Vincent E. Pacheco Blog: 30 jobs in the PR and marketing world

Choose your words wisely; they could determine the outcome of your job hunt.

There are many phrases to avoid in everyday conversation, but there are some specific statements that especially have no place in a job interview.

Earning an interview is a great achievement, but your work is far from over.

It’s time to dig deeper into the organization you’ll be interviewing with so you’re ready for potential questions you’ll be asked.

Your response to a question can be a dead giveaway that you are unprepared.

In part two of “Top Five Tips for a Successful Interview,” Mandy Zaransky, chief marketing officer at Ragan Communications, shares phrases she never wants to hear from a potential candidate.

Here are her four top phrases to eliminate from your vernacular before your next job interview:

1. “To be honest with you...”

Using this phrase makes interviewers wonder if you’re being less than honest at other times.

“This also comes off as filler,” Zaransky says, “and makes the potential candidate seem unprepared.”

Whether on your résumé or during an interview, honesty is important.

In an article for The Balance titled, “Why you should keep your résumé honest,” Allison Doyle, founder and CEO of careertoolbelt.com, shares why honesty is necessary on your résumé:

Not only is stretching the truth on your CV the wrong thing to do, but it’s likely to come back to bite you. In the worst-case scenario, you’ll get caught, immediately during a background check or years down the road, and lose the offer or the job. It’s not unlikely: History is full of cases of successful people whose careers were undone because of a falsified education credential or an invented job title on their résumé.

No matter how frustrating your job search is going, refrain from lying on your résumé.

It is not a good idea to lie during your interview either. When asked a question where your honest response might not be too flattering, you have ways to respond truthfully that could still paint you in a positive light.

Katie Douthwaite Wolf, staff writer and editor for The Muse, shares how you can achieve this in her article, “Should I tell interviewers the truth—or what they want to hear?”

One way to do this is to ask more questions.

She says:

When you assume you know exactly what the interviewer is looking for, you can box yourself in to the thinking that [the] right answer is a black or white issue. However, by asking a few clarifying questions, you can speak honestly while still positioning yourself in a good light.

2. “Literally.”

“You’re either being literal in your statement or you shouldn’t use the word. You’re always speaking literally, unless you’re speaking figuratively, which you shouldn’t do in a job interview,” states Zaransky.

Business Insider careers editor Jacquelyn Smith, associate careers editor Rachel Gillett and careers reporter Áine Cain say it well in their article, “11 things that will make you sound dumb in a job interview.” Listed No. 2 (second only to avoiding use of profane language), they state, “Literally banish this word from your job interviews.”

3. “You know?”

Often equated to filler words such as “uh” and “um,” this phrase can be alleviated with some preparation.

According to Zaransky, “It is also a signal from the interviewee to the interviewer that they need reassurance during the interview process.”

Practice your responses out loud. This will help prevent you from stumbling over your response and resorting to using filler words. Here are some common interview questions to help get you started.

Just don’t use it, you know?

4. “Things like that.”

This phrase is vague and takes away your ability to give specific examples relating to the question. Giving specific examples is a great way to market yourself for the position.

Zaransky states, “Articulate, succinctly explain, give tangible examples. Don’t gloss over or fill space with ‘things like that.’”

In a piece for Monster, Peter Vogt, senior contributing writer, states:

Stand out by providing specific examples to back up the statements you've made. It's not difficult, especially if you prepare beforehand, and it will greatly elevate your standing in the recruiter's eyes.

It is likely that the interviewer has heard your response to their questions before. Candidates stand out when they can offer real-life experiences that relate to the question.

[RELATED: Join us for the 30th annual Speechwriters and Executive Communicators Conference.]

If you’ve polished your interview skills and eliminated these statements from your responses, Amazon is looking for a higher education marketing manager in Herndon, Virginia.

It describes the role:

As the marketing manager for higher education, you will serve as the marketing industry expert for the secondary education vertical, and be part of an industry team dedicated to marketing cloud computing to education and other public sector segments. You will be responsible for building the marketing strategy that targets all phases of higher education adoption and execute on plan details and campaign development directly or in partnership with a team of digital and event professionals.

Not the job for you? See what else we have in our weekly professional pickings:

Business development lead—Ragan Communications (Illinois)

Senior brand manager (PR agency senior account executive)—Ripley PR (Tennessee)

Freelance motion graphics designer—Ragan Consulting Group (Illinois)

Communications manager—Ciena (Maryland)

Account executive/senior account executive—Hollywood Agency (California)

Manager, corporate communications—Air Canada (Canada)

Senior marketing manager—Starbucks (Washington)

Media and digital communications manager—Cartier (New York)

Brand marketing manager—Nike (Illinois)

Communications manager—Instagram (Australia)

Director of PR and communications—Hotels.com (Texas)