Stuttering in Job Interviews: A Plan for Fluency and Confidence

This is the second time that I have talked about this subject at SAM. Job interviews are a subject with which I am very familiar. In addition to applying for all manner of jobs in my early years, I co-founded several law firms and dozens of businesses and often did the hiring. So, I have spent my share of time applying for jobs and hiring staff for businesses. Hopefully, my perspectives will help you.

Job interviews are the bane of existence for many stutterers and non-stutterers. Fears of being studied by someone else and being surprised by various questions abound.

Most stutterers are terrified of interviews, but such need not be the case. Interviews offer wonderful opportunities to continue the process of making ourselves the person that we wish to be. We must train our minds to think of interviews as opportunities to shine.

There are two core fears: (1) not knowing WHAT to say and (2) not knowing IF you can say it or anything at all.

Most interviewers ask two core questions. If they don’t ask these questions, they STILL want to hear these answers from you. So, if not asked, you still want to find a way to give this information. These core questions and answers follow:

(1) Why did you apply to THIS company? To answer this question, you need to do research on the company and be able to recite as much positive information about it as you can. You chose THIS company because it is special in many ways. Recite that information. As you do, show as much enthusiasm in your voice and facial expressions as you can.

(2) Why should this company pick YOU? What do you bring to us that others may not? Here, you provide information about yourself, your background, your knowledge base, your work ethic, your habit of exerting maximum effort and finishing tasks, your positive attitude, the pleasing persona, and the enthusiasm that you will bring to the job. YOU WILL LIFT THE SPIRITS OF OTHERS. (If this is not your habit, MAKE IT SO. Change. Use the interview process and the ultimate job as opportunities to IMPROVE yourself, to be the person that YOU would hire and want as an employee.)

(3) Above all, SMILE from the first second to the last second of the interview—and thank the interviewer for his/her time and patience.

Equally important for stutterers is preparing ourselves to speak fluently.

One of my students became quite an expert at this and, due to his job, became an expert interviewer as well. He is a Ph.D. in psychology, a university professor, and in his mid-30s. He came to us in 2022 and posted his SSS several months later. He had earlier struggled with job interviews and when doing 45-minute lectures. During his time with us, being coached by Javi and/or me, he watched sessions that we did with others about job interviews, and he emailed us some of his helpful observations.

“Hello Lee,

“Your job interview sessions caught my attention. I am sure what your other students described is true and, as such, it is painful. I had the same problem as she is having now, and now I am on the other side, interviewing people frequently at different levels (faculty, grad students, undergrad students, and other paid opportunities).

“I totally agree with what you said: Inoculations or ‘vaccination,’ or flooding with practice, helped me become a better interviewee. Also, as Javier said, simulating situations is something I did and am still doing as well. What I did frequently was expose myself to a set of frequently asked questions and prepare my general answer. After a few interviews, you kind of get to know what they often ask.

“Interviews can be structured, semi-structured, or unstructured, where structured and semi-structured interviews use prepared questions fully or partly, respectively, and unstructured interviews do not use them.

“I think our approach would be the same regardless of the types of interviews: full stop, link, slow, smile, stop.

“For those who can do the foregoing under pressure AND think something else, add thinking extreme pronunciation and/or message.

“HOWEVER, I feel most could practice common interview questions with Javier or a friend while using the general speech plan for structured interviews and thinking about their message for unstructured interviews, which could help them give their best interview.

“In the highest-pressure situations, let’s use our Crisis Speech Plan, but if I come up with a better idea, I will certainly share it with you.

“One time, my colleague told me that an interview is really a place to make friends. His words eased my tension a lot because, as a PWS, all I thought was, ‘My interviewer is judging my speech.’ After changing my mind and attitude, I started giving better interviews. So, consistent with your method, it is the mind that dictates what you are and how you perform. I am not sure if this is helpful at all, but I could not stand not sharing my thoughts, as I did struggle myself, and your student should nail her interview.”

END OF QUOTATION.

Bottom line: What Crisis Speech Plan should we master to use in job interviews? The same one we use in any other crisis. What’s that?

1. Stop talking and take a two-count.

2. Begin with an alternate word or hum into the first word.

3. Hold the hum and link through 1–3 words.

4. STOP for a full 1–2 seconds and repeat 2) and 3).

Have you mastered this? If not, you have MISSED THE BIGGEST PART OF METHODS. While mind training is THE No. 1 underlying message in our program, our Crisis Speech Plan is THE No. 1 part of the tools that we use to deliver fluency and thus permit us to create a fluency habit to replace the stutter habit.

No one can master a Crisis Speech Plan for you. You must practice it, when not needed and when needed, until it is automatic AND EASY to use. Have YOU done this? If not, WHY NOT? When will you do it?

Once you have mastered your Crisis Speech Plan and once you have CONVINCED yourself that you can use it anywhere, anytime, the stutter habit will begin to disintegrate. If you keep using your CSP, the fears of speech will die faster and faster until they are no more. As Konstantin said, be PATIENT AND PERSISTENT as you use your CSP and watch and feel the fears of speech fall away into oblivion, until you use C-13, No Crutch at all, and can then focus entirely on C-11, Speaking like a King/Queen. That’s when YOU become the best speaker you know!

The 10 steps below work with many. For most, mastering these steps in the order listed below will expedite positive results.

(1) Hum: To avoid undue silences, hum or mildly sing into the first word, or use the first word as a sound launch. If the hum is solidly connected to the first word, there can never be an undue silence. The length of the hum can be long, medium, short, or even so short as to not be detectable by the listener.

(2) Use the Crutches: Practice by using Crutches even when not needed until mastered.

(3) General Speech Plan: Mild to medium stutterers can make huge and immediate progress by simply having a General Speech Plan and not speaking unless they are consciously thinking it. A GSP might be as little as thinking Slow-Passion-Stop; that is, speak slowly, say everything with positive energy and conviction, and insert frequent 1-, 2-, or 3-second stops.

(4) Pressure Speech Plan: Less-Link-Short. When feeling pressure, talk less, link everything, and keep it short (1 to 5 words or so).

(5) Use Extreme Pronunciation: While being relaxed, strive to pronounce every syllable and word ending, making speech easier to understand and remember. It is impossible to stutter when the mind is consumed with an effort to pronounce all syllables.

(6) Smile as You Speak: Smiling can unilaterally trump stuttering, as it takes 12 muscles to smile and sends endorphin-type, happy messages to all of our 30 trillion cells.

(7) Most Important: Think Message. Fluency is fulfilled when focus is entirely on the message and how to say it with more positive emotion, using frequent stops of varied lengths, while projecting relaxed, happy feelings.

(8) Automate the Above: By being patient and doing the above over and over until each element is virtually automatic.

(9) Avoid Word Planning. If you are still thinking, planning, and/or fearing words, you have not yet trained your mind sufficiently to think the solutions in this list and are ceding/allowing the stutter habit to take the speech steering wheel.

(10) Know the Elements of Superior Speech: Superior speech is achieved when the speaker COMBINES speaking slowly, using precise pronunciation, thinking message and how to say it with positive emotion, while inserting frequent full stops of varied length. When this becomes natural for you, you will, by then, love to speak in all situations.