Listening For Crucial Signals In A Behavioral Job Interview

Listening For Crucial Signals In A Behavioral Job Interview

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If you are a business owner or manager, so much of being a good behavioral job interviewer involves listening with precision. Listening is a vastly underrated skill. People just don't seem to think of it as a focused activity.

Listening with precision means actively focusing on the responses you hear in the interview. It's separating truth from statement and innuendo. Without precision in listening, it's very easy to be told something that sounds like an answer to a question - but isn't!

Anyone skillful in answering questions knows the art of misdirection - giving an answer related to your question, but leading in a direction away from the issue you want to explore. If you haven't heard a clear answer to an interview question, think of another way of asking it and see if it's still evaded.

Watch The Non-Verbals

Listening with precision means actively focusing not only on what candidates say, but how they say it. Most of what's communicated in an employment interview isn't the words, but the way they're spoken and the non-verbals.

You're assessing the non-verbals as soon as they enter the room - how they carry themselves, shake hands and sit. People who lean towards you while speaking tend to have more forceful personalities.

Always look for an air of confidence in body language and verbal responses. Do the answers to your questions sound genuine and sincere, or rehearsed responses that seem to lack depth?

Clarifying Ambiguous Statements

Listen very closely for any statements in the job interview qualified with the words, "about," "around," or "approximately." When you hear these types of ambiguous statements seek immediate clarification. It may be an exaggeration - or a smokescreen.

Probe sweeping statements such as "I was in charge of," or "I created," to find out exactly what they were in charge of or created. They may be exaggerating their role. If you're left with a different impression after getting the details, that's a red flag.

Pay close attention to how the applicant rationalizes when discussing problems and failures. Rationalization reveals a lack of confidence and maturity.

Non-Verbals Tell When You're Not Getting The Full Truth

Non-verbal cues tell the most about when you're touching on a sensitive area in the interview or when you may not be getting the full truth. Regardless of what someone's saying verbally, facial expressions give the best information on the true meaning of a message.

It's often been said that eyes are the window to the soul and reveal much about a person's mental state. Pupils tend to constrict when a person is feeling stress. Listen very closely when non-verbal signals flash tension, like averting eye contact when asked a tough question.

When I was in Asia I was asked, "Why do American people scratch their nose when they say something that's not true." This Chinese woman had seen American films and television shows, and noticed how often the characters scratched their nose when they're less than candid.

From her cultural view, this seemed like a peculiar, distinctly American trait. Funny thing is, most Americans don't know this. I always pay careful attention when someone speaks facts - then scratches their nose.

Do their words flow naturally and easily, or are there pauses and blocks in their statements that seem to indicate inner conflict?

Do they overreact or evade questions in the job interview? Fidget, or suddenly start talking faster in response to certain questions? Do they make abrupt movements or choppy gestures, clear their throat a lot, or start perspiring?

Does their breathing pattern become shorter when asked a question about a sensitive matter? Pay very careful attention whenever words are saying one thing, but the non-verbal communication says something else.

Note a delayed speech pattern when you ask a question the job applicant finds uncomfortable. They may repeat the question, lean back in their chairs, buying time to think of a plausible answer. Folding the arms, or clasping the hands together in the fig leaf position may indicate defensiveness, trying to deflect a question.

Remember you want to spend at least eighty percent of the interview listening. Listening and learning are your goals in the behavioral job interview. Talking too much - more than twenty percent of the behavioral interview - is one of three biggest mistakes interviewers make.

The number one problem that makes for bad listening by the interviewer is thinking about what you're going to say next. You can only be a good listener if you know your behavioral job interview questions in advance so you're not formulating your thoughts when you should be listening.

About the Author:
Author of Hiring The Best People, Steve Penny has been asked to speak on How To Motivate People at the largest human resource conferences in the world. Videos of the 7 Ways to Motivate People That Don't Cost A Penny may be viewed at http://hiringthebestpeople.com



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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