How PhDs can fix their monotone voice before it sabotages their non-academic job interview

You’re in an interview, and the content of your answers is perfect. There’s just one problem:

Your voice makes you seem cold, hostile, or robotic. There’s no warmth or enthusiasm in it.

Maybe in academia you could get away with this. But this is bad news in a non-academic interview.

It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how exciting your research is, no one wants to hire a robot.

Your competence isn’t the only thing you need to show the interviewer

Your CV got you in the door, so you have the skills. But the employer also wants to see enthusiasm.

You might think your competence should be the important thing.

But from their perspective, if you don’t seem enthusiastic about the job in the interview, you won’t be a great addition to the team. You won’t give it your best.

If your voice is flat, with no energy or warmth in it, you aren’t showing you care about the job.

They want to hire someone who likes the job and wants it.

If you’re not showing your enthusiasm, they’ll think you don’t have any.

If you speak in a monotone, you’ll be boring and they’ll be bored.

There’s always another candidate they can choose. You’re not the only one who applied.

Do you sound like a robot in interviews?

The first step in fixing a flat tone is knowing this is happening.

Do you already know?

I’ve gotten comments my whole life that my voice sounds “depressed” - which I’m not. I just have a scratchy voice that sounds monotone. When I listen to myself I’m always shocked by how bored I sound, even when I’m not bored.

You might have gotten some feedback already, so you know you speak in a monotone.

What Affects Your Voice?

Be honest with yourself. Do you know what’s happening with your voice in interviews?

Maybe you’re introverted, like me. It takes effort for me to show high energy.

Maybe when you’re in a bad mood you get more reserved.

Maybe when you’re super nervous you shut down.

Maybe when you’re on your fifth interview of the day and you’re exhausted your voice gets flat.

Maybe you don’t really want the job and aren’t hiding it.

Maybe you’re annoyed because the interviewers are asking you the same questions over and over.

Get Outside Feedback on Your Voice

If you’re not sure whether a flat tone of voice is hurting you in interviews, ask someone else for feedback. You can ask a friend or an interview coach.

I can tell you in our coaching session if your voice might be making a bad impression.

You can also use a AI interview coach, like Google Interview Warmup - there are tons of others too. They record you answering questions and then rate your answer. They’ll comment on things like tone, vocabulary, etc.

Or if you want to focus on just the voice, there are some vocal pitch tracker apps singers use to visualize their notes as they sing in real time, like Vocal Pitch Monitor and SingScope.

Practice saying your answer aloud while the app is running to visualize your voice.

And if these methods show that yes, your voice sounds flat -

How to Fix Your Monotone Voice

So you’ve realized you sound bored in interviews. How can you change this?

To show enthusiasm and warmth instead of sounding monotone:

• Use more hand gestures and facial expressions

What I’ve found working with clients is that when you increase any area of expressiveness, including the non-verbal, the others will increase too.

If you want to show more enthusiasm, move your hands more and use more facial expressions.

If you do this, your voice will sound more expressive and varied as well.

• Emphasize the key words in a sentence

Pick one word in a sentence and emphasize it, meaning slow down before you say it, raise your pitch, or increase your volume.

For example, instead of just saying:

“I researched X.”

Put the emphasis on the most important word. “X” is the most important word or phrase in that sentence, so it makes sense to emphasize it. “I researched X.”

Just this one small change for each sentence or statement will make your voice more engaging.

If you don’t know what word to emphasize, try experimenting and film yourself.

• Vary how fast you talk

An enthusiastic voice doesn’t just vary the emphasis. It also varies speed.

Try slowing down when you’re talking about something important and speeding up when sharing less critical information.

If you aren’t sure how to do that, experiment with varying your speed. Film yourself and see how you can mix up the speed as well as emphasize words.

• Use pauses

Pauses:

- build anticipation for the next idea

- provide listeners with a moment to absorb and process the information you've just shared

- work well between phrases, sentences, or as transitions between ideas

- vary your speaking rhythm and pace, which holds attention more than a single rhythm

Don’t let your monotone voice keep you from getting the job

If you can master the complex concepts you did in school, you can improve your speaking voice.

If you practice the techniques I’ve given you, and ask for help if you need it, you’ll let your competence show through.

Your voice is a powerful tool that can convey your expertise and engage your audience, and you need to do both to get the job you want.