One of the best job interview tips you’ll ever get has nothing to do with what you say in an interview.
Not that what you say isn’t important.
But if you want to set yourself apart from the other applicants fighting for the job you want, try focusing less on talking and more on listening. Because without polished listening skills, you will be just like every other candidate your interviewer has faced to fill the position you’re after.
Why?
Because most job applicants “firehose” their potential employer’s representative with lots of not-so-interesting factoids about themselves. What they should be doing is working to optimize the time they have in their interviews by lacing the dialogue with well-placed questions.
And more importantly, they should be listening to the answers – with sharp, focused attention.
But most of the applicants you’ll be up against won’t do those things. Instead, they will miss half of what an interviewer is telling them, because they’ll be too busy worrying about the next thing they want to say!
Here are a few techniques that will help to hone your listening skills in your next job interview:
• What do you think every human being finds to be the most interesting subject on the planet? If you guessed “themselves,” you’d be correct. Asking questions about the person you are interviewing with makes you interesting to them, because you are giving the interviewer the opportunity to talk about themselves. This will make the interviewer feel good about you, because you’ve given her a chance to feel good about herself.
• What do you think every human being finds to be the least interesting subject on the planet? Pretty much everything other then themselves. This is particularly true in the case of an interviewer who has had to face the grueling task of talking with dozens of job candidates. As such, if you can find creative ways to swing the dialogue back to the person who’s doing the interviewing, you’ll set yourself apart from your competition and show that you’re interested, and therefore, you’ll be interesting.
• Do your best to avoid “formulating.” Formulating refers to the practice of shaping your next answer instead of listening intently to the last question. In the process, formulators miss the subtle points that can make the difference between getting a job offer and getting the brush-off.
• Practice “active listening.” This is accomplished by letting the person you are meeting with know you’re in tune with the conversation. You do this by posing thoughtful questions throughout the discussion. These questions should go beyond things like “no kidding?” or “really?” and suggest real interest in what the other party is saying. Example: “You said the company is expanding into four new states this year. Do you think that kind of expansion will continue or is the company’s growth tapering off?”
Your next job interview could present you with an opportunity to truly distance yourself from every other candidate that stands in your way. Give these ideas a chance to work for you, and you’re likely to be very pleasantly surprised by the results.
Or haven’t you been listening?
If you are interested in a manufacturing career, view http://www.manufacturingworkers.com/
By: David DiCola
David DiCola is a 20-year management veteran and the author of Customer Golf – The Short Game, a novel about overcoming obstacles in business and in golf.
Not that what you say isn’t important.
But if you want to set yourself apart from the other applicants fighting for the job you want, try focusing less on talking and more on listening. Because without polished listening skills, you will be just like every other candidate your interviewer has faced to fill the position you’re after.
Why?
Because most job applicants “firehose” their potential employer’s representative with lots of not-so-interesting factoids about themselves. What they should be doing is working to optimize the time they have in their interviews by lacing the dialogue with well-placed questions.
And more importantly, they should be listening to the answers – with sharp, focused attention.
But most of the applicants you’ll be up against won’t do those things. Instead, they will miss half of what an interviewer is telling them, because they’ll be too busy worrying about the next thing they want to say!
Here are a few techniques that will help to hone your listening skills in your next job interview:
• What do you think every human being finds to be the most interesting subject on the planet? If you guessed “themselves,” you’d be correct. Asking questions about the person you are interviewing with makes you interesting to them, because you are giving the interviewer the opportunity to talk about themselves. This will make the interviewer feel good about you, because you’ve given her a chance to feel good about herself.
• What do you think every human being finds to be the least interesting subject on the planet? Pretty much everything other then themselves. This is particularly true in the case of an interviewer who has had to face the grueling task of talking with dozens of job candidates. As such, if you can find creative ways to swing the dialogue back to the person who’s doing the interviewing, you’ll set yourself apart from your competition and show that you’re interested, and therefore, you’ll be interesting.
• Do your best to avoid “formulating.” Formulating refers to the practice of shaping your next answer instead of listening intently to the last question. In the process, formulators miss the subtle points that can make the difference between getting a job offer and getting the brush-off.
• Practice “active listening.” This is accomplished by letting the person you are meeting with know you’re in tune with the conversation. You do this by posing thoughtful questions throughout the discussion. These questions should go beyond things like “no kidding?” or “really?” and suggest real interest in what the other party is saying. Example: “You said the company is expanding into four new states this year. Do you think that kind of expansion will continue or is the company’s growth tapering off?”
Your next job interview could present you with an opportunity to truly distance yourself from every other candidate that stands in your way. Give these ideas a chance to work for you, and you’re likely to be very pleasantly surprised by the results.
Or haven’t you been listening?
If you are interested in a manufacturing career, view http://www.manufacturingworkers.com/
By: David DiCola
David DiCola is a 20-year management veteran and the author of Customer Golf – The Short Game, a novel about overcoming obstacles in business and in golf.
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