Hypnotic Job Interviewing
How to use rapport-building and "values elicitation", techniques from NLP and Speed Seduction, to make a stronger impression in a job interview. The same skills carry over to dating and any conversation where you want someone on your side.
These techniques are no substitute for being qualified and preparing normally. They're an extra edge.
Step 1: Build rapport
Rapport is the feeling of being "in sync" with someone. Instead of hunting for common interests (sport, TV, the weather), build it non-verbally:
- Mirroring and matching: subtly reflect their posture and gestures.
- Voice: match their pace and volume, quick and punchy or slow and soft.
- Breathing: matching their breathing rate is one of the strongest rapport builders.
- Go slowly: when they shift, wait 4–5 seconds before adjusting, or it looks like mockery.
- Test it: change your position. If they follow, you have rapport. If not, keep matching.
Step 2: Ask about the process
When they ask if you have questions, find out how the decision works: do they decide or recommend? How many people must they see? You'll use this later.
Step 3: Find their real values
People decide emotionally and justify logically. Ask something like:
"When you've found exactly the right person for a role, what's important to you about that?"
- Ask what is important, never why (that makes people defensive).
- The first answer is usually the official line ("the best fit for the team"). Agree, then go deeper: "What does finding that person give you?"
- Repeat two or three times: "And what does that give you that's even more important?"
- Around the third to fifth level you'll see a visible change: they relax, smile, light up. That's their core value (pride, relief, a sense of contributing).
Step 4: Link yourself to that value
Show how hiring you delivers it. If their deepest value is contributing to the organisation, connect your application to exactly that. You can also frame other candidates as merely saying the right things, and the remaining interviews as a formality, but stay natural, not pushy.
Practise first
Try these skills on friends and strangers before using them in a real interview.
See also
Summary of an article on NLP interview techniques from SelfGrowth.com.