Elevate Your Interview Game with These Unconventional Interview Tips

Happy September! Hope you are feeling energized and firing on all cylinders for your job search.

Remember moving into the end of the year is a great time to job search, despite what you hear on the streets.

If you are actively interviewing right now I want to share some unconventional tips to help elevate your interview game.

Let's get into it. 

1. Use Your Tone to Convey Confidence

We all know it's not only what you say, but how you say it. The way you speak and your non-verbal cues play a critical role in your interview performance.

Your vocal tone can influence how you’re perceived. To project confidence and executive presence during an interview, focus on these techniques:
 

• Speak at the Lower End of Your Natural Vocal Range:
  A lower pitch is associated with confidence. By speaking at the lower end of your natural vocal range, you signal calmness and control. This isn’t about forcing your voice to sound unnatural; it’s about consciously using pitch and intonation to your advantage.

• End Statements with a Downward Inflection:
  This is helpful because a downward inflection makes your statements sound definitive and confident. Avoid upward inflections (“upspeak”) when making statements, because they can make you seem uncertain. 

• Slow Down to Drop Filler Words:
  Speaking too quickly makes you use filler words like “um” and “uh,” often, which can undermine your message and make you hard to understand. Slowing down helps you drop the filler words and gives you time to articulate clearly. 

Vocal tone can enhance your influence and perception of competence. Play with intonation to sound more interesting and keep people engaged.

In case you didn't know it, charisma is a skill you can learn.
_______

Pro Tip:  Stop adding caveats to everything you say. It gives off insecure vibes and people pick up on it. Learn to signal you're a top candidate in every interaction.
_______

2. Build Rapport with Non-Verbal Mirroring

Besides vocal tone the other major influence on how people perceive you is your body language. 

By subtly mirroring their non-verbal cues you can enhance rapport and create a positive connection with your interviewer.

• How to Mirror Effectively: Observe your interviewer’s posture, gestures, and speech pace. If they lean forward, do the same. If they speak slowly, match their rhythm. The key is to be subtle and natural, avoiding overt mimicry (obviously).

• Why Mirroring Works: People are naturally drawn to those who are like them. By subtly mirroring your interviewer’s body language, gestures, and tone, you create a sense of familiarity and trust, making them feel more comfortable with you.

• Proof that Mirroring Works: MIT research on salary negotiations revealed that those who mirrored their counterparts achieved significantly better outcomes—20-30% higher salary offers. This shows the power of non-verbal communication in influencing outcomes.

TL;DR

Remember interviews are a series of first impressions over and over.

How you say things (tone and body language) has a big impact on the first impression you give off.
________
Side note: Speaking clearly and accurately, using specific words that reflect your certainty and knowledge, is also very important. For example, in interviews, it's very helpful to use the lingo of your role and infuse your answers with keywords and phrases used by your peers. 
________

Learn to communicate your value by sounding confident and smart, using body language that exudes executive presence and articulating yourself clearly.

Once you know what you want to say, add in the dimensions of tonality and body language to enhance your delivery of the answers.

---

Whenever you're ready, here are more ways to connect: 

• Learn all the job search strategies I teach clients in this workbook.

• Apply for 1:1 coaching to see if there's a fit for us to work together.