Career Tip #2: Stand up during phone interviews to improve your voice quality and overall energy.

Remember being a kid and recording your voice and hearing it for the first time?  “That’s not me!”  If you were brave enough to say this out loud, your friends would respond “Yes it is.  That’s exactly what you sound like.”  It’s shocking to discover that we don’t sound the way we think we do.  

Same thing with phone interviews.  Unless you’ve recorded yourself, you probably have no idea what you really sound like.  In person, you’re animated and engaging.  But on the phone, without the benefit of body language and eye contact, your voice may actually sound a little flat. 

Take a clue from professional singers (not of the stool/lounge act variety) and stand up.  Why do they stand?   I asked a singer friend of mine who gave this reason “It allows you to take deeper breaths and control your breathing better.”  So if you’re nervous about phone interviews (come on, who isn’t just a little?) standing up can be good to calm your nerves – deeper breaths can slow your heart rate and lower blood pressure too.  Helpful, if you’re nervous.

Smiling is another way to improve how you sound – it’s a trick many customer service people are familiar with.  There are call centers that place mirrors by employees’ phones so they can self-monitor whether they’re smiling while they’re talking to customers.  Why?  Smiling makes your voice sound more friendly and appealing.

Do a little experiment – say something like “Let me tell you about a time…” First, do it without smiling.  Then, while smiling. 

Notice the difference? 

Then try this experiment with a friend on the phone.  Ask them if they notice a difference.  During your next phone interview, try both standing up and smiling and see if it doesn’t make you feel less anxious overall.  

I’m Stacey Lane: Confidence Builder. Networking Smarts. Resume Wordsmith. Personal Branding Strategist. Career Coach.

I help individuals with unique backgrounds find their perfect fit and effectively market themselves so they find work that is as interesting as they are.

Contact me to get started!

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