How to Quickly Build Rapport with the Job Interviewer?

Two people shaking hands

You have checked and seen that you pos­sess the skills required for the job, you passed the eval­u­a­tions, and are get­ting ready to move on to the inter­view stage. At this point in the job recruit­ment process, you need to demon­strate that you would be a good match for the posi­tion and a valu­able mem­ber of the team. You need to ace the inter­view, and, of course, this starts with estab­lish­ing a rap­port with the recruiter. 

In real­i­ty, you prob­a­bly have very lit­tle time to estab­lish a rap­port with the job recruiter in an inter­view. Doing this would fos­ter mutu­al trust, which can go a long way to secur­ing the job for you. Your inter­view­er then begins to like you, which can gen­er­ate mean­ing­ful talks and a will­ing­ness to see from your standpoint.

In that light, let us exam­ine how to build rap­port with a job interviewer. 

Dress well to the interview

Dress­ing well for the job inter­view is just as impor­tant as any oth­er tip dis­cussed in this arti­cle. It is okay to ask if you should appear casu­al or for­mal while sched­ul­ing the inter­view. And if you do not have that lux­u­ry, then busi­ness casu­al is just fine.

Be Punctual

Punc­tu­al­i­ty is tak­en very seri­ous­ly by the Cana­di­an work­force. It is cru­cial that you arrive on time for your inter­view if you want to make a good first impres­sion. Waltz­ing into an inter­view after the inter­view­er has arrived can be a span­ner in the works for the rest of the interview.

Research on the company (and maybe the hiring manager too) before the interview

You can­not just walk into an inter­view, guns blaz­ing, with­out hav­ing prop­er knowl­edge about the orga­ni­za­tion. You do not need to have stud­ied a whole ency­clo­pe­dia to learn about that firm, but you must have read some­thing about them. “What do you know about us?” is a ques­tion you might be asked. Your response to that ques­tion could either elim­i­nate you or illu­mi­nate their per­cep­tion of you.

In terms of the recruit­ing man­ag­er, if you learn who they are, you can look up their social media pro­files. In that inter­view, you can bring up some­thing about their inter­ests. You get their atten­tion this way.

Work on communication skills — the bedrock

Two people taking interview

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills are con­sid­ered one of the most impor­tant aspects of devel­op­ing rap­port. Skills such as active lis­ten­ing, the use of the right non­ver­bal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, the right tone, avoid­ing lengthy mean­ing­less talks (sum­ma­riz­ing), giv­ing fac­tu­al infor­ma­tion, and so on, must be adhered to for effec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tion. We all agree good com­mu­ni­ca­tion enhances good rapport.

In some sce­nar­ios, inter­view­ers open­ly com­mend inter­vie­wees because the inter­view was more of a con­ver­sa­tion. So keep in mind the skills you need to com­mu­ni­cate effec­tive­ly. Inter­view­ers are often on the look out for con­fi­dence, ener­gy and pos­i­tive body lan­guage. Keep this in mind dur­ing the interview.

Show gratitude​

Demon­strate thank­ful­ness. Well, this is more like a cheat code. Talk about your inter­est in the role or the orga­ni­za­tion and cite spe­cif­ic rea­sons you are drawn to the posi­tion and the team. Then, express your grat­i­tude for the oppor­tu­ni­ty to be con­sid­ered for the position.

Show some form of enthu­si­asm, and express appre­ci­a­tion for the inter­view. It appeals to their good sides.

Be polite and respectful

You have to be cour­te­ous and respect­ful. Do not inter­rupt the inter­view­er while they are speak­ing; instead, wait until they allow you to speak. There might be times when you hold an opin­ion dif­fer­ent from the interviewer’s. In those cas­es, express yours with­out being crit­i­cal or dis­mis­sive of theirs. Remem­ber your get­ting the job is depen­dent on their per­cep­tion of your per­son­al­i­ty. No one wants a rude employ­ee, no mat­ter how tal­ent­ed they may be.

Ask questions at the end of the interview

Most inter­view­ers would ask you if you have ques­tions. You need to shift from a typ­i­cal ques­tion-and-answer inter­view to a dis­cus­sion to estab­lish a sol­id rap­port. This is accom­plished through ask­ing ques­tions, pay­ing close atten­tion to the respons­es, and engag­ing the inter­view­er. You can also fol­low up answers with ques­tions to engage the interviewer.

Get­ting through the inter­view stage may not be as easy as it seems and suc­cess in one is not a guar­an­tee for future ones. It would be best if you learned the art of acing inter­views. Check out our arti­cle on  “How to pre­pare for an interview.”

To help you pre­pare for that inter­view, check out our mock inter­views that help you get ready. Also, at Elite careers, we offer career coach­ing ser­vices for which you can har­ness. So, speak with us today and let’s get started.

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