"Mr. Mori, what does it mean to convey something??" When logic hits a dead end, sometimes you just have to embrace your intuition (Part 2)

Introducing part of the special dialogue from "Why Do You All Start Talking About the Same Things When It Comes to Job Hunting? ", a book adaptation of the "Classroom Connecting You and Society" series. This is the second part of the dialogue featuring Mr. Mori from SCOO. Through developing his company's services, Mr. Mori came to believe communication has "schools of thought." Knowing which school you belong to can also help alleviate fear of interviews.
(Part 1 is here )

 

Can You Leave an Interview Knowing the Interviewer's Hobbies?

There's no one right way to "communicate"

Hoshii: The schoo WEB-campus service you currently operate is a platform where you can really see, as if holding it in your hands, how various teachers communicate with many people in real-time, and how those receiving the information respond. Watching it from the sidelines, you probably notice things like, "This person is really good at communicating," or you start to see the tricks of the trade.

Mori: I think communication and teaching methods have "schools." For example, the theatrical style. We have an instructor named Tanaka-sensei who teaches Excel exceptionally well—he's a one-man show. He just says things like, "It's fine, this is how Excel should be," and it's entertaining just to watch.

 

Koshii: It's amazing he can pull that off with Excel.

Everyone: (laughs)

Mori: Alongside that style, there are people who engage in thorough communication with their audience, and others who prepare several patterns and adapt them to suit the person. I don't think there's one standard way—I believe all approaches are valid. So, when advising new instructors, I start by identifying their style. Then I might suggest, "Given your teaching style, you might find this instructor's and that instructor's classes helpful."

Koshii: For students, how do they find the communication style that suits them best?

Mori: As a premise, I think it's crucial not to view people through the binary lens of being good or bad at communication. Even among my friends, there are those who never lose at presentations, those who become the center of conversation at drinking parties, and those who are such good listeners that you'd go to them for relationship advice. I think it's important to properly consider and analyze which form of communication fits you best.

Interviewers aren't "walls"

Mori: Ultimately, outputting information itself is easy. What's crucial is how much of it the other person actually grasps. With online learning services, users can just close the browser if they get bored. So designing communication to keep their focus is vital. Whether you do this or not can shift the final retention rate by about 40%.

Kotei: So, not just teaching, but whenever you're communicating, it's more important to have that give-and-take, that back-and-forth exchange, rather than just talking one-way. Job hunting might be the same. For example, interviews are one of the few chances you get for real two-way interaction, right?

Mori: Just now I remembered something from my job hunting days. During a group interview, the guy next to me started talking about the weather before the interview began. The interviewer was in a low mood, so it didn't go well, but I think it was a good attempt. After all, you're there to communicate.

 

Orai: "Coming to communicate" – I think that's a wonderful phrase for students. It shifts the mindset from "I'm just going to talk about myself" to "I'm here to communicate with the interviewer," which feels like a significant difference.

Koshii: That might be a fresh perspective. Not many people come back from an interview knowing much about the interviewer, right? Like, "The person who interviewed me today has a daughter, keeps a dog, and their hobby is XX." If you could do that, it'd be a pretty good interview.

Okita: Everyone sees interviewers as some kind of "wall," but they're people too. If you can think of them as individuals listening to your story, it makes a big difference.

Mori: I get excited myself when I'm screening candidates. After all, they've made it past the paperwork stage to get to the interview. I'm looking for good teammates, thinking "I hope they're a good fit." So, as a student, if you can communicate under the assumption that they're not just coldly trying to weed you out, it might make you feel a bit more at ease.

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