Prepare speaking points—not a script

- [Man] Yeah I like that, and I'm curious, then, in terms in sort of the tone, with which you deliver these factual sentences, or these quotations from others. Do you have some pro tips on calibrating that nicely? - [Woman] Yeah, I think, you mean in terms of vocal quality and things like that? - [Man] Mm-hmm, yeah, for example, I mean, I can imagine you can do it wrong, in the sense of, "I delivered a multimillion dollar result." So it's like, "Oh my gosh, I hate you, shut up. - [Woman] Yes, yes. - [Man] "Get out now." So what's the best way to say it? - [Woman] Yeah, well those are the two ends of the extreme, right? The one end of the extreme is the person who's just fumbling about it, and then there's the person who memorized this script that they're reciting and that sounds totally canned and totally phony, right? So always thinking about, the best way to do this, finding that perfect balance between preparing, and not over preparing to the point where it doesn't feel true or it's not at all spontaneous. So I'm a big believer in this idea of the bullet point approach. So it's about thinking about what your key speaking points are for the most important questions, right? So there's a core set of questions that I think are the most commonly asked, as well as the ones that I think maybe have the biggest influence in terms of the overall impression, that interviewers have of a particular candidate. And especially if there's an area that you're sensitive about, or if there's a gap in your resume, or something like that, questions around more awkward topics, sort of preparing some bullet points. And so you're not scripting word for word, but you're sort of capturing a few bullet points that allows you to really focus on the most interesting relevant things you have to say, for that question. And I use the metaphor sometimes about celebrity's going on a talk show, right? So they're going on a talk show and they're not going to completely improvise, but they're also not going to get up there and read from a script, but they're going to have, well probably their publicist, but somebody's going to prepare these speaking points for them. And they're going to get up there and they're going to make sure to mention that fun story about their coworker on set, and they're going to make sure to mention this other interesting fact about their favorite hobby. So, thinking a little bit about the bullet points, and then practicing. And again, I think that sometimes people... Practicing gets a bad reputation because people feel like, oh, well if you practice too much it's not going to be authentic, it's not going to be natural. But for me, it's the opposite. I've seen it time and time again with people. Because everyone knows you're supposed to practice, right? Every interview book is like, "Well, you should practice." But a lot of people are like, "Eh, yeah, but it's awkward, it's weird, I don't know, I'm just going to say it in my head" But I see it time and again in sessions, people go from stumbling to sounding really polished and confident after practicing it a few times. It's sort of like.. Because an interview is a performance to some degree. You're staring as yourself, so hopefully you're being authentic. But you're also preparing. You want to make sure you prepare, just like when you give an important presentation, you're being yourself, but you're being the best version of yourself that you can be.