Confident English
Sounding confident in interviews
Your voice, like your body language, will tell the interviewer a lot about the sort of person you are. If you speak too quietly or hesitantly, the interviewer may think you lack confidence. If you are too loud, it can sound irritatingly over-confident and even aggressive. Nerves can cause you to speak too quickly, making you difficult to understand.
If you want to know how you sound to other people, record yourself speaking English. Then listen to your recording and imagine you are the interviewer hearing your voice for the first time. How do you sound? To sound confident, you should aim to speak clearly, evenly and at a moderate speed.
More tips for sounding confident in interviews:
- Smile and you will automatically give your voice a friendly, confident note.
- As in your cover letter, use active verb forms ("I was responsible for ...", "I researched ...") when talking about your studies, work experience or other activities. They sound much more dynamic than passive verb forms ("I was given responsibility for ...", "I was asked to research ...").
- Use "confident" expressions such as "I'm sure that", "I know that" and "I'm confident that", especially when you are asked for your opinion on something, and avoid weak words such as "perhaps" and "maybe".