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45 Key Interview Principles 67

about your trip to the office, the weather, your impressions of the
facilities, or some other small-talk topics. Respond to these ques-
tions with more than just ‘3,s” or “no” answers and observations.
You need to tale some initiative here to express your personality.
Initiate your own positive small talk by malung an interesting
observation about the office, such as the art work or decorating, or
the personnel you met in the reception area. You might, for
example, discover from seeing a framed degree hanging on the wall
that the interviewer is a graduate of your alma mater. He or she
may be a collector of unusual items that are displayed in the office.
Or he or she may have an interesting photo displayed of family,
friends, colleagues, a ceremony, or someone famous. Show some
personal interest in the individual by focusing on one or two items
for small talk. This small talk period may result in building an
important personal bridge be-
tween you and the interviewer Small talk means
that will make this professional developing a con-
encounter a much easier and
more enjoyable one. Remember, VerSatiOna/ /he that
the most important impressions has a purpose and
are made during the first five
minutes. You want to appear establishes an
energetic, positive, and interest- agenda.
ing during these initial moments
of the interview. In the end, how you handle yourself in the small-
talk may be more important to getting the job than how you handle
yourself with the standard interview questions.

31. Be prepared to respond to initial small talk in an inter-
esting and positive manner.

Small talk does count! It indicates something about your social
capabilities which may be just as important to the job as your work-
content skulls. Small talk does not mean telling jokes. It means
developing a conversational line that has a purpose and establishes
an agenda. If you need assistance developing your small-talk skulls,
we recommend two excellent books on this subject: Anne Baber and
Lynne Waymon, Great Connections: Small Talk and Networking
for Businesspeople, and Susan Rohe, How to Work a Room. Both