Category: Interviews

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3 Sales Tactics You Can Use To Influence the Job Interview

There is no denying it; the interview is essentially, a sales pitch.

Each applicant has 45 minutes to sell themselves to the interviewer. The interviewer is influenced by the candidates and they will always hire the most persuasive interviewee – the one that they believe is the best fit for the job.

Each interviewee has met the job criteria and all will have similar experiences, qualifications and skills. The interview stage is a platform to up-sell yourself so you are seen as being more valuable than the other interviewees.

Everyone sells themselves at the interview and you will all influence the interviewer – the difference is, for some this is a conscious act and for all others this action is unconscious.

Your words, your body language, your tone, pace of voice, your selling point and the structure of your answers, all influence the interview, by selling you – the package, to the interviewer.

The Honey Trap

People like to buy from people they like. Sales reps will increase likability by taking their customers out for expensive meals, buy them football tickets and treat them like royalty. The Honey Trap is an idea that works at the psychological level; the positive experience from the events is associated to the sales rep creating a strong bond, which increases sales.

Sales reps will use flattery to increase the emotional connection between them and their customer, they will sweet-talk to increase rapport and find common ground to build up their friendship.

The Honey Trap in the Job Interview

The job interview isn’t the place to offer to take the interviewer out for an expensive meal. Instead you need to use other tactics to build a strong bond, to increase likability and to create rapport.

The key rule to increase rapport is to be seen as being similar to the interviewer as people like others who are like themselves and to create an emotional connection between you and the interviewer

  • Mirror the interviewers body language and gestures
  • Use a similar tonality and pace as to that of the interviewer
  • Parrot phrase the words the interviewer uses
  • Smile throughout the interview as studies show how a smile increases positive emotions of the person looking at you
  • Ask the interviewer questions about their work ethic, values and style of working and throughout the interview make reference to how you have the same approach/work ethic/values

You Can’t Have It So You Want It More

Auctions and E-bay use a key sales tactic to increase the value of products by making them scarce. When looking at a product you add a value to it, as the auction nears its end, your value for the product increase because you become afraid of missing out.

Retail “sales” work in the same way “20% off this weekend only” People flood to sales because they don’t want to miss out on a bargain.

Scarcity in the Job Interview

You can’t offer “20% off” in the job interview but you can increase your worth by being seen as a scarce commodity.

You first have to build up your value in terms of what you can offer the employer. To stand out in the job interview you need have a Unique Selling Point.

Your USP is something that you can offer that others can’t, that will make a big impact on the company. For some this could include bringing a list of valuable clients with you or skilled at turning around under-performing teams or 95% record of winning expensive tenders.

The USP will help you to stand out; employers will understand how this will positively impact on their business model and how without you their potential profit margins will decrease.

Once the employer is hooked, you need to let slip how competitive companies are interested in you; how you have been offered job interviews, been head hunter or how you are in the process of deciding whether or not to take a recent job offer

If the interviewer desire for you has peaked and within a few seconds they realise that you may slip through their fingers, they will want you more.

The Rule of 7

Coke-a-Cola and other famous brands are successful due to their marketing campaign. You can’t go through a day without seeing at least 7 coke-a-cola advertisements, when you want a cold drink, your frame of reference is coke-a-cola.

Job Interviews and The Rule of 7

You need to use the same process in the job interview. Think about 3 key USP and/or skills that you can offer the employer, your main strengths, the reason why you, not the other interviewees should be offered the position.

Your USP have to be relevant to the job role/company.

In each interview answer, refer to one your USP. When the interviewer thinks back to your interview there frame of reference will be your USP and how you will add value to the company.

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Interview Dos and Don’ts for an Excellent First Impression

The Dos and Don’ts for an Excellent First Impression

If you want to impress your interviewer, then along with saying the right things, you must also avoid making mistakes that can reduce your chances of getting hired. If you don’t have any interview skills, then you must learn what works and what doesn’t work in the professional world. This practice will help you make an excellent first impression when you go for an interview.

