Surely that never happens. Hopefully not but I have spoken to many interviewers whose thoughts have drifted a long way from what the candidate is saying. If it is the interviewers third meeting that day and they’ve just enjoyed more carbs than was wise for lunch it can be difficult to stay awake never mind concentrate on what a candidate has to say.
120/500
Most of us can speak roughly 120 words a minute. Surprisingly, perhaps, we can process probably 500. This means that we need to keep anybody interviewing us constantly engaged and with something that’s of interest to them. Not get into a wandering monologue and allow their minds to wander.
What an interviewer wants to hear about is your achievements, how your competences and skills have enabled them. They would like to hear how your behaviours and emotions helped you relate to the people that worked around you and how you motivated them.
Often they hear irrelevant or uninteresting facts about the company the interviewee currently or most recently has worked for. They can be delivered in a flat monotone voice without a break as the interviewee desperately tries to recall unnecessary details.
Don’t bother an interviewer with irrelevant and unnecessary detail. If you were to go into a car showroom, to look at a car, and the salesman were to start talking to you about the construction company that built the showroom rather than the benefits of the car you probably wouldn’t be impressed,
Prepare well…
Preparing well for an interview does of course mean doing as much research as you can on the company interviewing you. But equally it also means getting to know the product(YOU) well.
In my next post I will look at one way of maintaining interest in an interview so that you will hopefully be able to leave without rhythmic snoring to bid you farewell.
