Being Conversational During Interviews

[Piglet2020]

I've gotten the impression that one shouldn't be too stiff or cold during an interview, meaning keep it professionally casual. (Not making jokes every five minutes, but keeping it light-hearted).

From feedback, I was told that interviewers are more interested in learning about me as a person rather than knowing the activities I've done on paper.

I find myself often being "too professional" in that I have trouble being a bit less formal? (Imagine a young kid getting interrogated by the head master of some prep school).

If an interviewer is not smiling, and has the whole bad cop attitude, do you still try to keep the interview conversational?

My brain:

Also me:

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[Goro]

Just be yourself. You are overthinking this too much.

 

[narla_hotep]

At my interviews I had to consciously give myself permission to relax a little... If I thought too much about every single word that came out of my mouth before I said it, it ended up sounding stiff and awkward. Instead I just tried to forget I was talking to an interviewer and said things more naturally. A few times I said something a bit silly by accident, but at least I tried to make conversation instead of just giving rehearsed responses only.

 

[Catalystik]

It's your job to take social cues into account and adjust your response accordingly. Interviews are not a "one persona fits all" type of situation.

 

[PreMedMissteps]

Just don't go into some random babble mode. Also talk in complete sentences using proper grammar.

 

[aldol16]

Be conversational but professional at the same time. Don't talk to them as you would your friends but don't seem stiff and uptight either. You have to find an appropriate balance between the two. When I got an interviewer who wanted to go through the "bad cop" routine, I let them do it and just remained professional - though less conversational.

 

[rmalia]

I've gotten the impression that one shouldn't be too stiff or cold during an interview, meaning keep it professionally casual. (Not making jokes every five minutes, but keeping it light-hearted).

From feedback, I was told that interviewers are more interested in learning about me as a person rather than knowing the activities I've done on paper.

I find myself often being "too professional" in that I have trouble being a bit less formal? (Imagine a young kid getting interrogated by the head master of some prep school).

If an interviewer is not smiling, and has the whole bad cop attitude, do you still try to keep the interview conversational?

My brain:

Also me:

By the time you get to the interview stage you probably have a good sense of yourself. Taking that one step further, imagine you are a budding professional, thoroughly capable of interacting with other professionals based upon their lines of questioning, demeanor, and the like. In other words, the clearer you are about how you've arrived at this point in your life the easier you will likely find it to respond to a wide variety of possible scenarios.