Career Development Interview SeriesDuring job interviews, candidates are expected to express their knowledge about the company and the industry they want to work for. More importantly, they want to make a good impression about their skills and personality during an interview.
If they provide a good impression and have a reasonable knowledge about the industry, they have a great chance of getting hired for the work or would be highly considered. There are even employees who have a mediocre resume and cover letter but was able to impress their employers significantly because of they were able to give good answers during an interview.
Fresh graduates always wanted to place their best foot forward when it comes to their interview. But as a fresh graduate, there is chance that those questions are too difficult to answer. Some would lie on the answer while there are those that tell their employers or interviewers that they do not have the answer yet. Of the two options, employers value more the latter. If you do not know the answer to the question, it is always better to tell the truth rather than provide a dubious answer.
Interviewers still value honesty. If you do not know the answer, it is always best to inform the interview straight on. More often than not, the interviewer already knows the answer and providing any dubious answer will just raise more questions.
As you fabricate more answer, getting things right will be a lot more difficult. If you eventually give up and inform your interview that you honestly do not know, you have just killed your chances of being hired. If you do not know the answer, better tell it earlier than have troubling questions later. Your impression as an honest candidate will be there if you admit that you cannot provide all answers to every question.
However, the interviewer does not expect that you say “I do not know” blatantly to him or her. That phrase may be honest but it is also a little bit disrespectful. There are many ways of informing your interviewer that you do not have the answer to the question. For example, “I cannot answer that yet because I do not have the data.” The key word to that answer is “yet.” If you want to be part of the industry, you will have a fair idea later on regarding the question posted.
Telling your interview that you do not know the answer to that question is ok but that does not mean that you can answer that way to almost any question. There are questions that are too complicated and industry specific that might be a little bit difficult to answer.
In this type of question, you can inform the interview that you do not have the answer yet. But if you are presented with a general question such as “what are the skills that could help the company?” you do not answer with “I do not know” or any related phrase. There are questions that this answer is proper while there are questions that this answer will practically destroy your chances of being considered for a position.
