How To Listen During An Interview

While on a job interview, you’ll be asked many questions. The key to acing an interview is in how you answer them.

Perhaps you will be asked if you can multitask. You’d probably answer yes, right? Wrong! According to Dynamic Listening: Interview Skills, a computer based training module from Mindleaders in Columbus, Ohio, you should avoid one-word or one-sentence answers.

In a job interview, you need to set yourself apart from the crowd. That’s why you need to be specific in your answers - without rambling on and on. Another thing that will really set you apart is to talk in a language that company executives understand - money language. That means to try to tie in how hiring you will be good for the companies bottom line.

So next time you are asked if you can multitask, you might want your answer to be something like: “Typically, depending upon the type projects, I believe in efficiently handling more than one project at a time. This could save a company as much as 30%.”

In order to effectively answer interview questions like these, you need to develop what is called “active listening skills”. Let’s check out the definition of “active listening skills” and learn more to help with your next interview…

Active Listening Skills

Just as everyday “speaking” is not the same as public speaking; “listening” is not the same as active listening. Active listening means two things: analysis and response to the message being communicated.

An active listener maintains eye contact and good posture with a slight lean towards the speaker. During the interview, the listener nods, smiles and takes notes. Be ware, however, that a daydreamer or pseudolistener, can adopt these behaviors. So a listener’s physical response does not necessarily mean good listening skills are at work.

Nonverbal communication, more than just the nod or smile, is important. Gestures, appearance, timing, voice responses, facial expressions, spatial distance – all affect how the speaker (or interview) interprets the listener. So a person preparing for a job or work project interview should consider the cultural climate and norms of society of the interviewer. In short, perceived active listening based on nonverbal signals can vary from culture to culture.

Especially in this age of such great cultural diversity, be courteous of others regardless of cultural, sexual or societal backgrounds. If you are a woman and get to a door before a man, open it. If your interviewer doesn’t speak English very well and looks puzzled at your words, go back and explain yourself again in different words and re-establish a good communication exchange.

Successful active listeners paraphrase (restate the question using their own words) and then making a summary of the main issues. Don’t mistake a good listener with a silent listener. To be a good listener you must ask intelligent questions. Repeating what the speaker has said but using different words and asking “is this what you mean?” will let the speaker know you understand the message he is trying to get across.