Tips for Skillful Communication in a Job Interview

I am going to give you two “tips’ for skillful communication in a job interview. Careful attention to them will make you the candidate of their dreams.

1. Make the interview a two way conversation.

Never show up for an important interview without knowing everything you can about their operation. You must go to their website and see how they position themselves, their reports and mission, what they have in the pipeline and who the important players are. They have your resume in front of them; you need to walk in with equal information about them. This information will become evident -don’t force it- during the interview and will make a very good impression. You are turning an interview into a conversation. They’ll know that you are smart, that you are a self-starter and that you can hit the ground running.

The company is trying to solve a problem by hiring a solution. You can help them see you as a solution by probing in an empathic, nurturing manner to clarify the problem.

“Can you tell me more about that? Is there a recent example? What solutions have you tried already? Why do you suppose they failed? What did that cost you? Have you given up?”

You can see this is a long way from sitting passively and just trying to answer their questions. While you will not be taking over the interview, you will be an equal partner in defining your suitability for their perceived problem. You will not only hit the ground running, but you’ll be way ahead of everybody else.

2. Hear yourself as others hear you.

You need to increase your awareness of your impact on others by becoming a bit more objective about your communication characteristics when under stress. Here are some places to start:

Preparation habits: You have probably heard that anticipating questions and preparing your answers in advance is a good thing. It is. But have you heard of “too much of a good thing”? You may be so over prepared that your sentences are spoken in the flat, hurried manner of the memorized rather than the conversational and melodic style of the spontaneous answer. This also adds to your stress because you can now worry about not remembering your answer!

What to do: Never prepare complete sentences but outline your pertinent information using number, words, and short, short phrases. You are now free to select the supporting language in a more natural way that is appropriate to the relationship you are currently in.

Point of view: Let’s say that you are asked why you are interested in this job, and you respond along these lines; “Well, I’ve always love working with people. Even when I was a little girl, I just wanted to help people. I guess I was just a little mother, hahaha. In high school I was a pin stripper at the Catholic Hospital and….I think it was a Catholic Hospital, but now I’m not sure. Anyway, it was so much fun getting to…..”.

They do not care. They are getting bored. You are rattling on from the point of view of your personal experience about which no one is the least bit interested.

What to do: Consider every question from their point of view. “Why are they asking?” and “What do they want?” should be questions you are asking yourself so you can get right to the point. Perhaps something like, “I’ve had 12 years in Customer Service positions, with 4 years managing the whole department. Your position clearly demands strong Service component in areas where I’ve had experience.”

Speech Clarity: You will be anxious to talk and may speak too rapidly for your listener. Since your information is ‘old’ to you, it will not feel as if you are speaking rapidly. But, consider their point of view (again). They are hearing this stuff for the first time and need to process your language to extract the meaning. Many people are so anxious to race through the words that they neglect the speech sounds necessary for projection to other people.

What to do: You’ve heard it before; record a trial interview, wait for a while, and then, listen to the recording. Nothing else will be more convincing or effective in inducing change. You may be astonished at how rapidly you speak when you are pressed. You will want to practice, consciously speaking in a more deliberate style, even though it will feel really weird. You will be glad that you did this when you are in the actual interview.