Here are some dos and don’ts that will help you convince your interviewer that you are the right candidate and you can do the job.

Interview DOs

Get Dressed Appropriately

Tell your interviewer that you take the interview seriously by dressing professionally and appropriately. When you get dressed nicely, you will feel energetic and confident. Use this energy and communicate as professionally as possible.

Arrive Early

If you arrive late, you will probably blow your chances of getting hired. Getting stuck in traffic or waking up late are not good excuses. So, leave early and try to arrive at least 15 minutes before the interview starts. This will give you plenty of time to relax and clear your mind. Also, remember to get the directions one day before the interview. This way you will have no trouble finding the place.

Treat Everyone with Respect

If you want to make a perfect impression, then treat everyone with respect. When you go to the front desk, talk to the person there politely and with a smile. Be nice to your interviewer, because if you disrespect your interviewer in any way, you will basically disrespect the whole company. So, be nice and polite.

interview prediction grid

Meet Your Interviewer with a Firm Handshake and Make Eye Contact

A good and firm handshake will depict that you are a confident person. When you shake hands, don’t try to break the bones of the interviewer with an extremely firm handshake. Make eye contact because it’s the right way of communicating and you don’t want to be disrespectful at all.

Talk about Your Accomplishments and Strengths with Examples

Feel free to tell the interviewer how you helped the previous company grow with your knowledge and experience. Be very specific in terms of what you did. For example, you assisted them in saving money, increasing sales, cutting down costs, improving quality, retaining result-oriented employees, and so on.

Always Listen to the Question Carefully

Even if you know what your interviewer will ask you, do not interrupt. Let them finish the question. Your interruption will not make you look smart. On the contrary, it will make you look unprofessional. So, be patient.

Interview DON’Ts

Avoid General Statements

Making general statements will not be beneficial at all. Don’t say, “I am a team player” or “I like to solve problems”. These statements are very general and they don’t let interviewers judge a candidate properly. Share your strengths with relevant examples. They will help your interviewer remember you and your capabilities. Generalities will be forgotten in no time.

Don’t Look at Your Resume

You should know everything that is written in your resume. Thus, there is no need to look at it every now and then. When you are asked about your education or experience, do not start reading from your resume. If you do so, you will make an extremely terrible first impression.

Never Say that You Don’t Have Any Weaknesses

The purpose of this question is not to make you look weak. This question is asked to determine how much you know about yourself and how honest you are. As you continue to learn new things, you will always come across some hurdles. You need to tell your interviewer about the hurdles you encountered and how you resolved them. So, don’t just say, “I don’t have any weaknesses. I am a very strong person.” It will be the wrong answer.

Interview questions and answers

Don’t Sound Overconfident or Arrogant

Always keep in mind that you are there to get a job. You don’t have it yet. If you sound arrogant or even overconfident, then you will turn off your interviewer immediately. Your interviewer will think that if you can’t communicate properly before you have been given the job, how will you behave after you are hired? Companies don’t want employees who think that they are better than others. So, be humble and polite.

Never Criticize Any Former Employer or Manager

You can’t look positive if your attitude is all negative. If you say anything bad about any of your previous employers, managers or even co-workers, then you will destroy your credibility with your own hands. Interviewers don’t give preference to those who leave companies with negative feelings and then talk about them badly.

When you follow these powerful dos and don’ts, you will certainly be able to make an excellent first impression and significantly increase your chances of getting the job that you need. Just be yourself and do your best.

Author Bio

Skornia Alison works as a manager at an online tutoring service, where she helps clients who search on the internet, I want to Pay someone to write my essay. She provides guidance to them helping them lift their knowledge and skills.

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3 Ways to Improve The Interview Outcome

Job interviews are competitive. It simply isn’t good enough to discuss your past experiences.  Instead you need to stand out in the job interview, you need to create an unbreakable bond with the interviewer and you need to be seen as pure gold.

These 3 techniques will help you influence the job interview outcomes.

Taking off the Invisibility Cloak

You might not believe this, because you put so much effort into your job interview……but most job interviewers forget the people they have interviewed.

