oral interview...sqeeky voice???

[danah]

did anyone get the "nervous, sqeeky voice" thing during their oral interview??? my interview is this friday and when ever i sit down to practice i already get nervous. i was just wondering if anyone got a "nervous voice" during their oral and was wondering how the interviewers acted upon hearing it.

thanks.

[danah]

Originally posted by neinta
I've noticed that a lot of times the "nervous voice" is more noticible to you that to those you are talking to. I always thought my voice would crack when I was giving speeches or in interviews. I had a few of my speeches audio taped and on top of not really recognizing my voice (I don't hear it recorded often) you couldn't tell it was breaking.

Maybe you can audio tape yourself and see if it is just noticible to you (as you hear your voice inside your head) or if it is really noticible.

thanks for the advice. im not having the sqeeky voice yet, i am just anticipating it to come . hopefully it won't. i find the more prepared i am for something, the less nervous i am and i have been preparing for this. it is just one of those things that i'm not sure if i will go in there and shine or if i will go embarass myself.

thanks.

[nealopp]

Don't worry, once you get out of puberty, the squeaky voice kind of disappears. You should be fine in thime for the boards :D

[Stump]

I remember parts of my interview. I don't remember my voice being squeaky, but you don't notice those things in girls much anyway.
I remember having to specifically grip my hands under the table because I always talk with my hands and I didn't want them to be flailing about while trying to answer the question. (I still do that when talking to the guys - I gesture with my hands while I am dispatching the call LOL)
Do a search online for public speaking. I'm sure there has to be a site that gives you some pointers.

[rent-a-cop]

I just took my first ever oral interview a few weeks ago. My voice was normal, but I couldn't help talking too fast, and I mispronounced and "tripped" over a few of my words.The more I tried to control my speaking,the more self-conscious I got. Halfway through the interview,it was clear that I was sinking into mediocrity. I recieved a score of 75.6% for that interview,ranking 85 out of 102.(at least I was better than 17 people!) which means I didn't come across as retarded, but I didn't "Wow"them either.(To my credit,the township and dept. I applied to are HIGHLY political, and I didn't have any "juice" with anyone in this dept)

To be succesful ,you have to stand out from the croud. They probably won't care if you seem a little nervous(everyone is nervous during interviews),but ask yourself the question"If I heard myself speaking from outside the room, would I sound like a police officer, or just another "wannabe"?

It didn't help that some of their questions were not clear, Like the opening question "How did you come to the decision?" It doesn't really make sense, so I took it as the the decision to apply to the dept. Than the guy asking the question(there were 3 officers)said "No, how do you make decisions?" It was pretty bad, and I walked out knowing that most of what I said made no real sense If your speaking in a squeaky voice, It doesn't make much difference if your answers are clear,complete and make sense.

[TALLON]

Danah, In my profession, I give a lot of presentations or have public speaking appearances. The tip I can give you about this is just be you. Speak as if you are talking to one of your friends. Never-mind the faces or the amount of faces in the room, just tell a story...we can all tell a story. Confidence will come the more you do this. The only one that knows you are nervous is you. Nerves are NORMAL...use them to your advantage by turning them into enthusiasm. If you worry about a squeeky voice, then that's what you'll get. Nobody knows your story better than you. You'll do fine...Good Luck.

[Kenpokev]

Sounds stupid, but try this:

Sing loudly in your car on the way to the interview. It helps clear the phlem in your vocal chords and loosens up the vocal chords. When we are nervous about speaking, we tend to build phlem in our throats. So try singing, it does work. Try not to have any passengers though, most everyone is a poor singer

When answering questions in the Oral's, try to remember to think as broadly as possible. Try to avoid linear conclusions. If you make assumptions, tell them as you answer. One of my questions involved off-duty intervention in a potentially life-threatening situation. I explained some of my assumptions and asked for some clarification about the setting. They declined any details and accepted my assumptions. The goal was to see how my thought process was in evaluating the scenario.

Good luck

[Jaime]

Originally posted by rent-a-cop
I just took my first ever oral interview a few weeks ago. My voice was normal, but I couldn't help talking too fast,

That's my problem too when I get nervous, I talk waaay too fast.