{"id":1422,"date":"2019-05-23T02:29:42","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T02:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hudson-main-site.ap.applyflow.com\/uncategorized\/how-to-build-rapport-in-a-job-interview\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T12:14:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T02:14:01","slug":"how-to-build-rapport-in-a-job-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/au.hudson.com\/job-interviews\/how-to-build-rapport-in-a-job-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"How to build rapport in a job interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Establishing a good rapport with someone you\u2019ve just met can be a tough ask. Motivational speaker Tony Robbins provides insight into what\u2019s involved: \u201cRapport is the ability to enter someone else\u2019s world, to make him feel that you understand him, that you have a strong common bond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever else you have to offer, it\u2019s going to be difficult to make it beyond the first round of interviews and secure a job if you\u2019re unable to make your interviewers feel you\u2019re on the same wavelength as them. Here are some tips on how to establish that emotional connection.<\/p>\n

Mimic your way into your interviewer\u2019s affections<\/h2>\n

A useful trick for building rapport is to mirror the interviewer\u2019s body language<\/a>, matching their expression with your own, or mimicking their posture or tone of voice. Observe the way your interviewer is conducting themselves. Do they speak quickly or slowly? Are they energetic and excitable or calm and measured? By matching their behaviour and energy levels, you can subtly create a feeling of affinity.<\/p>\n

Sell your story<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s a reason human beings spend so much of their time watching films and TV programs, reading books and listening to songs \u2013 we\u2019re suckers for a good story and we\u2019re charmed by those with the skills to entertain us with one.<\/p>\n

Granted, relating how you cut departmental absenteeism in half in your last role might not be the stuff of a Hollywood blockbuster but you can still turn it into an attention-grabbing narrative.<\/p>\n

Instead of saying, \u201cFollowing the implementation of a variety of measures I reduced sick leave by 50 per cent over the second quarter,\u201d you could say, \u201cDue to a number of forced redundancy rounds I inherited a team with low morale. I knew I needed to improve employee engagement so I made that my first priority. With the help of team-building initiatives and an open door policy as well as an open mind, staff members who were once calling in sick every Monday started working back to make sure our department was beating its targets.\u201d Now that\u2019s a feel-good story that interviewers will want to hear!<\/p>\n

Express your personal brand values<\/h2>\n

An integral part of every job candidate\u2019s career narrative is their \u2018personal brand\u2019, which needs to be expressed immediately and consistently.<\/p>\n

As Tulika Tripathi, Managing Director for Hudson Asia says, \u201cYour brand is your \u2018hook\u2019. You need to give the hiring manager a distinct persona that will make you memorable and distinguish you from other candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Think carefully about what the core elements of your personal brand are. Are you the upbeat, can-do individual who builds high performance teams? Or the calm, detail-oriented administrator who can turn the grand visions of others into reality?<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve decided what it is you\u2019re bringing to the table, weave that into your story, whether you\u2019re answering formal questions or conversing casually at the end of the interview. Expressing who you are will win over your interviewer and mark you out as a candidate who they\u2019ll remember for all the right reasons.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Establishing a good rapport with someone you\u2019ve just met can be a tough ask. Motivational speaker Tony Robbins provides insight into what\u2019s involved: \u201cRapport is the ability to enter someone else’s world, to make him feel that you understand him, that you have a strong common bond.\u201d Whatever else you have to offer, it\u2019s going…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[82],"class_list":["post-1422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-job-interviews","tag-building-connection"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/au.hudson.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/au.hudson.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/au.hudson.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/au.hudson.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/au.hudson.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1422"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/au.hudson.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6048,"href":"https:\/\/au.hudson.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422\/revisions\/6048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/au.hudson.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/1423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/au.hudson.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/au.hudson.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/au.hudson.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}