Everyone has moments they wish they could take back.
Hopefully those moments don't occur during job interviews — especially in a tough labor market in which millions of people are out of work and looking for new roles. Some hiring managers are effectively looking for reasons to dismiss job candidates.
Rachel Bitte, the former chief people officer at the recruiting-software company Jobvite, estimated that she'd interviewed about 6,000 people over the course of her career as a recruiter and human-resources exec at Apple and Intuit.
It's fair to say she's witnessed all types of behavior from interviewees.
Here are two major mistakes that can instantly dash your dreams of landing a job, according to Bitte.
Behaving like a jerk
You can come across as rude during a job interview without even directly saying anything offensive to the hiring manager.
Bitte described an incident from her tenure as an HR professional at Intuit. After a stellar phone interview with one candidate, she arranged to meet the person for a second-round interview over breakfast.
But the candidate's behavior at the restaurant was an immediate red flag.
"How she treated the waitstaff told me something about her as a person," Bitte said. "I just was like, 'Wow.'"
So don't be snippy with baristas and waiters.
Many organizations have adopted this "waiter rule." And it doesn't just apply to waitstaff — Tupperware CEO Rick Goings always checks in with his receptionist after interviewing job candidates to ensure that the applicants were polite.
Bitte said that seeing an applicant interact with people in a real-world environment helps recruiters vet for negative traits like rudeness.
Forgetting to ask questions
"The worst thing you can do in an interview is say, 'I have no questions,'" Bitte said. "That's just the worst thing in the world. That's like the kiss of death, almost. You don't care."
It's crucial to do research and compile some thoughtful questions to demonstrate that you care about the role, Bitte said.
The key is remembering that asking questions doesn't make you sound stupid — unless they're horrible questions. Insightful questions make you sound engaged and enthusiastic.
Lillian Landrum, who was the head of talent acquisition at The Muse, previously told Business Insider that job candidates should ask questions about opportunities for professional development.
"When people start asking those questions around how do we invest in growing our employees here, that gets me excited," she said. "It shows that they're dedicated and they want to be committed to the company."
Bitte put it similarly. "Show me that you have some enthusiasm or some passion," she said. "Have a real curiosity about what a job at the company is really like."
