Job interviews are some of the most important moments of your life. You need to be on top of your game and while you can practice “interviewing,” there are other ways to perfect your sales pitch (remember you are selling yourself!)…such as Improvisational conversation or Improv.
Now I am not suggesting you head out to your local comedy club on open mike night (actually that WOULD help!) but there are techniques you can practice that would hone your conversational skills and be extremely helpful during a job interview.
People like to laugh and they are impressed when someone reacts well on his or her feet. Practicing Improv can help you with both. Improv isn’t necessarily about being funny…it’s about reacting and how you react in a job interview determines whether or not you get hired.
Advancing the dialogue — or “moving the scene forward,” as they say in the acting world — is what improvising is all about. It’s the same deal if you are onstage, in a boardroom, or trying to get your point across in a job interview. “Dead air” is never a good thing, whether it’s a conversation with a friend, family, or someone who could impact the next 10+ years of your life. You either take the conversation into new territory or you kill it. So to make better connections with people and to get what you want – whether it’s a promotion at work, a new relationship, or simply an argument over who is the best NBA player (it’s Luka obviously!) you have to be ready to “move the scene forward.”
Here is a great article on this subject from way back in the day. Working on your improvisational skills might not get you on the Tonight Show or Jimmy Kimmel, but it very well could land you the job of your dreams!
Happy Selling!