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The 4 Major Disfluencies

I’ve been interviewing candidates off and on for the last 30 years. A rough estimate would put me at well over 10,000 interviews in 14 countries. Needless to say I’ve done my fair share of interviews.

Most people conduct themselves quite well. The worst behaviour in my view tends to revolve around the mobile phone. My biggest pet peeve is when an interviewee has the audacity to take a call during an interview. Believe it or not I’ve had this happen enough times to keep me wondering about who’s raising our next generation?

What gets me the most is when people use the following fillers (a.k.a. disfluencies)

1. “Ums and Ahs” – I know most people get nervous during interviews. However, they should do a bit of research on what types of questions an interviewer might ask before they attend the interview. Some standard interview questions might be:

  • Tell us a little about yourself?
  • What skill-set(s) have you acquired so far in your career?
  • Why are you looking for work?/Leaving your current employer?
  • Why do you think you would be a good fit for this role?
  • What makes you special?

The ums and ahs are killers and they really make someone appear less credible. Better to have an extended silent pause giving the impression of selecting the “right” words or most intelligent answer than to “umm” through your answer.

2. “Like” – My interviewees on Friday like umm didn’t really, you know seem like they umm really were prepared to answer umm you know standard interview questions. One of the nice young girls I interviewed last week umm really seemed to, you know like not be too sure how to ummm answer any direct questions. And I was interviewing for a sales position.

3. “You Know” – Well, you know this is quite an assumptive one isn’t it?

4. The last of the great credibility busters is “I Guess.” Well what in tarnation kinda answer is this? I guess I might you know umm give you ahh… well you know job with some ummm on the job well you know training if I could just umm you know well get a round tuit.

Hopefully, there’s still some room for improvement in our… you know education system to prepare young graduates for the … you know umm work force.I guess I’ll umm… like find out in a bit, shall I?

My quick research uncovered that psychologists have found ums and uhs to have meaning. And funnily enough the meaning is that they are fillers warning the listener that the speaker is having trouble expressing themselves. Well, there’s a surprise!

In sales as in life there is pressure to perform under pressure. Practice makes permanent. Role play until you’ve nailed it. Get confident, be enthusiastic and be aware of your speech because you are being watched and being judged.

Know that you “GOT THIS!” and you will GET THIS!


Dominic Kotarski writes, speaks, inspires, motivates and teaches on the most important aspects of your business including Sales, Coaching, Team building, People Management and Business Development. Get weekly access to his blog & training videos FREE by subscribing HERE


 

 

Dominic Kotarski

Dominic Kotarski is an author, coach, sales trainer and Founder of Sales Success Academy. He's personally inspired, coached, trained and managed thousands of salespeople and business owners in 11 different countries. You can find him in Vancouver, Canada where he lives, works, runs, ski's and spends most of his free time with his family.

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