1 Welcome to Interview Speak

 

Have you ever left a job interview thinking you absolutely nailed it and were then surprised when you didn’t get the job? You wonder, what happened? You were so sure that the job was yours.

Here’s what might have happened. You thought you said all the right things, but it wasn’t what the interviewer was looking for. The interviewer smiled at you and couldn’t wait to get done with the interview.

We’ve seen this happen way too often. So many people think they have great answers, but they actually don’t. One big reason for this is that people don’t understand what the interviewer is really saying and really asking for. If you understood that, your answers would be much better.

We wrote this book to show you what the interviewer is really asking and why. Think of this as a way to translate “Interview Speak.” By understanding Interview Speak, you can be better prepared to answer an interviewer’s questions and give them exactly the information they need.

We’ve learned this from many years of interviews and corporate work. Barbara spent many years as an internal recruiter where she sourced and interviewed candidates, referred some to hiring managers, and then debriefed with both candidates and hiring managers. Interestingly, about 99% of all candidates thought they did well in their interviews, but in talking with hiring managers, most did not.

What’s so hard about interview questions?

How to use this book

What this book is and is not

Prepare yourself for interviews

Get to know the company

Get to know the job

Example: Outbound customer service representative

Get to know the interviewer

Know yourself

What could get in your way

Different kinds of questions and how to answer them

Breadth vs. depth questions

Behavioral or competency-based questions

Hypothetical questions

General questions

Answer frameworks

Tips and traps to avoid

Weakening words and phrases

Filler words

Generic answers

“I” vs. “we”

The “negative sandwich”

“Or” questions

Rising inflection/uptalking

Answer length and timing