Make your interviews a "no bashing" zone

Most people know that it is very bad form in an interview to bash a former employer. As a reminder, just a few of the top reasons why:

1. Someone harboring resentments - or carrying any baggage about their past - is not as attractive of a job candidate as someone who is fully future focused and "mission ready."

2. There are two sides to every story, and it hurts your credibility to tell one side when you and the interviewer are just getting to know each other.

3. It makes you look indiscreet; the obvious question that can go through an interviewer's mind is, "If it doesn't work out here, what will s(he) tell the next person about me?"

If you have not fully resolved and left behind your last position or manager, try this approach: write about the situation and your feelings regarding it. Write letters to your former boss, co-workers, or anyone else - including yourself - that you are feeling resentment or any unresolved feelings toward. Let it all out and onto paper. Gather the letters, find a safe place like your fireplace or outdoor BBQ, and burn them. You WILL feel better getting it out and letting it all go.

Also remember that it can reflect negatively on you to appear to bash another company or individual that you've encountered during your job search and interview process.

It's easy during a period of unemployment to rack up hurt feelings and "funny" stories recalling various interviewer gaffs.

The very nature of the process where you are working to bond with a new interviewer can lend itself to these stories sneaking out. As funny as they may sound to you, for all of the reasons above your previous interview anecdotes are not appropriate to share in future interviews!

As innocent as it may sound to you to tell someone that another company "didn't even have the decency to follow up with you after your interview," statements like this can hurt your candidacy for the new position.

If anything you say about anyone else - former employers and other interviewers alike - could possibly be categorized by someone else who doesn't know you as coming from a perspective of either "innocent victim" or "righteous indignation," nix it immediately.

An interviewer only has this one sample of you to determine who you are and what your priorities are. They don't know you well enough to realize that you don't really see yourself as a victim, so that negative impression is their most likely take-away.