116 How to Sell Yourself
My final word on the interview site is this:
No matter where you’re interviewed, you’re not likely to feel
completely comfortable. That’s why you’re unlikely to look, sound,
and act like yourself until you learn to do just that even under the
stressful conditions of a reporter with pad, microphone, or camera.
Winning interviews
Here are some pointers in giving a winning interview. All the
concepts are easy to understand, and they’re not easy to do but
they’re universals.
- Prepare: As soon as a group of you understands the skills,
rehearse. Throw the toughest curves you can at one an-
other and practice, practice, practice. Then you’ll know
what you want to say and how to say it. - Pause: Stop and think before you speak. A second or two
seems like an eternity to the untrained speaker, but the
audience really welcomes a chance to think about what’s
just been said. - Remain silent: Keep quiet in the uh...um...ya know... pause.
Know what I mean? In the practice sessions, hit the table
each time you hear an extraneous sound. Pretty soon they’ll
begin to disappear. - Maintain eye contact: No one has trust in your compe-
tence or can like you without qualification if your eyes are
all over the place instead of on your audience as you speak. - Inform: Don’t take the trouble to say anything if you have
nothing to say. As a corollary, don’t speak “off the record.”
If you don’t want to see it in print, hear it on the radio, or
watch it repeated on television, don’t say it. - Be honest: Be willing to acknowledge a problem’s exist-
ence. Be willing to admit you don’t have all the answers. - Be positive: Don’t use the words don’t or won’t. Tell us
what is. Tell us what will be. - Be simple: Get rid of jargon. Stop delivering literature and
deliver conversation. - Be memorable: Use stories, anecdotes, examples, similes,
and metaphors. Personalize. Bring the audience into your
message. Paint word pictures.