Laura Slingo 
Refrain from displaying these negative qualities during your interview
A job interview is one of the most crucial steps in landing your dream role. It's your chance to demonstrate your skills, experience, and personality beyond what's written on your CV. But while showcasing your strengths, it's equally important to avoid displaying bad traits in interviews – those negative characteristics that can leave a poor impression and cost you the job.
Do interviewers care about personality?
Err… definitely, yes. Put yourself in the shoes of an employer who has to decide between two candidates with the same skill set, level of education, and qualifications. You'd likely think back to the interview and ask yourself, “Who did I click with more?” As an employer, you're highly likely to choose the person who showcased more desirable qualities in their personality than the one who didn't.
5 worst personality traits that may be costing you the job
If you're not getting past job interviews, it's worth reconsidering how you come across to a prospective employer during an interview.
Displaying any of these five bad personality traits, even unintentionally, could be a reason why:
1. Arrogance
Whether you're interviewing or dating, being confident is a positive personality trait. But be careful how far you take that confidence. Being arrogant – that person who thinks they know it all – is one of the bad traits to display in interviews. It's off-putting and can rub the interviewer up the wrong way.
Clearly, you want to show your best self, so when talking about your accomplishments, focus on fact-based specifics like numbers and percentages, not grandiose adjectives like “great” and “impressive.” Saying, “I led the team to finish our project £100K under budget,” sounds more impactful than, “I saved the company a lot of money.”
Top tip: Don't shy away from questions that might make you look vulnerable. To show your ability to learn, demonstrate your commitment to personal growth with answers to tricky interview questions such as “What is your greatest weakness?”
2. Dishonesty
Honesty is key to building positive relationships and achieving effective collaboration anywhere. A potential supervisor will want to clarify that you'll be honest about the work you do.
Dishonesty is a bad characteristic of a person that's hard to hide and easy to spot. There's nothing wrong with curating your CV and interview responses to give your best side, that's expected. What's important is that you do so without giving in to over-exaggeration.
Embellishing your past will probably result in communicating falsities, and if an HR Manager finds out that you were dishonest about your accomplishments, you'll likely be receiving your P45 before you've even set up your office space!
Top tip: It's an absolute no-no to lie on your CV, even just a tiny bit, so don't be tempted.
3. Unreliability
Reliability is related to trust, and there may be nothing more important for a productive workplace than being able to rely on co-workers, supervisors, and subordinates.
To prove how reliable you are, remember that actions speak louder than words, so it's how you behave in the time leading up to and during your interview that will show you can be counted on.
Unreliability is one of those bad traits in a person that employers watch closely. While communicating with the HR Manager to set up the interview, respond to emails and messages in a timely manner.
Top tip: On the day of the interview, come prepared with extensive research, and do whatever you need to ensure you turn up for the meeting on time.
4. Immorality
It may be difficult to gauge a stranger's moral compass in a 30- to 60-minute meeting, but that doesn't mean interviewers won't make assumptions about positive and negative characteristics. Corruption is a genuine concern in many workplaces, and an employer will want to do their best to eliminate any concerns by rejecting any candidate who seems suspect.
If you don't have anything damning on your professional record, don't assume you're off the hook – because what an employer uncovers during their social media check can have just as much of an effect as a past lapse in workplace ethics.
Top tip: During your job search, take a closer look at your social media profiles and delete any posts that could raise eyebrows (or adjust your privacy settings so an HR Manager can't view them).
5. Close-mindedness
Creativity and a willingness to try new things are valuable skills in the workplace. Dismissing innovative thinking is a significant offence as an interviewee; it's one of those bad traits to avoid in interviews if you don't want to put potential employers off.
The best way to display open-mindedness in an interview is through the questions you ask at the end of the interview. Use the research you've previously done to make informed enquiries about processes or motivations that are specific to the company, then show receptiveness and enthusiasm when receiving a response.
Top tip: Show a willingness to learn about new places and ideas to offset any concerns that you may be close-minded.
Be the ideal colleague
Understanding all these bad traits for interviews can make all the difference in setting yourself up for job-search success. Hiring a new employee is a big decision for any HR manager, so they'll take care to find the right person for the team. Understandably, that will mean rejecting those with negative personality traits they don't want to introduce to their workplace. This doesn't have to happen to you though. If you consistently show off your best personality traits and act like the co-worker you want to have, you'll have no trouble making the right impression.
Presenting yourself well on your CV is important, too. Find out what kind of positive and negative traits you project by submitting your CV for a free CV review.
This article was originally written by Lauren Settembrino and has been updated by Elizabeth Openshaw and Laura Slingo.