Influencing the Conversational Ebb and Flow of Your Interview
At the heart of it all, an interview is a conversation. Therefore, you can employ this tactic to influence the course of the interview and have a better discussion: conversational doorknobs.
🌏 A MULTIVERSE OF POSSIBILITIES
Recently, the idea of conversational doorknobs has risen in popularity. Picture this: multiple metaphorical doorknobs of different shapes, sizes, and styles, all leading to different topics. I like to imagine Jack Skellington from the Nightmare Before Christmas in front of the different holiday doors. When someone is talking about one topic, it can sometimes prompt a new idea or comment (a doorknob!). It’s up to the other person to pick a doorknob and open a new domain to chat about, steering the conversation in the direction of their choice.
🚪 DOORKNOBS IN INTERVIEWS
Interviewees tend to think that they don’t have much say in how the interview will go. To some extent, that’s true since it’ll generally be facilitated by the interviewer who will bring a set of questions. However, interviewees can sneak in conversational doorknobs within their responses—potentially sparking interest from the interviewer and letting a topic take root that they have expertise in.