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Licensee Support - Article - Bring Your 6th Sense to J ob Interview 1 of 2
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Introduction: J ob search, an undertaking few people enjoy but many face at least once in a lifetime. While
advance preparation is necessary, it is often difficult to predict the expectations of the interviewer. In the article
below, author J anis Foord Kirk discusses the impact our thoughts have on the overall process and offers easy to
implement tips to help relieve stress and manifest a fitting outcome.
Title: Bring Your 6
th
Sense to J ob Interview
Author: J anis Foord Kirk
Web site: http://www.survivability.net


Bring Your 6
th
Sense to Job Interview

The interview is tomorrow and you're ready, fully prepared. Or, so you think.
You know that your qualifications and credentials fit the job. You have extra copies of your resume and a list of
references. You've considered the questions you're likely to be asked and practiced answering them. You've
researched the company and prepared a list of your own questions. You've decided what to wear and polished your
shoes.
And yet, despite diligent preparation of this kind, it's likely one critical aspect has been overlooked, says Toronto
executive coach J ohn Kares. "There is an invisible dimension of human perception and human choices," Kares
says. "And it is possible, in interviews, to direct this in ways that will be favourable to you."
In essence, Kares is talking about good old-fashioned "gut feeling," which often plays a significant role in hiring
decisions. He believes that while preparing for an interview, and during it, as well, you have the power to direct an
interviewer's intuitive response to ensure that her or his "gut feeling" about you is positive.
"We all go about making perceptions in the blink of an eye and many times we're not even conscious that we've
done so," he says. "We do this on the basis of information that we can't measure or put down on a piece of paper.
You can't see it and yet we all know it's there. Some people refer to it as a sixth sense."
To explain how this sixth sense works, Kares turns to scientific research, conducted since the 1960s, which
suggests that the human brain has two different ways of processing information.
Traditional interview preparation, he says, is typically handled by our Left Brain, the dominion of logic, facts,
words, numbers and data where the mode of thinking is verbal and where information is processed analytically and
sequentially.
Less understood is the Right Brain cranial territory that governs intuition, ideas, pictures and feelings. The mode of
perception in this part of the brain is visual with information being processed intuitively and simultaneously. "Right
Brain perceptions may actually be the sole determining factor of the entire interview," Kares writes in his ebook,
Who Do You Think You Are? (http://www.executivespeech.com).
There's little question that an interviewer's general impression of you and the degree of interpersonal attraction
between the two of you can affect hiring decisions. Concern about such things and the biases they could represent
Licensee Support Article The Ethics of Apologies
Licensee Support - Article - Bring Your 6th Sense to J ob Interview
Board of Funeral Services, 777 Bay Street, Suite 2810, Box 117, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2C8
Toll Free: 1 (800) 387-4458 Facsimile: (416) 979-0384
2 of 2
has convinced many hiring organizations to implement highly structured interview procedures in an attempt to
overcome this.
Says Kares: "This is not about replacing all of the rigorous, pragmatic approaches that have become codified as best
interview practices. They are extremely valuable, essential and important." He nonetheless believes, however, that
the realities of human perception are that "gut feeling" will always play a role. And that people looking for work
can gain a competitive edge by taking control of their "invisible inner thoughts," which are telegraphed to the Right
Brain of the person interviewing them.
"I'm not talking about manipulating circumstances to cover up something that you don't have," Kares says. "Or to
make you something that you aren't. But there are ways to allow all of the good things that you have to offer to
become recognizable.
"If you're concerned about the competition," he explains, "and you go in to an interview thinking, `There might be
someone better than me', it can be perceived intuitively as, `Oh, you're not the one we're looking for, then'." If
instead, you go in to the interview thinking, "I'm the best possible person for this job," that impression will be
intuitively picked up by your interviewer.
It's a matter of "applying the creative power of thought," says Kares, who has come up with certain methods to
accomplish this. Here are a few of them:
Be clear about your purpose - While most people feel the purpose of an interview is "to get the job,"
Kares believes there is another, more relevant purpose: To stand out favourably and be memorable. "After
interviewing a range of people, it's difficult to keep people straight," he explains. "Clearly, the candidates
who are memorable are most likely to be on the short list."
Think positive thoughts - Consciously think in advance of your favourable attributes, things such as: I
make a valuable contribution; people enjoy working with me; I am the candidate being sought; I would
make a valuable addition to the team.
Take charge of your emotions - During interviews, "feelings are not your guide," Kares says. "Interviewer
perceptions are shaped by what you are thinking, not by what you are feeling. Hold steadfast to your
thoughts about what you want your audience to perceive and trust that this is what they are perceiving.
Miraculously, that is what they will be most likely to experience."
Kares acknowledges that the process of directing interviewer perceptions is somewhat mysterious. "We can't get a
handle on it with our five senses."
"But the more we become aware of the fact that a mysterious, intuitive dimension does exist and that we're all
connected through it, we can use this to our advantage.
"In many ways, it's how we go about creating our lives. By the thoughts that we think, those are the things that end
up materializing."
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Reprinted by permission of J anis Foord Kirk, career columnist with the Toronto Star and Workopolis.com. J anis
Foord Kirk Survivabilityis a registered trademark of Kirkfoord Communications, Inc.