High Stakes Communication:

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High Stakes Communication
Interviews and Job Talks
Prepared by The Cain Project in Engineering and
Professional Communication
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Successful Candidates

• Analyze situation audience
• Organize knowledge and experience
• Convey confidence and professionalism
• Give great job talks
• Handle questions

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Research Your Employer

• Mission
• Organizational structure and culture
• Faculty, Deans, students
• Research foci, G/UG programs, facilities
• Ranking
• Funding
• Size and location

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Sources of Information

• Web sites
• Advisors, peers
• Conferences and meetings
• Journals
• Career services
• Promotional materials

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Know Yourself

• Assess strengths and weaknesses
• List life career goals
• Create table of key job satisfaction factors
• Stay aware of current events

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Know Your Work

• Assemble and review job portfolio
• CV
• Research stmt
• Teaching philosophy
• Papers and grants
• Technical skills
• Supervising or mentoring
• Service

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Get Organized

• Review notes on employer
• Match your qualifications to their needs
• Formulate questions to ask

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Show What You Know!

• Greeting
• Small talk
• Confident, Can-Do stmt
• Road Map
• Deliver topic sentences
• Provide concrete examples
• Organize for clarity
• Adapt to audience
• Closing (memorize)
• Summarize qualifications
• Reinforce interest in position

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Time to Practice
Work in pairs. For the next three minutes Person
A will be the interviewer, and Person B will be
the candidate. Switch roles for the second
instruction.
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Tell me a little bit about yourself.
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Describe your research.
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Convey Confidence and Professionalism

• Posture
• Gestures
• Eye contact
• Voice quality
• Attire

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Listen Actively

• Be attentive
• Eye contact
• Body position
• Focus on main points
• Use paraphrasing and reflection
• Filter emotions and distractions
• Ask questions

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Agendas Driving Questions

• Obtain additional information
• Request clarification
• Seek recommendation
• Demonstrate how smart they are
• Embarrass or intimidate

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Time to Practice
Work in pairs. For the next three minutes Person
A will be the interviewer, and Person B will be
the candidate. Switch roles for the second
instruction.
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What are your most significant accomplishments?
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Tell me about your teaching experience. Whats
your philosophy and/or style of teaching?
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Success without Stress

• Breathe
• Loosen up
• Eat
• Sleep
• Avoid caffeine
• Eliminate negativity

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Negative Talk Positive Talk

• --- Im freaking out! Im going to blow this.
• Im prepared. This could lead to a great
  opportunity.
• --- He/she thinks Im an idiot.
• The interviewer is on my side. He/she needs
  me to fill important role in the dept.

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Practice!

• Rehearse out loud
• Mock interview w/ different people
• Get videotaped
• Keep a journal

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Preparing a Job Talk
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High Impact Presenters

• Size up the situation
• Organize an argument
• Convey confidence
• Integrate visuals
• Handle questions

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Size up the Situation Audience

• Who is your audience?
• Why are they interested?
• How much do they know?
• What criteria do they use to make decisions?
• What do they value?

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Tailor Message to Audience
From Barrett, Deborah (2006). Leadership
Communication.
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Technical Content

• The problem/question (what you want to know)
• Significance (why it matters)
• Work that led up to/relates to your work
• Specific aims
• Method/approach
• Results (what you observed)
• Interpretation (what it means)
• Novelty (how it contributes to the field)
• Future work (what challenges remain)

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Typical but Difficult

• Excruciating detail
• Fragments of information

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Fragmented Information
Nanoshells
Nanoshells
Nano-Medicine
Nanoshells
Hydrogel Polymer
Hydrogel Polymer
Hydrogel Polymer
Hydrogel Polymer
Results
Results
Conclusions
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Start Strong End Strong

• Introduction
• Motivate interest
• State key points
• Preview topics
• Establish credibility
• No apologies
• No Today Im gonna talk about . . .

• Conclusion
• Send cue
• Restate summarize
• Spell out implications
• No new info
• No Thats it.
• No ?s slide

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Keep Audience with You

• Create coherence
• Make intuitive connections explicit
• Weak verbal cues
• And another thing
• So
• Next

• Strong verbal cues
• Sequence
• First
• Contrast
• However
• On the other hand
• Causality
• Therefore
• Consequently

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Make Them Feel Smart about Your Data

• Relevant results that support key points
• 4-step explanation
• question
• describe
• report result
• interpret result

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Handle Questions

• Anticipate questions
• LISTEN
• Repeat or rephrase
• Watch body language
• Dont bluff
• Wrap up well

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Getting Grilled

• Keep your cool
• Pause to think
• Restate question in neutral terms
• Make direct eye contact

• Look for common ground
• Respond with specific facts and figures
• Break away

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References

• Barrett, Deborah. Leadership Communication.
  McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2006.
• DArcy, Jan. Technically Speaking. Columbus
  Battelle Press, 1998.

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Image References

• www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/ed/jobs.html
• http//http//www.toastofchicago.org/sc-image.gif
• http//www.uni-koblenz.de/vladimir/breviary/dilbe
  rt-powerpoint.gif
• www.owlnet.rice.edu/cainproj/ news/october99/octo
  ber.html
• http//www.resumetapebook.com/i/tn_interview_jpeg.
  jpg
• www.nebhworker.org/images/organize.gif
• http//www.resumetapebook.com/i/tn_interview_jpeg.
  jpg
• http//a.abcnews.com/media/US/images/pd_job_interv
  iew_030812_nv.jpg
• http//www.tesl.iastate.edu/projects/onlineunits/k
  awaler/img/listening.gif
• http//www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2001/11/06/tuesda
  y_photos.html
• http//www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2001/11/05/monday
  _photos.html
• math.rice.edu/lanius/ Algebra/stress.html
• http//www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/news/_archives/Apr
  il2003/Stacy15.gif

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Contact The Cain Project
Mary Purugganan, Ph.D. Anderson 215 Ext.
6128 maryp_at_rice.edu

• Tracy Volz, Ph.D.
• Abercrombie B107
• Ext. 6192
• tmvolz_at_rice.edu

Linda Driskill, Ph.D. Anderson 211C Ext.
6195 driskila_at_rice.edu