5 Ways That Active Listening Can Help With Your Job Search
One of the most overlooked skills in the workforce is listening, especially when job hunting. When you seek a new career, treating listening as a passive activity can hurt your chances of getting hired. If you have poor listening skills, it will make it harder to focus on the conversation and stay engaged. But, if you master the art of active listening, you can maximize your chances of getting hired for your dream job.
What Is Active Listening and How Does it Help?
When it comes to listening, there’s hearing, listening, and then active listening. Active listening was created to help people communicate more effectively during a conflict to find a resolution everyone was happy with. Over time, this method gained popularity in HR circles as a technique for improving communication during an often-stressful setting of the job interview.
Active listening is the act of avoiding all distractions to maintain an effective method of communication between two or more people. With this approach, you will focus solely on the speaker and take in their words and body language. Then you will analyze and paraphrase what has been said to ensure everyone in the room is on the same page.
There are many benefits to active listening, but here are the top five for those looking to ace an interview:
#1: It Shows You Are Paying Attention
Active listening involves eliminating all external factors and focusing entirely on the conversation at hand. By doing so, you can retain the information being presented to you by a prospective employer. Digesting this information and analyzing what has been said in your responses demonstrates that you are paying attention. If an employer sees that you can pay attention to such a degree even in the interview stage, you will instantly become a more appealing prospect.
#2: It Helps You Determine if You Will Fit In
Believe it or not, active listening is also employed when reading documents and researching a company. Active listening involves getting a sense of the tone and demeanor of the one who is speaking, and the same can apply to written information about a potential employer. When reading up on a company, take time to review the tone, atmosphere, and employee testimonials to help you decide if it is the kind of workplace you want to be a part of.
#3: It Helps Build Rapport
Active listening is more than just a courtesy. It also serves as a way to connect with the person you are speaking to and get to know them on a more personal level. You will learn personal information provided by your potential employer and use it to establish a connection with them. Doing so humanizes both your prospective employer and makes you a more attractive candidate.
#4: You Retain Important Details
In addition to learning the information you need to complete tasks and establish connections, it also allows you to keep track of crucial details about your employer and job. If you notice and retain these details, you will not have to worry about getting lost mid-conversation. It also means you will not have to be reminded of information you have already covered.
Showing that you can actively retain information during an interview will translate to you being capable of doing the same with assigned tasks. In addition, this demonstration of active listening can showcase you as a more dependable employee who can relay instructions in detail and complete tasks with little to no issue.
#5: It Lets You Solve Problems
Active listening has a wide array of benefits when searching for jobs and nailing interviews. Combining all of these benefits allows you to become a more effective problem solver. So, when you finally do get the job, you will be able to quickly identify issues and find solutions so that you can hit the ground running and potentially advance in the ranks.
RHM Staffing Solutions Can Help You Find the Perfect Job
Active listening is a crucial ability that allows the average person to retain more information and become more effective. When seeking a job, paying attention and not passively listening can make the difference between finding the position that is right for you and letting it fall by the wayside. If active listening is something you excel at but finding a job is still eluding you, consider contacting our team at RHM Staffing Solutions. We excel at staffing positions throughout the country, and we could be what you need to find the job of your dreams.