Thats right, interviewers will forget the people they have interviewed, wrongly believe that one applicant said a key point when in actual fact it was there competitor who discussed it and interviewers can even associate their mad-mood onto the applicants interview.

You need to be remembered and to be remembered in a positive light. To stand out in you job interview it is important to make the interview an emotional journey. 3 ways to create an emotional journey are:

  • Use intriguing stories instead of generic interview answers
  • Embed your answers with emotionally based words
  • People remembering being praised. If you make the interviewer, through positive praise, feel good about themselves, they will remember you more 

Having a Unique Selling Point

People applying for positions in the same salary bracket tend to have similar experiences, skills and qualifications.

To boost your chances of having a positive interview outcome  you need to stand out in the job interview. But more then standing out, you need to be seen as a valuable asset. To stand out you need a Unique Selling Point

  • What do you possess in terms of skills, qualities and experiences that others don’t:
  • Can you turn around under performing teams?
  • Can you make companies on the bleak of bankruptcy profitable? 
  • Can bring in high levels of business? 

Ensure you discuss your unique selling point throughout the job interview

Come Across Confident

Confidence is undervalued in the job interview.

People believe what confident people say, people are influence by confidence and confidence is an attractive quality.

You need to boost your confidence levels by going to the job interview well prepared, practiced and feeling good about yourself. Boost your confidence by:

  • Predicting the job interview questions – read the job spec and turn each criteria into an interview question
  • Record and re-write your interview answers 3 times as this improves the quality of the interview answer and helps you to remember your answers
  • Attend a mock interview with a friend or interview coach, as this helps you prepare for unrehearsed questions 

Practice and preparation create confidence.

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3 Ways to Get Any Interviewer To Like You

Rapport is often an undervalued skill in the job interview. But if an employer respects your experience, skills and qualities as well as liking you as a person, the likelihood of achieving a successful job offer is ten fold.

Increasing likeability is easy and takes a little bit of psychology. Today you will learn 3 simple techniques to increase likeability in the job interview.

Get The Interviewer To Like You – Tip 1

People like to be praised. If you make the interviewer, through positive praise, feel good about themselves, they will like you more.

At the interview start discuss a project that the interviewer was part off and subtly praise his work.

To boost this rapport ask questions about their process and achievements, if you can get the interviewer talking happily about a positive and successful experience, they will unconsciously associate the positive emotions to you and your interview performance

Get The Interviewer To Like You – Tip 2

For internal promotional interviews you can use the rule off reciprocity. If you tell someone that you like them they will automatically like you more.

In a job interview this approach can seem overboard. Instead tell others who you know have the interviewers ear, how you respect him, believe in his work principles and how you like both his work style and persona. Once he hears how you like him, his liking for you will increase

Get The Interviewer To Like You – Tip 3

Focus on the future. When an interviewer can imagine you being successful in the job interview their likeness for you will increase as all interviewers want to hire someone who can make a real difference.

When asked interview questions, keep your answers about past successes to a minimum and instead, discuss and explain how you will make a difference, in the future, in their company once they hire you.

Talk about how you WILL solve problems, achieve goals and increase profit.

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3 Reasons To Fear Job Interviews

Job interviews create anxiety, fears or trigger of phobias in most job applicants.

There are 3 key reasons why people fear job interviews, today I will explain why anxiety ruins peoples job interview and how you can overcome this phobia inducing reasons to fear the job interview.

Interview Fear 1 – Lack of Practice 

Rarely do we attend job interviews. As with any skill, if you fail to practice you will never reach your peak performance.

On average, interviewees only prepare for around 1-2 hours! This is crazy when the outcome of the job interview can change your life, your financial situation and your career progression.

Interview procrastination stops people from being successful. To practice you can;

  • Research sector job interview and questions
  • Attend a mock interview and learn from the feedback
  • Reflect on a previous job interview 
  • Write and re-write out job interview questions and answers
  • Watch interview YouTube clips, pause the video after each question and answer the question as if you were attending an interview. After watching the answer on the video, compare this answer with yours 

Interview Fear 2 – Unpredictability 

We are all scared of the unknown.

