Communication skills for interview If you just communicate, you can get by. But if you communicate smartly then you can work wonders. Communication skill is one of the most important skills needed in life. learning Communication skills for interview will help you to get hired for a dream job.
It gives an overview of your personality to the person you are interacting with. Communication skills are based on how interestingly you can talk and how clearly you are able to express yourself.
- Importance
- Ways to Improve your communication skills for interviews.
- Common interview question with their answers
- Conclusion
Importance
If you are appearing in an interview and lacks good communication skills then despite your good CV and excellent academic success, you might not be hired by the recruiters.
On the other hand, if you are having a normal academic track record but, superb communication skills then you have good chances of clearing the interview.
So one should understand that working on communication skills is as important as working for academic success.
Various surveys and reports suggest that employees and people of the hiring department rate the ability of verbal communication as important as work knowledge, teamwork, and work ethics.
Such reports and surveys help us to understand the mindset of the recruiting department and the importance of communication in the interview.
learn about public speaking
Ways to Improve your communication skills for interview
Speech
while tacking an interview the first thing noticed by the interviewer is your speech. Many times while giving an interview people are too nervous or too shy to speak due to which they speak in a very low pitch and with less clarity.
This act always has a negative impact on an interviewer. You should increase your pitch at least up to the level where you are completely audible to the interviewer; a good pitch also shows your confidence.
Speed
As we discussed above communication skill means how easily a person can understand you.
If your speed while giving an interview is too slow (due to anxiety) or too high (if you want to finish things as early as possible) then it will take the extra effort of the interview to understand it, which is not appreciated.
Your speed should be ideal and should match your original speaking speed.
Fluency
It means speaking without taking unnecessary pauses. You should try to resist words such as umm…., err……., hmm…. As much as possible.
When you start a sentence then try to stop only when the sentence ends or try to stop as less as you can.
It is advised to prepare some important answers from home only, so that you can avoid such a situation.
Power of expression
It means how easily you can express yourself. You should try to express yourself in a concise but effective way. While expressing your communication must be to the point without wasting any single second. You must not disclose any unnecessary details, which would not benefit the listener.
Body Language
Body language is the essence of the communication skills!!
In interviews importance of body language increases by manifolds. Many recruiters can tell whether you are lying or not by just observing your body language, so it is necessary to have a confident body language.
Your hand movements must be well synchronized with your verbal communication.
Try to avoid too much hand movement and also try to retain it in your body area (the area between your chests) only, as too much movement can cause a distraction to the interviewer.
Maintain eye contact with the interviewer while speaking, as an eye contact display your confidence. You should sit with your backbone up straight and both lower and upper body facing the recruiting staff.
Be a good listener
communication is both ways, so listening carefully is as important as speaking effectively. You must be patient and attentive enough to listen, the interviewer carefully.
he/she must answer the question once the person has completed, I have seen many interview giving an answer before the completion of the question.
You can even add more to it while reacting through expressions when he/she is speaking, you can laugh (without saying anything) if they have said something funny.
you can give a smile if they have said something sweet and you can nod your head with intense expressions if they have said something serious.
Learn communication skills for business
Common interview question with their answers
Q-1 tell me about yourself?
(Here the interviewer is not really interested in your answer; they are looking at your confidence, enthusiasm and the passion you answer with)
//many people end up saying, I love movies or I love partying with my friends//
< talk about your education- where you grew up- past work experience (If any) – your personal interest>
A-1 I grew up in Delhi and I learned coding at an early age. I am a person who loves to find reasoning and logic behind the thing, that’s why I have a keen interest in coding. In my spare time I love reading or going jogging if weather allows me to do so.
Q-2 what are your strengths?
(Here the interviewer wants to know, how confident you are and what are your views about yourself)
// one-liners such as, I love being with people and people love being with me, doesn’t sound great//
A-2 my strongest trait is attention to detail, I totally believe in planning and execution. I even love to organize my week to increase my effectiveness. At the same time my family and close friends are two strong pillars of my strength.
Q-3 what are your weaknesses?
(Here the interviewer is looking at whether you can identify your weakness or not. And how you can cover it up)
// you need not to be too negative about yourself. Don’t say, I am a very impatient person or I get angry easily. Maybe this is your weakness but you need not to bring it out//
< Try to say something positive which will add on to your personality>
A-3 I think I am too detail-oriented, I try to do everything perfectly which many times make me submit projects a little bit late. So yeah, I think this is my one of the biggest weakness.
Q-4 where do you see yourself in five years from now?
(Here interviewer wants to know how committed you are going to be for the company or how long you will stick to the company)
// to show their confidence and enthusiasm people end up saying that, I see myself as the CEO of the company after the next five years or I would be owning an IPL team from the five years from now//
< structure your answer around the most practical situations. Don’t over exaggerate>
A-4 five years from now I would like to be in a management position, till then I would like to gain practical experience. Off-course I would like to learn a lot of new things from my team members.
Q-5 what do you know about our company?
(By asking this question interviewer wants to know whether you are serious about this job or not, whether you have come here for just those random interviews)
// many interviewee are not able to answer this question appropriately due to lack of research//
< Research about the, working of the company, its positive attributes, their products/services and their history>
A-5 your company is known for its best customer satisfaction service. Your products are claimed as one of the finest in the market and your company’s marketing strategy is equally appreciated, also you have the best cliental base.
Q-6 how well do you handle the change?
(by asking this question interviewer wants to know would you be able to cope-up with the change, as companies frequently comes up with the different strategies, many employees have to leave or if they can send you somewhere outside from your city to work)
// interviewee generally answer this question as, “yes of-course I am great in handling the change.” Without giving a reasoning or example of a situation where he handled the change effectively//
< Support your answer by giving a solid example>
A-6 I am pretty good at handling the changes, once in the college, our team leader got change due to some reasons and newly appointed leaders came with new policies but we managed it with our team efforts and definitely the results were pretty good.
Q-7 Do you work well under pressure?
(Interviewer wants to whether do you get really stressed out or do you get panic under pressure, because companies these days want their employees to take much more responsibilities and greater workload)
// sometimes interviewee say, I can handle the pressure up to a certain extent, but handling too much of it sometimes result in headache//
A-7 yes I am pretty good while working under pressure. Working with pressure or without pressure is more or less the same thing for me. I believe that structuring your work in the right direction and managing your time in the right direction reduces the pressure by manifolds.
Conclusion
In this article, we learned the importance of communication skills for interview.
Now I would request you to start implementing all the strategies shared with you. By practicing only, you will enjoy the benefits of good communication skills. I hope you enjoyed the content.
KEEP LEARNING KEEP GROWING!!
