Hey there and welcome to Speak English with Christina where you'll have fun becoming fluent in American English. Imagine you have a job interview in English soon. You've prepared your questions with my course Get the Job. You've practiced your answers and you feel pretty confident. But did you think about the small talk? That's right, even in an interview, your ability to make small talk plays a big role in the interviewer's impression of you. What should you say? And what should you not say? That's what you'll learn today. Let's go. If you think small talk has no place in a job interview, let me share some research with you. In a study of 163 job interviews, researchers found that pre-interview small talk made a significant difference on the result of the interview. I'll put the link to that study in the show notes so you can read it yourself. And small talk gives you a chance to make a good impression. Plus, you show that you're a nice person to work with and we all like working with nice people, right? Maybe the interviewer wants to make friendly chit chat. Small conversations before jumping into the big questions like tell me about yourself and what are your biggest weaknesses, for example. Often the interviewer will start with, how are you today? Don't just say, fine. And then stop talking because that creates awkward uncomfortable silence. You're expected to elaborate a little to give some more details. Say something about your day or the trip to get to their office or how excited you are to be there. Here are a few ideas. Good. It's been a good day so far. I had a productive morning so yeah, everything's good. Another one. Oh fine, thanks. The traffic was smooth getting here and it was easy to find your office so far, so good. Or another one. I'm good, thanks. I've been looking forward to this interview for a while so I'm happy to finally be here. Keep it positive. You don't want the interviewer to remember you as the person who complained all the time. If you have the habit of complaining about train strikes, the bad weather or how tired you are, please go watch the lesson, how to answer, how are you? It seems like a basic question but I see students who mess this up all the time. Think of it as your first interview question and prepare it. Sure, weather is a very common small talk subject in everyday conversations where your aim is not necessarily to impress the other person. But if you have the chance to meet an interviewer, use every moment to convince them that you're the right person. Every other candidate will probably talk about the weather. Just because it is kind of the basic small talk conversation but you're smarter than that and you're going to stand out because you actually thought to prepare the small talk before the interview. And here's one technique that will have a much higher impact. If you know who will interview you, it's easy to find their LinkedIn profile and learn a little about their interests. You can then casually mention the thing that you have in common. Maybe you saw they posted an article about women in technology. And earlier that week you read an article on how Washington DC is America's top city for women in tech. You can drop this casually into the conversation if you have an opportunity. For example, you know, earlier this week I read an article about how Washington DC has a lot of women in the tech industry there. I didn't know that. Did you? Maybe you saw that your interviewer does a specific sport like jogging or yoga or something like that. And you could also mention that in your response to how are you. Something like, oh, I'm good. Yeah, I went jogging for 30 minutes this morning. So I'm feeling good. And that's another easy way to make a quick connection. And your interviewer will be pleasantly surprised to learn that you have a shared interest. And we all like people who share our interests. Now, maybe you feel a little awkward making small talk. Don't worry. With practice it becomes easier. And my course successful small talk was designed for students who are comfortable enough with professionalism. And they're not comfortable enough with professional discussions in English. But can't find the right things to say in everyday conversations. We may call it small talk, but it can make a big difference in your career. Now, what about you? What subjects do you usually discuss when you make small talk? Share your ideas. Let's continue the conversation in the comments. And if you're afraid of losing great job opportunities because of your English, get my insider advice and increase your chances of getting the job at your next interview. Click the image below to get some bonus lessons to prepare your job interview. And of course subscribe to my channel so you get a new English lesson each week. Thanks for watching Speak English with Christina. And I'll see you next time.