When you ask questions and apply
deductive logic, a yes means “yes”, no means “no” and maybe means “no” at this
moment. It may turn into a yes later but that doesn’t help you now, today. When
you are interviewing for a job or you haven’t yet reached the interview
process, and you’re still just looking for opportunities, it’s the same. If you
need a job today a “yes” would be nice, “no” is a bummer and a “maybe” is just
plain frustrating. I suggest you might get more traction by asking the same
questions, regardless of what they are, with a little better forethought.
There are five basic types of
questions: Factual, Convergent, Divergent, Evaluative and Combination. But
let’s simplify it and, for our purposes, I’m only concerned with close-ended questions and open-ended questions. Consciously
knowing the difference and learning when to use one or another can help you,
regardless of whether you are being asked, or you are the one asking the
questions.
A close-ended question is one that elicits a simple yes or no answer.
If you ask a lot of close-ended questions you will not get a lot of information
and the conversation will not go far. By the very nature of this kind of
question, it’s not meant to. When you watch television and see a courtroom
drama, you will notice a lawyer will ask someone on the witness stand a
close-ended question when they might say “Did you or did you not see who killed
your neighbor?” The intention is to limit the witness’ response to a yes or no
and cutting off and preventing any discussion. He doesn’t want details and the
lawyer has steered the question and answer process to serve his intention.
Open-ended questions require an explanation. Open-ended questions
are like the name says: they are open-ended requiring explanation that will
help to gain more insight or better understanding. Let’s say for example, I
want to engage a person in conversation who has no real reason to speak with
me, and I ask, “Are you interested in considering a new job opportunity?” Their
reply is possibly going to be “no”. That was a close-ended question. If I
wanted to learn more about him, I might have instead inquired, “Tell me what
kind of job would appeal to you?” That was an open-ended question requiring a
more thoughtful response resulting in more information.
Determine, according to what will
benefit you most, when to employ an open-ended or a close-ended question. When
you want a black and white answer or a clear decision ask a close-ended
question. When you want to keep the dialogue alive and extract more
information, with which to make a better decision and prove yourself worthy of
another interview, ask engaging open-ended questions. Conversely, learn to
recognize when these methods are being used on you – and trust me, they are. A
weak-minded or passive person might call these strategies manipulative, while I
would disagree and simply call it an interactive and equitable conversational
style. Interviews are never meant to be, nor should they be, one-sided. But it
takes two people fully engaged to have an interactive and two-way dialogue. I
am not exaggerating when I say most people with whom you are competing in the
job market are like zombies, simply going through the motions. When sitting in
front of a hiring official, their behavior is almost entirely reactive. I can
assure you it doesn’t take much to set yourself apart from others, and it’s
much easier than you think to make real impact. In the end they may not choose
you, as there are never any guarantees but, take some initiative so when you
walk out that door, unlike most others who’ll be forgotten five minutes later,
you’ll have made an impact they’ll remember.
Feel free to discuss this post in the forum(no
registration required).
