3 phrases you shouldn’t get too comfortable with repeating.

The following are three phrases/statements that should be obliterated from your brain. They might seem okay in context but in reality they send a multitude of negative misleading messages.

CAUTION: AGONIZINGLY VALID CONTENT

1: “I am a people person”

What does this phrase even mean? Anyone can transform their dialogue to identify with another enough to spark a conversation. It’s part of human existence to communicate. Without the exchange of content between people there wouldn’t be innovation and growth. So just stating that you are a people person isn’t going to make the cut anymore. So I ask again, what does this phrase mean? If you can’t explain it, than you shouldn’t be saying it in an interview. Employer’s want to hire someone with an extensive network. If you follow up this lame statement with being able to truthfully say “ I have a large amount of friends, family and other contacts that look to me for advice and consider me their go-to person” that’s where you will really stand out from other applications

2: “I am just trying to get my foot in the door, my wage doesn’t matter”

Yes you are a student still trying to find that big break but your employer doesn’t know that. Telling them that you don’t care how much you get paid makes you look like you don’t see value in yourself. We are all different, we all have different strengths that could become a valuable asset to a company. Fake it till you make it baby. Shoot for the moon, if you miss you will end up landing on stars anyway!

3: “I am working on it”

This statement tells me it’s not done. No boss or co-worker wants to hear this statement so erase this from your vocabulary. This screams lazy and unreliable. In reality, you might actually be working on it and it might almost be complete but we has human beings, and good business people are scripted to evaluate all outcomes of a situations, of which might be negative. Don’t give us this chance to assume. Respond to the question of “hey how’s that project coming along?” with “ you know I hit a brick will with the statistics so I asked mike from data to help me out I should have it ready by Wednesday of next week, ill keep you posted if anything changes.” This tells your boss that three things, one, the project isn’t finished yet but it will be soon, two, you are honest and not afraid to tell the truth, and three, you aren’t afraid to ask for help, work with a team and give credit to others where it is needed. Your boss is going to love you.

Refrain from making these dialogue mistakes! Be the best applicant/employee you could evet imagine. Good Luck Everyone, Central Region Vice President Chloe Hoeft