interviews
So, what about rapport?
Well first, what is rapport? Rapport is a relationship built upon affinity and trust. Building rapport in a short period of time might be challenging. One of the best ways to build rapport while conducting interviewers is quite easy: ask a simple question, “Can you tell me something about yourself?” That encourages your subject to open up through the process of autonomy.
The reason this works in terms of rapport-building is that you can create and share a common bond based on something important to them. Now you have a sense of who the individual is and you could share a common interest. By sharing a common interest, we tend to build rapport because "I’m much more like you than you realize".
Some of you might think, “In the environment I work in, people aren’t going to answer that question. They’re going to look at me like I’m crazy.” But do you think they’d rather talk about themselves, or why they’re sitting in front of you right now? They’d rather talk about themselves!! The other thing to consider is, you may be the first member of management to ever sit down with this individual and say “Who are you? What makes you tick? Tell me about yourself.”
Giving someone that opportunity to talk about themselves and discover a common interest with you helps you build that relationship in a very short period of time. It helps you build rapport.
by Chris Norris, CFI
