We could chalk it up to bad TV commercials. After all,
who listens to those anyway? In most cases, the background noise helps drown
out the message. (I say, blessed are those who invented
the mute button.)
There are various listening disorders. They come in
all sizes, flavors and smells. There are passive
listeners—they are the ones who politely head nod, but don’t hear a damn word
you said. Then, there are selective
listeners—the ones who hear what they want. Others qualify as incidental listeners: They listen as
long as you’re saying something interesting. Start rambling, and they change the
channel.
Most company interviewers fall somewhere between selective and incidental listeners. They tend to focus on responses they think
they want to hear, and start losing interest when you recite scenarios they’ve already
heard countless times.
Even when you consciously avoid rambling, if you
recite commonly regurgitated responses that qualifies as repeating yourself. In other words, when five previous job
candidates recite shop-worn responses and you show up spouting ditto, your voice may sound different
but your words smell the same.
Experienced résumé writers routinely hear repetitive
responses. In the beginning, everyone’s responses appear sincere and unique.
Over time, say after four or five hundred interviewers, I consider myself (and
the client) lucky if the individual tells me anything I haven’t heard a hundred
times before.
Not unlike visiting a psychologist, résumé writers are
paid to listen. We are on an informational gathering mission to solve or
address a client’s dilemma. Thus, a person paid to listen tends to be more
attentive than passive or selective listeners.
The process—that is to say listening to gather usable
info—carries psychological overtones. Is what the jobseeker saying, fiction or
fact? Are they attempting to blow smoke or placate the listener? Hear the same
answer too often and interviewers conclude the job candidate is brain-dead.
While most jobseekers strive to be sincere and candid,
more often than not, they are unaware of how others have responded to identical
inquiries. They are unaware that those who interview hundreds (and possibly thousands), are not easily
persuaded by spewing forth what others
recite.
Whatever the cause, we have lost the art of listening.
Since then, we are more into tuning out,
than tuning in. When it comes to job
interviewing, no one is listening unless paid to do so. Even then, the listener
(or interviewer) wants to hear
something fresh, exciting and interesting.
Copyrighted ©
2013 by Robert James