this is exactly why we don't want to memorize our interview answers you guys
sometimes when we're insecure about an interview we tend to memorize our
answers so we think of questions that we could possibly get asked then script out
answers and then try to memorize those answers but the issue with that is that
we end up sounding completely robotic and stiff not like the energized
passionate ambitious humans that we are so what do we do about that we need to
remember that an interview is actually a conversation let's start treating it
that way it is not just a soliloquy where I'm doing all the talking so today
I'm gonna give you three strategies that's going to help you become more
conversational in interviews because remember it's not just you doing all the
talking so why should you care about this about not sounding robotic in
interviews and making it more conversational why should you care
making your interview more conversational will do several things
one it'll make you less stressed because suddenly you don't have to memorize all
your answers and stick to the script which is basically impossible to it
allow you to deal with the questions that are just sprung up on you that you
had no time to prepare because you didn't know you're gonna get asked that
in the interview and this does happen right we've all been there and number
three it'll leave a more favorable impression of you in the hiring managers
eyes these three strategies are highly implementable and will transform the way
you think about interviews thinking of them more as a conversation and less as
a test where you're being put on the spot and this perspective and shift in
the way we think about interviews will temper your anxiety before going into
the interview and make you more relaxed and thus more confident strategy number
one you want to share an anecdote as you're answering the question pull out
an anecdote a story that you want to share
that reflects the skills the background you have your expertise and experience
why does this work well it does a few things one it shows proof of performance
that you actually did what you said on your resume that you've done or the
skill that you have - it reflects a little bit of your personality right
because the interview is all about also to get to know you as a person and if
you are the right fit for the company environment and 3 it's a glimpse into
how you deal with certain things be it conflict resolution or management
problem solving skills etc for example you might say something like I remember
when we worked with client X you know one of the guys only spoke German the
person that I was dealing with and so I had to pull out my rusty German skills
and it was a great experience because by the end of it I was running meetings in
German I was holding interviews in German and it was a great experience and
I'm so grateful for the opportunity to use my language skills again so to sum
up sharing an anecdote in your interview is a great way to show proof of
performance a glimpse into your personality and your psyche and how you
deal with things all right so strategy number two same
turn question this means that you ask a question as you're responding to the
interviewers question let me explain so you're asking a question as you're
answering the interviewers question because you want to get the interviewer
involved by asking them a question you are calling upon them to speak and
inviting them into the conversation why does this work
well for one it makes the interview less stiff and less robotic it's more like a
flowing conversation and it allows there to be more authentic exchange that's
unscripted and natural in other words it's not boring robotic talk that nobody
actually enjoys let's see how this works for example that's a great question Fred
well when we were pitching to VC investors in Florence have you have you
been to Italy pause one of my favorite project management tools is a
do you do you guys use a sauna as well or do you have another in-house project
management tool well we were trying to figure out our price point for our
subscription service we decided to take inspiration from the model that company
X uses have you used their service before it's really great I don't know if
it's on your radar but they just passed Series A funding so to sum up strategy 2
is about asking a question while you're answering the question it is same turn
question and what that does is it invites the interviewer it invites the
hiring manager into the conversation so it is an interactive exchange strategy
number 3 this is called the think aloud it's kind of as it sounds basically you
are thinking aloud sharing your thoughts as they surface as they come to you in
the interview what does this do well it shows that you are thinking on the spot
that you don't have your answers memorized that you're not looking at a
script and most importantly it sends the message of confidence and that you're
relaxed and you're at ease and you're comfortable having this interview which
is a conversation and it highlights the fact that you are human you're not being
a robot let's have a look at some examples for strategy 3 well a few years
back I was chatting with an old colleague and he mentioned the new CEO
of company Y what's her name it's escaping me now but you know who I'm
talking about right well Jim you know I'm happy that you see it that way but
honestly I hadn't really thought of it in those terms what's the best way to
express this well I think it's really about having the company reflect the
personality of the founding members and really getting their ethos into the
products and pouring their heart and soul and energy in it so that we can
viscerally sense that in the products and services I think that's really
important for the valued customer does that make any sense
so recap for strategy 3 we're thinking aloud we're showing proving that we
haven't memorized our script that we're able to deal with conversation as it
comes up but it's not something that we've
Herod for verbatim before ahead of time because that is the that is the beauty
of conversation we don't always have something prepared but we're still able
to share our opinion and share our thoughts give perspective and give an
answer as the person being interviewed it highlights your confidence and the
fact that you're relaxed in what really tends to be a very stressful situation
it's not easy to interview this is how we avoid sounding robotic and interviews
so let's quickly recap the problem that we're trying to solve is trying to make
an interview more conversational so that we don't one memorize our scripts and
answers which never works to stress out about not getting asked the question
that we prepped and we scripted and we memorized and three to avoid sounding
robotic and stiff we've discussed three ways to make an interview sound more
like a conversation by doing three things sharing a story asking a question
as you're answering the question and three thinking aloud these three
strategies are pretty straightforward I would advise you for number one to have
the anecdote ready to go and that you have certain skills that you want to
highlight with a story so you need to make sure that for everything listed in
the job interview that is essential to the role that you can back it up with a
story or an anecdote now I don't mean memorize the story verbatim but I do
mean that you should have something in mind what can you point to in your
career or in your experience that is going to reflect proof of performance
and my advice for number two and three is to avoid the urge to prepare these
you're not going to be able to prepare what you're gonna say for a think aloud
how you're gonna phrase your thinking aloud in other words or what you're
going to ask as a question because you don't know how you're gonna respond yet
you don't know what they're gonna ask you you don't know how the whole
interview is gonna unfold because you haven't probably met the person who's
going to interview and you just know what they want to talk about what
the priorities are for them so you have to wait and see and then be able to
respond accordingly but I do want you to keep in mind for numbers two and three
that you will be asking a question and that you will be doing a think aloud
because this is gonna make it more conversational and more of an
interactive back-and-forth between you and the hiring manager now before going
into that interview I want you to practice these with a friend in other
words you're having a casual conversation over some coffee and you're
just gonna try out these strategies without even letting them know what
you're doing right but just try them out make them
your own and then go for it use them in the interview and you will start to see
gradual changes that are really gonna make a difference and the way you
communicate and the way you feel and how your confidence is just going to be
losing from your pores and everyone's just gonna want to work with you
so no more memorization there are a few other dangers to memorizing your answers
such as being caught off guard which will actually make you sound unprepared
because you haven't gotten that question you haven't thought about that question
before and you hadn't scripted it right so instead of that which would actually
make you seem unprepared giving off the impression that you actually don't want
to achieve what you're doing instead is having these three strategies that I've
given you today to make it more conversational and more interactive
all right Explearners that's a wrap on this video I'm so happy that you could
join me for this today and please give the video a like if you like this lesson
share it with a friend and if you haven't done so already please subscribe
to Explearning Communication Coaching I will see you in my next video happy
Explearning