You don’t have to be a great communicator, you just have to convince your interviewer. However, there are different types of interviews for different companies and oftentimes they require playing hard to get. Whether you want to play hard to get or not here are 20+ neat communication skills for a resume that will help you land the job:
- Ask what they’re thinking about: Asking this shows that you are interested in being engaged.
- Repeat what the interviewer says verbatim: This shows that you are listening, have good focus, and can be productive
- Inquire about company goals: Asking this shows you are concerned with soccer or football as they call it in the south.
- Ask for an explanation of holidays and benefits: Asking this shows you are interested in more than just money.
- Ask questions about the interviewer: Asking this shows that you’re interested in who they really are, not just that they are at least 6′ tall.
- Ask to be asked a riddle: Asking this shows that you are paying attention and care about the answer to your question.
- Take a deep breath and exhale loudly before answering: Breathing before answering (and not holding your breath) shows that you’re confident in your decision-making abilities and it also gives the interviewer a chance to take a breath themselves so they don’t pass out.
- Yawn: Yawning is contagious, and sleepy employees usually make mistakes.
- Mention the salary you want: Asking for something shows that you are capable of making decisions, plus it’s better to do this upfront rather than find out later that the job was paying more.
- Smile and laugh at funny things they say: This shows that you’re a kiss ass.
- Talk about your weaknesses: Telling them why you suck will keep them from being disappointed when they figure it out later.
- Try to finish their sentences: This shows you’re paying attention and want the conversation to be over as soon as possible.
- Lick your lips: This shows that you’re hungry and appreciate what they’ve done for you by hiring you, even if it’s just an interview.
- Apologize before saying no: A simple apology shows concern for your interviewer’s feelings and gets out of doing something without making them feel bad about asking in the first place.
- Talk incessantly about yourself: This is annoying but it keeps the interviewer interested regardless of what you are saying which helps them forget how much they didn’t like hearing it because if they weren’t interested in what you had to say at all…
- Give ‘that look’: This is when someone’s eyes are squinted because the sun is too bright, but it also works at night.
- Use big words: Using big words shows that you know what you’re talking about and can spell well too!
- Ask for permission to use the bathroom: Asking this shows consideration for your interviewer’s schedule – they have other things to do even though you don’t have their respect yet so by asking you let them get back to work instead of checking on why you’ve been gone so long.
- Act aloof or indifferent: When people are interested in something, they tell all their friends about it, but if they are disinterested nobody wants anything to do with that thing or person.
- Put your phone ringer on high: Putting your phone on high shows that you are responsible for others in your life.
- Talk about the weather: This is conversation filler – it keeps people from looking at each other awkwardly when there is nothing else to say, but also keeps them from hating each other because everyone hates talking about the weather unless they say anything different about the weather and then everyone loves talking about how much they hate the weather even though they just said that they love talking about the weather which makes them look like hypocrites or liars except when honest Abe said that he likes pie, he really liked pie so much that he’d try any kind of pie once which means when he said that he hated fruitcake, he was speaking the truth.