Interview Resource - Keller ISD Schools

INTERVIEW RESOURCE | 18
them to come away wishing you were their grandchild. 15 If they are business-like, you want to come
across as a good prospective employee, someone they would hire. And so forth. Don’t adjust your
behavior too much, but be mindful of your audience. It’s dishonest to tell people what they want to
hear, but it’s more legitimate to tell them what you want to say in the way that they want to hear it.
Pay attention to signals your judges are sending you about their reactions to your answers. Are they
bored? Is your answer going on a bit too long for them? Are they hanging on your every word? Did they
laugh at your joke? All of these little signals will help you gauge how much to loosen up with them and
what they will respond to.
Eye Meet You
Like the speech, interview presents you the challenge of making eye contact with an awkward number of
people—usually three. When speaking to a single individual you can look into his or her eyes, then away
again, back and forth, and no one will fault you. When speaking to a large audience, you can gaze at
everyone without looking into any one person. With three judges, however, you’ve got to glance from
one to the next. Many decathletes instinctively focus on the judge in the middle. This is all right, so long
as you apportion enough eye contact to each of the other judges, too. However, don’t swivel your head
back and forth all the time. Instead, look at one judge while making one specific point. Then, switch to
the next one for your next point. Give each person the impression that you have a steady gaze.
Whichever judge asks you a question should be the one you look at as you begin that answer. If one
judge looks friendlier than the others, finish your answers by making eye contact with him or her. This is
more likely to lead to his or her asking the next question. Or, if you like, it’s also good to end your
answer by looking back to the judge who asked the question in the first place; it lends a nice feeling of
closure.
Don’t ever look down at your feet (though you may occasionally want to glance downward, demurely or
with a headshake, for effect.) Similarly, the walls and ceiling of the room are not scoring you, so don’t
look at them either.
Probe-and-Hook is Not Hocus-Pocus
You may have been told before about the technique called “probe and hook.” It describes the method
judges employ to direct your questioning—they listen to your responses and seek out key words which
sound interesting enough to merit a follow-up. 16 By changing the volume of your voice to emphasize
certain words, and ending your answers at the appropriate points, you can manipulate—er, encourage—
a judge into asking you what you want to be asked.
Suppose you were answering a question about Decathlon and wanted to transition toward your Asian-
American heritage. You might end an answer with the statement:
My parents were especially happy about my participation in the Decathlon because in the
country which we’re from—Laos—academic success is the most important element in
determining your future and your family’s status in the community.
15
Think of the event as an audition for adoption.
16
This also works on long, boring telephone calls, when you tune out of most everything the other person says except for a
keyword here and there. Repeat the keyword, add a question mark, and voila—the person begins talking again. This does
nothing to end the conversation but does allow you to multitask (especially if you have a quiet keyboard.)