Recently, I served as
a mock interviewer for middle school students preparing for a selective high
school admissions process. All of the students were articulate, bright, and warm.
One factor that set some of them apart was that when they would say the wrong
thing, or go off topic, some got frazzled, stressed, or otherwise called attention
to their slip-up. Others, when they noticed that something was going wrong, made
a simple statement like, “Oh, before I tell you that, I should probably say…”
or “That’s not what I meant. What I meant was…” In giving feedback to these
students, I found myself repeating something I’ve been sharing with coaching
clients for some time. It sounds something like, “Everyone is going to mess up
some time – use the wrong word or forget to say what they’d planned to.
Perfection isn’t the goal. What’s more important is that you master the skill
of recovery.” Of course this applies more
broadly than to interviewing. We’ll make mistakes as we go through life: That’s
not what matters. What matters is how we elegantly dust ourselves off and correct
our course. How we learn from our mistakes, clean up any damage, or find another
route to success.
