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In today’s crowded job market, the best candidate does not always receive the job. Hiring managers tend to hire people they like or believe are a great “fit.” With 15M+ job seekers competing for approximately 2.5M openings in the U.S., it’s vital that you standout in this crowded job market. One way you can achieve this is by building rapport with individuals, including hiring managers, using the process below.

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Smile and Show Enthusiasm

Smiling is the first thing you can do to build rapport when you meet individuals. It presents you as warm and friendly and helps others relax, feel good, and open up around you. Also your smile will help you give off enthusiastic vibes that add life to any setting and rub off on the individuals you are meeting. This positive energy will set the stage for successfully building rapport.

Demonstrate Hospitality

After greeting people with your million dollar smile, continue your considerate and generous behaviors. You can start by giving a firm handshake while introducing yourself and asking for the individuals’ names (if you are meeting for the first time). Next, you could ask for permission to use their first names and offer them a seat or wait until you are invited to sit down. Finally, you can give a sincere compliment by thanking them for taking time out of their busy schedules to meet with you.

Entice Individuals to Talk

Next you want people you meet to open up and talk. You can achieve this by asking questions about their interests, professional background, and/or for advice. Common interests could be hobbies, educational background, or any other interesting area you want to explore. For example, if you are conducting an informational interview, you could ask for career transition advice. People like to provide advice and your request could be viewed as a sincere compliment. During interviews, you could ask insightful questions about the interviewers’ experiences, professional goals, challenges, and opportunities.

Listen

Once individuals are talking, you must listen carefully to build empathy. Listening is very important to establishing rapport since no one likes to be interrupted and talked over. Likewise, do not interrupt people when they are speaking. Write down any thoughts or questions you are itching to ask and wait for your opportunity to speak. When it’s your turn to talk, provide a brief summary of what was stated including the points you agree with. Then ask your questions and these individuals to expand on topics of interest.

In conclusion, you need people to open up and talk about areas of interest to help build rapport. You can achieve this by displaying courtesy and professional behavior and asking open-ended questions. Once individuals start talking more than you and about themselves, you are on your way to bonding and connecting with them.

I recommend you listen to Pamela Skilling’s “Escape from Corporate, Career Guide.” Also visit www.blogtalkradio.com/thecareercatalyst to listen to the previous shows, sign up for a free BlogTalkRadio account, mark these episodes as a favorite, set reminders for the upcoming shows, and participate live every Tuesday night. By the way Internet Marketing
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Remember to participate in Episode 29 “How to Differentiate Yourself and Rise to the Pinnacle of Your Profession by Displaying Executive Presence,” Tuesday, January 19^th at 9PM EST with expert guest Harrison Monarth.

The knowledge of a crowd is greater than the wisdom of a few. So get engaged in the online career community at JobRadioUSA and persuade others to do the same.

Bonus Lens and Hub Articles You Should Read

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• How to Supercharge Your Stalled Job Search
• How to Get a Job by Networking with Your Warm Contacts
  
• Tap into the Hidden Job Market via Cold Calls
• 4 Ways to Uncover Hidden Jobs
• 6 Step Process to Ace Any Job Interview
• The Characteristics of a Dynamic Resume
• The Four Components of a Dynamic Cover Letter
• How to Prepare for an Upcoming, Potential Layoff
• How to Cope with a Difficult Job Search