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.

Another way to explain the impact emotions have on communication is to explore the topic of thoughtful articulation. Thoughtful in this instance means just that, full of thought. Articulation means speaking or communicating. Someone who displays articulate speech is very good at defining their terms and they are very clear in their communication. To yourself or out loud, speak the word articulation. Do you notice that the very word requires that you take a moment to speak it well? The consonants are like door stops. The word doesn’t flow off the tongue in a sloppy manner. It can’t! Articulate speech is deliberate and careful.

(Excerpt from Outfluence for Job Seekers @ www.outfluence.com)