Because attending a job interview, is in the main, a rarity, anxiety will increase.  Even confident individuals become nervous in the job interview, especially when a random job interview is asked.

You need to learn the skill of thinking on your feet confidently, speaking impromptu and answering questions spontaneously.

Once you can confidently deliver answers unrehearsed, you will reduce your fears and anxiety and become a more competent interviewee.

Interview Fear 3 – Niggling Devil in Your Head  

When working with clients to improve their interview confidence they all have one thing in common, everyone says that their anxiety increases because they have negative self-talk.

You need to kill this devil in your head if you ever want to get over your interview phobia.

By changing the way our negative self-talk expresses itself we can change the associated negative emotion.

  1. Listen to the negative self-talk
  2. Replay this voice, but this time sssssslllllooooowwwwww down the words, really drag them out and became aware of the change at the emotional level
  3. Next, speed the voice up so it plays really fast and squeaky
  4. Finally, turn down the volume of the voice so you can hardly hear it
  5. Use whichever technique takes away the negative associated emotion

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3 Rules to Maximize Your Job Interview

3 Rules to Maximize Your Job Interview

The best candidate doesn’t get the job.

Just because you have the experience, qualifications and skills required for the advertised role is the reason why you get offered the position.

Your ability to stand out in the job interview is key to securing more job offers.

To be offered more job positions you need to follow these 3 rules

Job Interview Rule 1 – Having a Unique Selling Point

People wrongly believe that because they have 10 years experience and several industry qualifications, along with a great work ethic that they should be guaranteed the position.

But everyone offered to interview has met the job criteria, which means to stand out you need a unique selling point

  • Re-read the job spec and record which key skill, duty or quality is the most desirable by the employer (think about skills that you have that others don’t) 
  • Find evidence from past employment/projects where this key skill, duty or quality was used by yourself to successfully achieve a major achievement 
  • During the job interview discuss the key skill, duty or quality – discuss both past successes and how you will you use this skill, duty or quality once employed 

   

Job Interview Rule 2 – Perfection Through Practice

To be an expert in anything takes repetition and practice.

We rarely attend interviews and as with any new experience or skill, we sometimes fluke it but often we make many mistakes. The key rule to interview success is practice, practice and practice

  • Read the job spec and turn each desired  criteria into an interview question
  • Record an answer per question and when you can add your unique selling point to the answer
  • Rehearse both the questions and answers over and over again until you discuss your unique selling point without having to refer to your notes

Job Interview Rule 3 – Reflect, Record and Redesign 

To become an interview expert, which means that you can successfully pass interviews that offer higher salaries you need to learn from each job interview.

  • After each interview reflect and record each interview question and answer
  • Rate each question and answer between 1-10
  • With answer that rate below 7 redesign the interview answer 
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10 Job Interview Questions and Answers for an Amazon Warehouse Staff

Interview Questions and Answers for an Amazon Warehouse Staff

Amazon jobs are in high demand.

Out of thousands of applicants, only 6 candidates will be interviewed.

In the Amazon job interview, you will be asked around 8 job interview questions during a 45-minute interview. To increase your chances of securing a job offer you will learn the answers to 8 Amazon warehouse job interview questions.

How competitive is an Amazon Warehouse job Interview?

Amazon warehouse is medium in competitiveness

Interview Specifics

Behavioural job interview, last 45 minutes with 8 questions being asked

The key to passing job interviews in preparation and practice, this sounds obvious but is often overlooked, with the average interviewee spending around only 60 minutes preparing for their structured job interview.

During the interview you will have to complete a drug test, take two pieces of photographic identity and sit a short interview.

Job Interview Questions and Answers for an Amazon Warehouse Staff

Can you tell me about you and your warehouse experience?

To answer this interview question highlight 3 key selling points; the amount of experience you have working in the warehouse sector, any relevant qualifications (FLT license, NVQ in warehousing) and your ability to work within a team.

