Interviews are nerve-racking situations and although your resume was awesome and you are striking in your suit, your communication skills are going to be judged throughout the interview. Many people feel confident and prepared until a question is asked that they are not prepared for. This is the time when you need to be on your “A-game” and become very aware of your speech.

Throughout high school, college and even work, we pick up speech habits that do not convey a professional tone. We use filler words when we don’t know what else to say. Words like “um,” “uh,” “like,” and “you know.” Everyone will utter the occasional “um,” even the person interviewing might, but don’t start every sentence or every question in this manner. The best way to avoid this is to think before you speak.

Many people think that they will be viewed as uneducated or ignorant for pausing and thinking before they speak. In an interview, this is not the case. Run the question through your head and form your sentence before you say it. Take pauses and breaths when you lose your train of thought and answer the question to the best of your ability.

Many people will also increase the inflection at the end of sentences. This occurs when people are not confident in their answers and they will turn their answer into a question. Speak with conviction, even if you are unsure of your answer. Don’t give any clues that you are uncertain in your answer. You may find that you have to think about bringing your intonation down at the end of sentences to avoid making them sound like questions.

Another big communication mistake in a job interview are grammatical errors. This is especially true if you are looking at a position where you will be dealing with executives or teaching others. The interviewer may question your education if you use grammatical errors such as “ain’t,” “she/he don’t,” or using “goes” instead of “go.” These grammatical errors are very common. Remember the rule, “Ain’t ain’t a word and I ain’t going to say it.”

It is okay to be nervous in a job interview, but you simply need to remember that if you slow down and think before you answer, you will be better off in the long run. The interviewer will understand that you need time to answer questions to the best of your ability and they would rather you take time to think about the answer rather than speaking sloppily and with bad grammar.