--- title: What You Should Never Say During a Job Interview description: Even though most individual words by themselves won’t impact your chances and can be used, some terms and phrases should never be uttered during a job interview. canonical: https://time.com/4628976/what-not-to-say-job-interview/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-09T19:20:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:04:19.929Z og:title: This Is What You Should Never Say During a Job Interview og:description: Be comfortable, but not too comfortable og:url: https://time.com/4628976/what-not-to-say-job-interview/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90a3adae2fcab899/6988b0a8bc6cfc43393df7f7/gettyimages-611183146.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5133 og:image:height: 2887 og:image:alt: Businessman Interviewing Female Candidate og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is What You Should Never Say During a Job Interview twitter:description: Be comfortable, but not too comfortable twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90a3adae2fcab899/6988b0a8bc6cfc43393df7f7/gettyimages-611183146.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is What You Should Never Say During a Job Interview > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Each week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published weekly. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=51059c11-b0cc-4c8e-887b-7c8ed1f6f16d&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) by [Mira Zaslove / Quora](https://time.com/author/quora/) ## Mira Zaslove / Quora Jan 9, 2017 7:20 PM UTC  High Angle View Of Mature Businessman Interviewing Female Candidate For Job High Angle View Of Mature Businessman Interviewing Female Candidate For Job AndreyPopov—Getty Images/iStockphoto by [Mira Zaslove / Quora](https://time.com/author/quora/) ## Mira Zaslove / Quora Jan 9, 2017 7:20 PM UTC _Answer by_ [_Mira Zaslove_](https://www.quora.com/profile/Mira-Zaslove) _on_ [_Quora_](http://www.quora.com)_._ **You should never swear when being interviewed for a job.** Most individual words by themselves won’t really impact your chances and can be used, depending upon the context, and meaning. However, swear words show bad judgement and can only hurt, not help your chances. **I actually made this mistake on my first job interview out of college. And it cost me the job.** **_Related from Quora:_** [_Auren Hoffman’s answer to Do nice people win in the business world?_](https://www.quora.com/Do-nice-people-win-in-the-business-world/answer/Auren-Hoffman) And the reason I made the mistake? I was so comfortable in the interview, that I began talking to the interviewer like he was my friend. I let my guard down and came off as immature and rude. I was interviewing for a job at eBay, in 1999, which would have been a great opportunity. All of the initial and early round interviews went well, and on the final interview I was interviewing with the decision maker — the man who would be my boss. The conversation was flowing smoothly and we had instant rapport. I thought it was going great. Then at the end, the interviewer mentioned a mutual acquaintance — an infamously rude person. **This mutual acquaintance was a huge jerk, and without thinking I called him a total asshole.** We laughed, and I felt like we were sharing an inside joke. **_Related from Quora:_** [_Keck Medicine of USC’s answer to How do you make healthy new year resolutions and stick to them?_](https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-make-healthy-new-year-resolutions-and-stick-to-them/answer/Keck-Medicine-of-USC) **I left, thinking that the job was mine. However, when I got the call from the recruiter, it was to tell me that I was not hired.** Initially I figured I didn’t get the job because I didn’t have enough experience — after all, this would be my first full-time job. **However, the recruiter told me that they rarely gave candidates the real reason they were being passed on, but she felt it necessary to tell me that the reason I didn’t get the job was that I showed poor judgement and a lack of filter by swearing. Ouch.** It’s good to be comfortable in an interview, but not too comfortable. Remember an interview is not a casual conversation between two friends. You are interviewing to be a representative of a company, and essentially you are being interviewed on your professionalism and judgement. If you come off as rude in an interview, they assume you’ll only be worse once you join the company. Also keep this in mind when and before you arrive at the company. Don’t swear in the elevator, or at anyone at the local coffee shop. You may blow the interview by swearing, before it even starts. **_Read more:_** [_Awdhesh Singh’s answer to What does a rich man have which a poor man does not?_](https://www.quora.com/What-does-a-rich-man-have-which-a-poor-man-does-not/answer/Awdhesh-Singh-1) Certainly, in some roles, swearing may not be a deal breaker, and in many cases it won’t cost you the job. However, why chance it? Good rule of thumb is to: --- > “” --- _This_ [_question_](https://www.quora.com/What-words-should-you-never-say-when-being-interviewed-for-a-job) _originally appeared on_ [_Quora_](http://www.quora.com)_:_ [_What words should you never say when being interviewed for a job?_](https://www.quora.com/What-words-should-you-never-say-when-being-interviewed-for-a-job) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4628976/what-not-to-say-job-interview/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4628976/what-not-to-say-job-interview/"},"headline":"This Is What You Should Never Say During a Job Interview","datePublished":"2017-01-09T19:20:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:04:19.929Z","description":"Be comfortable, but not too comfortable","url":"https://time.com/4628976/what-not-to-say-job-interview/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90a3adae2fcab899/6988b0a8bc6cfc43393df7f7/gettyimages-611183146.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mira Zaslove / Quora"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt90a3adae2fcab899/6988b0a8bc6cfc43393df7f7/gettyimages-611183146.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Businessman Interviewing Female Candidate","caption":"Businessman Interviewing Female Candidate","creditText":"AndreyPopov—Getty Images/iStockphoto","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4628976/what-not-to-say-job-interview/","name":"This Is What You Should Never Say During a Job Interview"}}]}] ```