Start with “I have x years warehouse/picking/laborer experience…” or “I have just recently finished education studying X….”

Next, detail any relevant knowledge or strengths ‘…while working at X I was responsible for collecting orders accurate to the delivery note, checking for damage to products and palletizing the goods ready for dispatch…’

End with a selling point ‘…I also have a full fork lift truck license which means I can work both in the yard unloading vans or in the main warehouse…’

What do you know about Amazon and our values?

Research is key here. This question is asked to see if you will feel proud to work for Amazon.

Search for Amazons ‘about me’ page on their website for all their history but more importantly, look at Amazon’s vision and values.

‘I love Amazon, I’m a prime member. What I like is how Amazon value the customer experience. I am also customer focused, this is what motivates me. when picking orders I would do my upmost to get each order accurate, as I wouldn’t want to disappoint any of our customers.’

How does a member of the warehouse team fit in with the team approach to customer satisfaction?

For Amazon, customers come first.

To answer this interview question think about all the different cogs of the organisation and how by getting a parcel out on time affects the whole customer experience gaining loyal customers.

‘A customer who gets the product they requested for at the time they need it will become a repeat customer. This is why the Amazon team need to work together. If for example the marketing team promoted next day deliveries, but the warehouse staff were behind on orders the customer would be dissatisfied. What everyone needs to do if work together for the benefit of the customer.’

How do you ensure the correct goods are sent on time to the correct customer’s address?

With customer service being one of Amazons key values, every process and procedure relates to this key aim.

The interviewer, here, is checking that the interviewee knows the importance of double-checking delivery addresses.

Give a 3 step process;

Step 1 review the order,

Step 2 double-check the order

Step 3 use the Amazon scanners to confirm the address.

Add a bit more meat to the bones, here but this will give you a good framework.

‘When I receive an order for picking I first check the order; quantity of goods, delivery due date and the customer address. Once I have picked the order I will double-check the I have the correct goods before I package the order. Before, sending to dispatch I do a final address check to ensure I have the correct label. The final check comes from using the Amazon scanners that triple checks the accuracy.’

What is the maximum weight per package, you can pick up by hand?

Health and safety is key in the warehouse industry.

At the time of writing the H&S at work act, states that unassisted lifting of parcels can not be heavier than 25kg.

Within this answer explain how you are aware of all H&S work act regulations and how by following these you have never received an injury.

‘As I have previous warehouse experience I ensure I follow all health and safety procedures. When moving any goods above 25kg I will use a pallet truck, trolley or, for heavier loads, a fork lift truck. As well as keeping myself safe, using lifting equipment also ensures the there a lower risk of damage – as a i dropped parcel can damaged the goods.’

What process do you use to remember where a large number of goods are located in the warehouse?

Amazon has a huge warehouse, therefore, it is key to have a good memory to know where each good(s) is located.

Give an example of working in a similarly sized warehouse, explaining the process you used to remember the location of goods.

‘In my last role at X company, they had a large warehouse with multiple goods that needed packing on a daily basis. For this role it was important to know where all the key items were stored. Initially, when I first started, I wrote down which isle the most popular items were stored, allowing me to learn quickly where these goods were. For other items, I spent time reading the storage system, which was an alphabetical system, to memorize where goods were kept.’

What would you do if you had a spillage in the warehouse while having a deadline to dispatch a large number of goods?

This can be seen as a tricky question but really the answer is simple.

If you leave a spillage other employees could have accidents that lead to delays and/or injuries.

After explaining this, talk about how you would ask a colleague to support you with the dispatch deadlines while you cleaned up the spillage (informing your manager of the incident)

‘If I had a spillage while working on an order, I would first cordon off the area as slips, tips and falls are the number of injury in warehouses, which can cause additional delays. I would inform my supervisor and ask if they wanted myself or someone else to see to the order whilst I dealt with the spillage.’

Why are delivery notes so important?

