How do you become better at interviewing? You plan for different types of interviews, then you practice them with friends, relatives or other job-hunters. Start with this technique:
- Read through the list of questions you may be asked and should be able to answer in the next article. Choose 15 or 20 that you think would be representative. Include at least two of the bad ones you hope you won't be asked. Organize your questions and answers on a "crib" sheet.
- Use the list to prepare yourself for interviews. Read each question to yourself, then formulate what you think would be an appropriate response to make to a High D interviewer. After you've come up with answers for the High D, go through the complete process again for each of the other three communications styles.
- Ask someone to help you by acting as an interviewer. Explain that you'd like to practice responding to different kinds of interviewers, and ask them if they're willing to role-play with you. Tell them a little about the way a person who's communicating in a High D style would behave, then ask them to conduct a mock interview using the questions on the crib sheet. You're not trying for a complete interview, just the part where you're called on to respond to information-gathering questions.
- Go through the question-and-answer procedure for the High D. Listen for feedback on the effect your answers are having. If you think you've fouled up an answer, ask to try it again. Record the interview on a tape recorder.
- After you've gone through the questions, ask the "interviewer" for feedback. Which answers were good, which needed work, how did you handle the tough ones, what suggestions does he or she have to make? Work together to develop better answers on the ones that weren't so good. Listen to the tape to locate exact responses. (You may choose to listen to the answers alone later, if your time together is limited.)
- Repeat the interview in High I style, then High S and High C.
Give the ad to the person who is to conduct your mock interview. Ask that the interview to be conducted as though you were actually being interviewed for the position in the ad. The interviewer can act in any style he or she wishes (or use his or her own style). Go through the entire interview process, making it as lifelike as possible. Record the session, on videotape, if that medium is available, or at least tape the session for later playback and review.
What to look for in the critique and playback:
- Were you responsive to the clues and cues you got from the interviewer?
- Were your answers clear and convincing? Did they give the interviewer a positive picture of you?
- What about your voice tone and inflection? Did you show stress in your voice or did you hesitate or stumble unduly when you responded to the difficult questions? (Be sure you include a couple of the really tough ones. A real interviewer will ask at least one, without fail.)
- Were you stepping on the interviewer's lines-talking too much, or not giving him or her enough time to react?
- Did you understand correctly what the interviewer said to you and make an appropriate response?
- What about your appearance? Were you obviously and visibly nervous?
- What about your gestures, your posture and facial expressions? Did you look at the interviewer and maintain eye contact? Did you appear alert and interested in what the interviewer said?
After each real interview, you should similarly "debrief yourself. Were you able to evaluate the communications style of the interviewer? Did you feel that most of your responses were on target? What questions should you have answered better? Work on adequate responses. Write them down and practice saying them.
