Listening for Interview Success - Active Listening Skills

Listening For Interview Success is an essential skill to help you win more job offers, because when you understand the interviewer's questions properly you will be able to give better interview answers.

Yes I know that we usually think of interviews as you doing all the talking, but the reality is different. At least 40% of the time you should be listening, and if you listen very carefully what you hear will have an enormous effect on what you say because you can respond to the meaning of the interviewer's questions and not the question you thought was asked.

One of your most important answers is here: Self Introduction In Interviews and remember that listening does not equate to hearing and hearing alone does not equate to understanding.

So Listening for Interview Success  well is one of the most important interview skills and you can develop your listening skills quickly.

Listening But Not Hearing?

But why do so many of us find it difficult to listen well? After all, so long as our hearing is not actually impaired we can hear most of what is going on around us. However many of us will find listening difficult for a number of reasons:

• if there is anything we might consider unusual, or irritating about the speaker's appearance, voice, accent or pronunciation we allow it to put us off;

• we naturally think at about four or five times the speed at which we talk, so when someone else is doing the talking we can find a lot of time to allow our minds to wander;

• our own thoughts are generally of more concern to us and we find it easier and more pleasant to tune in to these than concentrating on what someone else is saying;

• since we were quite young we have taught ourselves to listen to many things at once, and actually pay only the minimum attention to any of them, so it becomes difficult to pay attention to one thing for a longer period of time;

• as soon as we think we've heard enough to establish in our minds what response is needed, we stop listening to the speaker and start composing our answer. Listening for Interview Success means staying with it.

Misunderstandings arise from failing to pay full attention in many situations, but in the interview it could cost you the job you really wanted.

With his background of over 25 years running businesses, and as a Career Coach and Consultant in many sectors, Peter Fisher guides job seekers through the steps needed in order to achieve that all important new position.

As Managing Director of Career Consulting Limited, and previously MD of three recruitment companies, he has personally coached thousands of individuals to career success.

His distillation of these years of experience is all the essential facts and actions you must complete in order to achieve your own success. He is very clear that you shouldn’t be misled by others into thinking of “acing interviews” or “finessing” your way into a business; the most sustainable and fulfilling roles are gained through understanding your own specific needs and creating your strategy accordingly. Listening for Interview Success is just one of these strategies.

You can learn more about his dynamic and comprehensive approach to career change, with every page dedicated to helping serious career changers if you go to http://www.your-career-change.com

Article Source: Peter Fisher  the owner and webmaster for this site who wrote the original article: 'Listening for Interview Success'.

Active Listening Skills

Back to the point about Listening for Interview Success, you know that public speaking is a million miles from normal everyday speaking and in the same way 'active listening' is not the same as the listening you do when you're with friends. Active listening means concentrating on hearing and trying to understand the meaning of what is being said. You need to analyze the words mentally before responding with an appropriate answer.

The first point is to look as if you're listening, so that the interviewer feels that you're paying attention.

An active listener maintains eye contact and good posture while leaning in slightly towards the speaker. During the interview, the listener nods, smiles and shows interest in the speaker. Don't think however, that its good enough just to adopt these behaviours, the interviewer will soon spot falseness and your unconsidered answers will give the game away.

Good listeners also ask questions, which could be something like: "Am I correct in saying that what you want to know is....?" to let the speaker know that you understand the message being communicated; but PLEASE don't say that after every question.

Your body language  and non-verbal communication, which is more than just the nod or smile, is important. Your gestures, appearance, timing, voice responses, facial expressions, spatial distance - all affect how the interviewer will interpret your response. And if you get that wrong, it could cost you the job offer.

One of the more controversial techniques is the use of NLP - Neuro linguistic programming, which is claimed can help you in these situations. Read the page and decide for yourself whether it is something that will help you with Listening for Interview Success.

More Help For Your Interview

Go through to my interview overview page for more details of the types of interview you may come across.

You are here: Listening for Interview Success

I recommend that you also read the Interview Help  section with links to more detailed interview techniques including answers to Interview questions

Can't find what you need about interview techniques? Use the search box below and get to it fast! Or go back to the Interview Help  section of the site which has been arranged to show you what to do: before, during, and after your job interview so that you can prepare for each stage.

When you know better what to do, you will feel more confident about going to the interview and you will handle the interview more confidently as a result. This interview help section gives you information and a checklist to get you ready beforehand; you've got some example interview questions, including what to expect in a competency based interview and how to prepare your answers to the most common job interview questions.

The interview help is laid out in sections so that you can jump to wherever you need the most interview training and get help quickly.

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