Small Talk - Two Example Dialogs

In this conversation, we initiated the conversation and talked about the other person.  However, sometimes you will not have anything to talk about.  In order to keep the conversation alive, you should think about topics such as the weather. 

This example is when you run into someone.  This is an easy type of small talk because when you run out of things to say, you can always say bye.  There are times when you don't have that option.  Let's practice a situation where you cannot leave, such as an interview.  I go into depth about interview communication in a different section.  For now, I am going to emphasize the small talk portion of an interview.  There are times when you will not have an opportunity for small talk, but in other cases, you might have to talk about general things. 

This is a good example of small talk.  It shows that you are easy to speak with, and most importantly, you found a small connection even though it was about a small topic such as the traffic problem.  In this type of situation, don't feel that you have to constantly talk.  If it is not relevant to the topic, it might be better not to say anything.  But if you can add on to the topic, it's a good thing.  The person who is giving the interview has the control, and that person will direct the small talk to the interview when the time is right.  In my example above, I made a small transition from the traffic and started the interview process.  If you are interested about interview, please go to the Interview Section.  You may now move on to the practice session.