Admissionado
Joined: 30 Nov 2009
Posts: 9216
Given Kudos: 69
Location: Chicago, IL
Schools:Brown University, Harvard Business School
Advanced Interviewing Strategies: Beyond Story Selection...
[#permalink]
17 Jun 2011, 09:36
Greetings and salutations.
Today I was chatting with a former client (and now a close friend) about interviews and interview prep. And there was a topic that he brought up that I thought might be worth discussing: non-verbal communication. Or rather, interview strategies...beyond just "telling the right stories."
Here are three way to make sure that you NAIL your interviews...beyond the answers that you have already prepped eight ways from Tuesday:
1. Smile, and be welcoming. Too often, interviewing applicants are so serious; so intense, so focused on the answers to the questions that they dont consider how they LOOK as they give the answers. How they express themselves, non-verbally. It is important to make your interviewer feel at home. Feel welcomed. Feel like youre a good dude. So smile, and be friendly. You want this guy to like you--to want to HANG OUT with you when you're done chatting. So dont be too serious, to focused on work. You already covered all that in your app. Here, make a personal impression.
2. Be engaging. Dont just read the answers you have prepared gang. Smile. Be engaged. Use your hands as you tell stories. Make sure that your voice modulates up, and down (especially for our ESL applicants out there, struggling with English a bit). Pause after statements for effect--in many ways this is a public speech. Rehearse your answers in front of a mirror--not so you can memorize the words, but so you can monitor how you LOOK as you DELIVER the words. No matter how exciting your stories are, if you dont deliver them in an appealing, EXCITING way, your interviewer may...fall asleep. And that is a bad thing.
3. Listen. Nobody likes a know-it-all. Nobody likes the guy who is too self-important to listen. When your interviewer starts to talk about himself, and alums especially LOVE to talk about themselves (I am no exception), LISTEN. This is important not only because he wants you to hear him and be impressed, but because he is offering you HINTS. He is showing you how he sees the world; so drink it in, listen to his perspective, and for the love of god allow that perspective to color yours. AGREE with him. Take his ideas to the NEXT level. Thank him for being the guy who "gets it," and "understands you," etc.
This will make him feel good. And the interviewer who leaves your interview feeling good, will recommend an admit.
Hope this helps gang, and good luck.