The job interview itself is a test of communications skills. In many jobs communications are a set of essential skills, and interview questions will deal specifically with them. Your interview answers need to be top quality.

For many, these interview questions can be confusing, and frustrating. They don’t know what the interviewers want. Interview answers can become scrambled and disorganized, because they aren’t structured.

How to structure your interview answer for communications questions

The interviewers need to know:

• What you do.
• How you use communications on the job.
• Indicate the level of complexity in your role.

What you do.

When giving your interview answer, you need to set the scene for the interviewers to understand your work. It has to be spelled out clearly.

This is particularly important in making your interview answer relevant to the job. Some types of job use quite different types of communication, and your interview answer has to show the right skills.

How you use communications on the job.

Now you can use your interview answer to demonstrate your skills. The interviewers now understand your role. You can explain your communications in context with your experience, and show the relevance of your skills to the interviewers.

Indicate the level of complexity in your description of your role.

Important: The interview question about communications relates specifically to essential skills. In communications jobs, the skill levels can be very high and the work environment extremely competitive. Your interview answer needs to show a level of skills equal to, or better than, the standards required.

Example

The job is a direct public contact position, which involves phone and counter inquiries. The applicant is an experienced public contact officer, who’s working in a call center.

The interview question is ’What communications skills are required in your current job?’ In this case, it’s a very important interview question, directly related to core skills the applicant must have to do the job. The best interview answer hits all targets.

’I work in a call center dealing with accounts inquiries for a financial institution. There’s a very high emphasis on quality of information in this role.

I deal with inquiries across the entire range of products. I advise both customers and new accounts inquiries. I also tell these contacts about our new products and opportunities, which is really a sales role.

Some inquiries are complex. I have to ask questions, to get the necessary levels of information. I need a clear picture of the clients’ needs. The clients need to see their options, and to understand how our products operate.’

Analysis

This interview answer indicates:

• A demanding role in which information quality is very important.
• Good understanding of information needs.
• A large knowledge base for dealing with a broad range of subjects.
• Obvious strong experience in public contact.

There are no gaps in this interview answer. The real issues contained in the interview question have been fully answered.