I watched the first two broadcasts of the “new” American Idol.  I enjoyed both the contestants and the judges.  The contestants have always been emotional; they wear their hearts on their sleeves.  Past judges would occasionally let their emotions show.  Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez have given indication that they like the emotional aspect of the show, and they show it.

In Part II of The Job Seeker series I wrote about Constant Messaging® which is a form of communication focused on the senses – hearing, seeing, and feeling.  Today let’s look into emotions and what effect emotions have on decision-making.  Just why is it that we are attracted to shows like American Idol?  It has to do with a hormone called Dopamine.

Dopamine was discovered in 1958. It is a hormone that plays a critical role in something known as the reward system, a collection of brain structures which attempts to regulate and control behavior by inducing pleasurable effects. In his book, How We Decide, author Jonah Lehrer explains that, “dopamine neurons automatically detect the subtle patterns that we would otherwise fail to notice.” These patterns are translated by us into feelings, and it is feelings, or emotion, that guides our decisions.

The great American humorist and social commentator Will Rogers said that the ability to make good decisions comes from the experience of learning from our bad decisions. The secret, then, to making more good decisions than bad decisions is to pay attention to our emotions and regulate them. The way a prospective employer does that is by thinking about his decisions. Every decision he makes is accompanied by a moment of silent awareness. Through education and practice, he has learned to be cognizant of silent awareness moments, to anticipate them, and to pay thoughtful attention to them. When you as an employee prospect respond emotionally but with thoughtful consideration of the consequences, you are applying intelligent emotions to your actions. The result is good decision-making by you in the responses you make during the interview.  The prospective employer is attempting to make a good decision about you as he listens to your verbal responses and responds to your emotions. Good decisions advance both of your goals.

The reason people like me enjoy American Idol so much can be found in the personal stories that the contestants tell.  Their stories of struggle and dreams and family and disappointment raise our interest, and our emotions, to the point of pulling for certain contestants to really be good.  If they turn out to have real talent, we’re hooked.  We’ll watch week after week.

As you walk into an interview room and attempt to secure an offer of employment, remember that the person you are talking to is an emotional human being just like you are.  At this point he has seen your resume’ and is attracted to your story.  He is pulling for you to live up to your resume’.  Your goal is to thoughtfully, purposefully and genuinely sell your story to him.  Carefully use emotion to inspire your interview performance.

In Part IV of The Job Seeker series we will explore inspired performance and how it will give you another edge in a job interview.