{"id":20314,"date":"2017-10-04T09:18:32","date_gmt":"2017-10-04T14:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/?page_id=20314"},"modified":"2024-07-29T11:40:41","modified_gmt":"2024-07-29T16:40:41","slug":"how-do-you-handle-the-introduction-the-body-and-the-close","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/how-to-guides\/interview-guide\/interview-in-person\/how-do-you-handle-the-introduction-the-body-and-the-close\/","title":{"rendered":"How do you handle the introduction, the body, and the close?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-modular-content-collection><h3>What are the three parts of an interview?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Interviews usually last between 30 minutes and an hour<\/li>\n<li>Each interviewer will use the time during an interview differently<\/li>\n<li>There are, however, three basic parts of an interview: the <a href=\"#introduction\"><strong>introduction<\/strong><\/a>, the <a href=\"#body\"><strong>body<\/strong><\/a>, and the <a href=\"#close\"><strong>close<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><a id=\"introduction\"><\/a>The first part of your interview, <strong>the\u00a0introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/how-to-guides\/interview-guide\/#culture\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>See: shaking hands and making eye contact<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Interviewers usually begin an interview by shaking your hand<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If shaking hands is part of your culture,<br \/>\n\u2014 Firmly shake the interviewer\u2019s hand<br \/>\n\u2014 Make and maintain eye contact<\/li>\n<li>If shaking hands is NOT part of your culture (or if your culture limits physical contact between men and women, for example)<br \/>\n\u2014 Cross your hands over your chest<br \/>\n\u2014 Bow your head slightly to show respect<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><a id=\"small-talk\"><\/a>What is \u201csmall talk,\u201d and how do you handle it?<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>The interviewer may set the tone by trying to help you feel at ease.<\/li>\n<li>The interviewer may engage you in \u201csmall talk,\u201d which may include<br \/>\n\u2014 Talking about the weather<br \/>\n\u2014 Discussing a big event in the news<br \/>\n\u2014 Complaining about the local traffic<\/li>\n<li>The purpose of \u201csmall talk\u201d is to help both you and the interviewer relax.<\/li>\n<li>The goal is to establish a personal relationship before the body of the interview<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>How do you respond to \u201csmall talk\u201d?<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>Answer the questions briefly, honestly, and tactfully<\/li>\n<li>Be friendly, and yet business-like<\/li>\n<li>Present yourself in a confident, professional manner<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><a id=\"body\"><\/a>The second part of your interview, <strong>the\u00a0body<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The interviewer will ask questions that you will be expected to answer.\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/how-to-guides\/interview-guide\/questions\/general-questions\/\">Review the kinds of questions that interviewers ask<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<h5><a id=\"respond-to-questions\"><\/a>How do you respond to questions?<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>Listen carefully to the question<\/li>\n<li>Ask the interviewer to repeat a question that isn\u2019t clear<\/li>\n<li>Pause, and think before you speak<\/li>\n<li>Give a clear, concise answer to the question<\/li>\n<li>Provide an example if you can<\/li>\n<li>Keep your answers short (no more than 30-45 seconds)<\/li>\n<li>Speak honestly about your background, skills and experiences<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><a id=\"difficult-questions\"><\/a>How do you handle difficult questions?<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>If the interviewer gives you a hard question, say, \u201c<em>That\u2019s a great question. I\u2019d like to take a moment to think about it.<\/em>\u201d Pause, think, and then answer.<\/li>\n<li>If you don\u2019t know the answer to a question, say, \u201c<em>That\u2019s a great question. I don\u2019t know the answer. Can you help me with it?<\/em>\u201d The interviewer will do so \u2014 or will ask a different question.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><a id=\"connect\"><\/a>How do you connect with the interviewer?<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>Show your interest in the interviewer as a person<\/li>\n<li>Look for common ground \u2014 shared experiences \u2014 with the interviewer<\/li>\n<li>Connect with the interviewer as a human being<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Interviewers often select someone whom they like or to whom they feel connected.<\/p>\n<h3><a id=\"close\"><\/a>The third part of your interview, <strong>the\u00a0close<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The interviewer may ask if you have any questions<br \/>\n<em>\u2014 If the interviewer doesn\u2019t ask if you have questions, you may ask the interviewer if there is time for you to ask questions<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Ask questions showing that that you have prepared and have done your research<\/li>\n<li>Express your interest in the role<br \/>\n<em>\u2014 If an interviewer senses a lack of interest, the interviewer will offer the role to someone whose enthusiasm was obvious<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Thank the interviewer for the time spent with you<\/li>\n<li>The interviewer will typically end the interview by shaking your hand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a class=\"cta\" href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/how-to-guides\/interview-guide\/interviewers\/\">Interviewers: who will interview you, and what do they want?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- begin-migrated-from-panel-builder --><!-- end-migrated-from-panel-builder --><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are the three parts of an interview? Interviews usually last between 30 minutes and an hour Each interviewer will use the time during an interview differently There are, however, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8275,"featured_media":0,"parent":19635,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-20314","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8275"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20314"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41079,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20314\/revisions\/41079"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/pipercenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}