Without a delivery note, the driver would not know what they are taking and to where. Explain how a delivery note is the instructions to ensure that a customer remains happy by receiving the goods they ordered on time and to the correct address.

‘After packing orders that are wrapped on different pallets to be distributed to warehouse across of the UK I double-check the order; stock quantities, addresses and which pallets are required for each delivery truck. Once I am happy with accuracy and pass over the delivery notes to the drivers to tick of each pallets as it is loaded on the truck. This process reduces the risk of good being sent to the wrong address, creating customer delays.’

What would do if you suspected a colleague of stealing goods?

If you have an example use it here. If not explain that you would report any suspicions to your supervisor.

‘If I suspected a thief or had seen any suspicious activity I would report this straight away to a superior. This allows the supervisor to investigate before making a decision on what they need to do next.’

Do you have any questions for me?

Good interview questions to ask interviewers at the end of the job interview include questions on the company growth or expansion, questions on personal development and training, and questions on company values, staff retention and company achievements.

‘What mandatory training do I get once I start a position with Amazon?’

‘Is there any support around internal progression for new staff members?’

‘What are the busiest times of the year?’

‘How are Amazons values imbedded into the processes used by warehouse staff?’

‘Does Amazon project an increase in customer growth and how will that affect this warehouse?’

Conclusion 

You can prepare for your job interview, by predicting the job interview questions, which then allows you to easily prepare your job interview answers.

Each job interview answer must highlight your unique selling point, which needs to be spoken in a confident manner.

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Can You Sell Yourself During an Interview?

The interview is the step where the prospective employers get a chance to learn more about you, the job applicants. In theory, it’s a chance to present yourself, and hopefully increase your chance of getting hired.

However, many interviewees enter the room thinking of the interview as a test, where they can possibly “pass” or “fail”.

The fact is that you need to perhaps think of it in a different way.

The interview actually can be seen as a sale opportunity. The buyer is the employer, who is considering paying for your work. The seller is you, who is hoping to be able to sell your service.

The product? That’s you. You, as a potential employee, is the product in question here. It’s not just about your skills and experience, those can easily be seen on your CV.

It’s also about you as a person and how you may fit in the company culture. Knowing that going into the interview, your main objective is to sell yourself, to persuade the interviewer that you are the best option for their company.

Interview Packaging

In marketing and sales, everyone knows that packaging is a tremendously important factor that influences purchasing decisions.

That is why companies throw thousands of dollars in packaging design. That is why real estate agents stage the house before opening day. And that is why you need to make yourself presentable on this very important day.

As we often heard, dress for the job that you want. For most office job, business formal is the way to go with interviews.

More than the way you dress, the “packaging”, or your appearance also largely depends on how you carry yourself. You want to come off as a friendly, approachable person, but not without confidence.

Learn basic body language and gestures, such as how to properly shake hands or how to make eye contact during the conversation. Remember, interviewing is all about the first impression and attention to details will definitely pay off.

Know Your Best Selling Points

Ask any salesman about a product he is selling and you will get a detailed report on all the features and benefits. Similarly, in order to sell yourself, you need to know your strengths or the selling points that you can use to entice your potential employers.

Before the interview, take a moment to evaluate and select the biggest strengths that you want to present. It can be your great problem-solving skill, your creativity, or your ability to connect with others.

The most common mistake that people make is to confuse the selling points with their credentials and experience. Remember, your interviewer has already seen your resume. Therefore, there is no point of reading out your past experiences and degrees to them. The interviewer decides the questions, but it is you who decides the answer. Therefore, use any opportunity you get to highlight your strength.

Know What Your Buyer is Looking For

Let’s say the sales staff is presenting to you a top-notch gaming laptop, but if you are just looking for something that can check emails and process simple spreadsheets, would you buy it? Of course not. No matter how good the product is, there will be no sales until the buyer decides that the product fits their needs.

Going into the interview, it’s important for you to know what the employer is looking for. What are the most important characteristics that would make a candidate successful in this position? And how do your skills, experience, and personality fit with these characteristics? Knowing the answers to these two questions, you can tailor your answers to demonstrate these characteristics.

