Mastering Interview Communication: Skills and Strategies
In an interview setting, a dialogue unfolds between an interviewer and a candidate. The interviewer seeks to assess the candidate’s abilities and gain insights into their psychological profile.
Human interactions are structured through repetition and shared experiences. The interview defines specific subjects (work experience, training, interests, reasons for application, etc.). Participants take turns speaking, establishing roles. These structured communicative patterns are called “routines,” distinguishing between interaction (structure of statements) and information (content of the transaction). Routines are culturally and linguistically specific, varying across communities due to differing relational norms.
Understanding routines is a fundamental communication skill, enabling discourse planning. Experience allows us to anticipate events and plan our responses. From the start of the interview, we employ specific interaction microskills. We collaborate in selecting and developing topics. Mastering turn-taking is crucial. Bygatan identifies five key strategies:
- Recognizing cues indicating the topic (gestures, sounds, greetings).
- Knowing when to speak.
- Learning how to take the floor.
- Recognizing others’ signals to speak.
- Knowing when to yield the floor.
With the topic and turn-taking established, partners negotiate meaning. The interviewer and candidate adapt their language to align with their respective interests.
This mutual adaptation involves converging on a shared understanding. Two key skills are employed:
Selecting the Level of Explanation
Partners choose the appropriate level of detail. Insufficient information leads to confusion, while excessive detail is repetitive and distracting. Finding the right balance requires understanding the receiver’s existing knowledge and interests.
Evaluating and Confirming Understanding
Partners confirm the level of explicitness and ensure the message is understood. This collaborative process involves active participation from both sender and receiver.
The final component involves the actual production of speech, conveying meaning through words and phrases. Unlike written communication, oral exchanges are rapid and require quick thinking. Improvisation and adaptability are essential. Two skills are crucial:
Facilitating Production
Speakers simplify grammatical structures, opting for efficient and faster prose. This frees up cognitive resources to focus on other aspects of communication.
Compensating for Difficulties
Speakers reinforce their message to aid understanding. Repetition of information helps compensate for the challenges of oral communication.
Finally, Bygatan’s framework includes self-correction, using grammatical rules and pronunciation to identify and correct errors. Two crucial, previously unmentioned aspects are voice control and verbal emphasis. A clear, powerful voice, adjusting volume to overcome noise, and emphasizing meaning through tone variations enhance communication and engage the audience.