When you’re looking for a job, you must develop rapport. It’s important at all stages of the process, including networking. You can spot a job seeker who pretends to be interested.
Mark Goulston’s book, “Just Listen,” supports this.
He suggests your goal is to gather as much information about the other person as you can, knowing there is something interesting about the person. Be determined to discover it.
Being interested requires that you ask questions aimed at generating these three responses: “I feel,” “I think” and “I did or would do … .” If the questions you ask get the other person to express all three of these responses, chances are you will convey interest and make the other person feel more satisfied.
Here are some questions you can use to develop that rapport :
Tell me about how you got into (the field of interest)?
What do you like best about it?
What are you trying to accomplish in your career that’s important to you?
What makes that important to you?
One of the easiest ways to communicate genuine interest is to summarize what the other person is saying. This conveys that you truly are listening.