Author Bio

Vanessa is a professional blogger and copywriter, who is passionate about education, lifestyles and travel topics. Currently, she is working with Facts.net, an online collection of random facts on different topics.

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Job Interview Diction

With a job interview due in a couple of weeks, you have spent your time preparing and writing your well researched interview answers.

After answering each interview question, using prepared and well researched answers, you are surprised that you rarely revive job offers, why is this?

It doesn’t matter how much effort you put into your interview preparation, if the interviewer cant understand your point, communication or perspective, you will fail to win over any employer.

Professional interviewees practice their diction, tonality and the delivery power of their voice. This creates an a confident, persuasive and charming interview.

Job Interview Diction

With a well prepared interview, you may believe that your answers will go down well. But, unless the interviewer can clearly hear each word, your well prepared answers wont hit the mark.

These are 3 key reasons why audiences turn off when listening to a poorly delivered interview answer

  • Nervousness speaker, lacking in confidence – people mumble during the interview when feel emotionally stressed 
  • Talking to fast – with a lot top say in such a short period of time, the interviewee may rush to get the words out 
  • Poor diction – rushing words or not pronouncing words clearly can leave the interviewer thinking “What did they say?”  

   

How to Improve Diction Before a Job Interview

A great technique for improving your diction, to practice talking slower and to boost your confidence is to use Tongue Twisters.

Here is a famous example to use as a practice tool “I am the very pattern of a modern Major-General; I’ve information vegetable, animal, and mineral; I know the Kings of England, and I quote the fights historical, From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical; I’m very well acquainted too with matters mathematical, I understand equations, both simple and quadratical, About binomial theorem I’m teeming with a lot o’ news, With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse. I’m very good at integral and differential calculus, I know the scientific names of beings animalculous, In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral, I am the very model of a modern Major-General.”    

3 Steps to Improve Diction Prior to your Job Interview

Step 1 – Start by practicing your diction using tongue twisters before practicing the diction of your forthcoming job interview

Step 2 – Start by saying the tongue twister out loud slowly, ensure each word is said clearly and that each word is crisp at the word start and end.

Step 3 – Once the statement is communicated clearly, repeat the tongue twister faster and faster, repeating the paragraph if a word is not said cleanly.

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Your Values and Their Impact on the Job Outcome

Values shape the person you are. Your values affect your work ethic, personality, beliefs and what you deem to be important.

Often people with similar values create strong rapport and build strong friendships.

In the job interview, you can use values to create likability with the interviewer increasing your chances of a job offer. The employer will value certain aspects of the job more than others, they deem certain company policies and procedures over others and they will reference ways of working. 

If your values match the interviewer’s values you will increase interview rapport.

Understanding Your Values

What is important to you in your career? To understand what you value in  a career I would first ask you to write down your values on a piece of paper. 

Example Values

Your Values

Money

Career progression

Working with others

Seeing the end result to my work

Working close to home

Having targets

Feedback

Personal development

Flexibility

Reliability

Ongoing support

Variation

Now you have a list of your career values; you need to reorder them according to importance, which of your values is more important to you? If you had a choice would you take a job that had value A or value B?

Your Values in Order of Importance

 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Once you know your career values and the values you most require, ask your self “could I have a job that didn’t have Value X?” – Pose this question for all the values on your list.

People who accept a job offer with a company who doesn’t have the same values will soon become bored, agitated or stressed, which will lead to them quitting their job or becoming depressed and falling ill. If you have not reflected on and identified your values then you may fall into the trap of applying for similar unsuitable roles in which you quickly become bored, creating a cycle of negative career choices.

Once you know what you truly value in a career, you can match your values to that of the position you are applying for and I would add, once you find your values in the position you are applying for you will quickly become more excited about the position and this excitement will shine through during the interview which will lead to leaving a lasting positive impression.

Often enthusiastic, passionate and motivated interviewees gain job offers over experienced but boring interviewees – candidates might give the same answers but they are not always heard the same by the bored interviewer.