I can’t emphasize enough the importance of listening skills to a job searcher.
Many job seekers have speaking and listening confused. While both require communication, they are different skill sets.
Here’s what I mean. Here’s an example of how listening and talking can be confused. I recently heard this from a hiring decision maker.
A job candidate was asked to describe the procedures involved in an operational process. The candidate began describing how he felt about operational processes in general and missed answering the question by talking about their personal views. Even though the candidate had extensive experience and matched the employer’s needs, they missed the job opportunity by not listening to what the employer was asking.
If you feel you didn’t answer a question accurately, by all means, ask for clarification. That’s a simple as saying, “Did I answer your question?”
Answering questions without listening is a great way to demonstrate your lack of experience with a topic. In fact, you did answer the question by not answering, it if that makes sense. In other words, the hiring decision maker now believes you are not well-acquainted with the topic.
A good way to make sure you are listening is to focus on the question. To use the earlier example, describing the procedures involved in an operational process was about the procedures not about the job candidate’s personal views.
How can you tell you are not listening? Here are some clues:
*When you start answering the question before it is asked
*If you are focusing more on your response than the speaker’s question
*When you are trying hard to answer the question the way you think the speaker wants you to
*Thinking about what is going to happen next while the interviewer is talking
*If you’re not asking questions, you are doing more talking than listening.
I encourage you to watch for non-verbal signs from the speaker that you are talking more than needed.
This week practice listening by taking the time to ask good questions and clarifying what you might have missed.
