How to hack a job interview

There has been a lot of research on the psychology of persuasion, largely because of its links to advertising and sales. And that research has produced some really interesting results.

One of the most interesting aspects of persuasion is that once someone verbalizes something, they become very committed to that view. Once someone actually says “no,” its hard to get them to say “yes.”  It works the opposite way too–once someone says something nice about you, they become committed to that view.

You can work this to your advantage in job interviews. The trick is, when you first get in the room, say how happy you are to be here and how much you look forward to giving them the information they need, but first you are curious to know what it was that made them select you for an interview. After the interviewer states publicly and openly what it is they think makes you good for the job, they will spend the rest of the interview subconsciously finding evidence for that point of view, convincing themselves, in effect, that you are good for the job.

This little gem came from the author Robert Cialdini by way of Barking up the Wrong Tree.

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