whether you care about it. Do you plan to go above and beyond your job description, or are you just going to check boxes? Using the word passion in your interview can go a long way toward demonstrating this.
2. Buzzwords
It is common for every industry to have its own buzzwords. Unless you’re familiar with this jargon, it can seem like a code that keeps you from understanding what’s being said. The jargon is a secret handshake that lets interviewers know you understand the industry if you’re in the know and know the terms.
Jargon must be understood in order to be used, so if you’re new to an industry or field, read up on it. Find relevant blogs and videos, follow people in the industry on Twitter, and connect with them on LinkedIn.
3. Example
By using this word, you can change a general statement into a specific one. Instead of saying, “I was in charge of workplace management,” you might add, “May I share an example of a time when I used my workplace management skills to enhance productivity?”
After that, you can briefly describe the activity and the results you observed. By focusing on a few relevant details, an interviewer can get to know you better and highlight your qualities or abilities.
4. Leader
You can demonstrate leadership in any role, even if you are not interviewing for a management position. What was a time in your life when you were given a leadership position or had an experience that helped you develop leadership skills? Give some thought to your definition of a leader, and then elaborate on it.
5. Reliable
It is important for companies to have employees who arrive on time, use company time efficiently to produce quality work, and meet deadlines. Provide concrete examples of your reliability from previous work or volunteer experiences.
Describe how you carried out your responsibilities on a project or how teamwork helped you achieve something you are proud of. If you have experience from a previous job, you might be able to describe your accounting practices and how you met them on a consistent basis.
6. Core Values
After reading the company’s mission statement, you can mention parts of it that resonate with your own. Give an example of a detail from it that inspires you or would help you set goals. Make sure this discussion is sincere and incorporated naturally. In order to demonstrate your interest in understanding the company’s core values, you can ask questions about the evolution of the mission statement.
7. Flexible
By showing that you are able to work in various work environments, it is important to be flexible and adapt to changes in projects, deadlines, and scope, you will show you are a flexible and valuable member of a team. In the past, you may have had to adapt to a change in circumstances, and flexible thinking taught you something about yourself.
8. Goals
Having a clear understanding of how you will achieve your professional goals can be helpful. Describe what you hope to accomplish with this job and how it will benefit your skills and experience. If you are seeking a high-level role after working at an entry-level job in the production industry, explain how your experience has helped you formulate your goals and how the prospective position will help you achieve them.
9. Skills
A job interviewer can learn more about you by highlighting some of your relevant skills in the same way that you describe your experience. Select one or a few skills that will help recommend you for the job instead of listing many skills. The alternative would be to describe your skills in computer programs that you might use for the job, rather than stating that you have computer skills.
10. Experience
Resumes often summarize the many tasks you have accomplished during your career, though they should reflect your job experience. You should describe your duties, projects, or deliverables during an interview in terms of your job experience and emphasize how long you have been in the field to help someone understand the nuances of your work. Using the word “experience” can make you sound knowledgeable and qualified.
11. Opportunity
In addition to describing past opportunities for skill development, the word opportunity also demonstrates gratitude and possibility. Oftentimes, it is associated with a job offer during an interview. The possibilities of future opportunities can be discussed as well as past opportunities.
12. Respect
The interviewer can ask you about specific aspects of the products, practices, diversity, or projects you admire at the company once you have become familiar with it. Showing respect for the business demonstrates that you have researched it and enables you to discuss specifics, which can inspire a more in-depth conversation. As well as describing mentors or leaders you admire, you can also describe the qualities they possess that you try to emulate.
13. I Look Forward To
You can use positive and hopeful language once you are granted an interview, such as “I look forward to discussing what I can bring to your company.” This can also be used to describe your working style and aspects of the job you would enjoy.
14. I can and I will
Using phrases like “I can contribute…” and “I will offer my strengths in this way…” shows that you are confident in your skills and abilities. When we use the word “will,” we are implying conviction and capability. As a result, you demonstrate an understanding of the subject matter and a willingness to contribute.
Words To Avoid In An Interview
By using the words above, you can improve your chances of being hired in an interview and impress any potential employer. However, during a job interview, just a few wrong words can kill all your chances of getting hired. Here are some words you should avoid during your job interview in order to secure the next round or a job offer.
1. Profanity
Despite this being a given, sometimes people are nervous or uncomfortable during an interview and slip up. You don’t know how an interviewer will react to swear words so don’t use any.
2. Perks
Here’s an instance where thinking ahead is not a good idea. It is not appropriate to discuss words like benefits, perks, compensation, or anything similar during an interview. By doing so, you appear as someone who is only interested in the perks, not in the actual work. Details like that should be discussed after you have been offered a job, not before.
3. Stuff
You set yourself apart from other interview candidates by paying attention to details. In this context, what does “stuff” really mean? Before using this ambiguous word, you need to ask yourself that question. Instead of saying you worked on “stuff” or achieved “stuff,” use more descriptive words describing what you actually accomplished.
