Conversations Lead to Jobs: 100 Good Conversation Starters
Here are some conversation starters to break the ice in any professional situation and help establish a connection between you and others.
Here are some conversation starters to break the ice in any professional situation and help establish a connection between you and others.
Need help with how to start a conversation? Conversation starters can lead to exciting conversations for job candidates to network and build meaningful rapport with job interviewers. Conversations can occur just about anywhere but they’re particularly important during a networking event or before a job interview officially begins.
On this page, we’ll provide you with 100 of the best conversation starters for job networking, social settings and job interviews. These conversation openers can instantly lead you to deeper and more genuine conversations, paving the way for a great job interview and improving your chances of getting hired.
Build my resumeConversation starters can vary greatly depending on the situation, but they all serve as ice-breakers that can lead you to meaningful and deep conversations. Some conversation starters are suitable for a specific situation but entirely unsuitable for others.
For example, you may find yourself on a first date on Valentine’s Day, struggling to make some good vibes by engaging in some small talk. In this case, casual or funny conversation starters like talking about your favorite restaurant, favorite food or even sharing your worst pick-up line would be very suitable. Even asking your date silly “would-you-rather” questions or about their biggest regrets while in high school would all be suitable conversation starters for your first time on a date. But using these types of personal questions during a job interview can probably guarantee that this is the last time you’ll see that hiring.
Below we’ll go over good conversation starters to use with a job interviewer and great conversation starters for job networking. Finally, we’ll provide some practical guidelines for how to keep the conversation going once you’ve asked the specific questions and started the small talk.
Once you’ve successfully used these conversation starters to engage in small talk at networking events, you can then maintain the conversation by asking more casual questions to build further rapport, such as the following, broken down by topic:
Most people have things they hope to accomplish, both inside and outside of work. Talking about goals can be an excellent way to bond with other people and announcing these ambitions can keep people motivated to improve or progress in their own goals. Here are a couple questions you can ask, along with share a bit about your own self-improvement plans so that you can plan or celebrate together:
This may seem like a strange question, but deep conversation starters like this one, may yield some common ground between you and the other person.
This is a great way to listen intently to the mentioned advice, thank the person for sharing, and respond with how you’ll remember that piece of advice in the future.
This is a great opportunity to mention your best work qualities should the other person mention something that happens to be your strong areas in business.
Sometimes talks that are too politically charged, too personal or revolve in gossip can get heated, and it is often best to steer away from overly controversial topics until you have a relationship with someone and know how they will react. Instead, discuss subjects that can lead to follow-up questions without making anyone uncomfortable, such as:
A great way to avoid saying something in response that will not be favorable to the other person.
The answer to this question allows you to mention if you’re a newcomer and would like to be introduced to others for networking purposes.
This is a courteous and simple way to elicit an answer from the other person. It gives you the opportunity to respond with encouraging words if a day has not been the best.
This can elicit a simple “yes” or “no” answer but it’ll probably trigger a further explanation for anyone unable to disconnect from a cell phone.
The answer to this question provides a quick glimpse into the work environment. If the person answers with the words stressed, overworked and overwhelmed, it may not be a good place to work.
It’s a good idea to see if a company requires employees to work in-house, hybrid or allows complete remote working opportunities.
People love traveling or taking time off to unwind. Trips are an exciting and engaging conversation topics as it brings a sense of bonding and joy to the conversation. You can ask about past travels or plans for upcoming trips as this offers a chance to bond over common destinations, or just to focus on thoughts of rest and relaxation.
This is just a fun question that can lead to a common ground such as vacationing at the beach or in the mountains, camping locally or sightseeing abroad.
If you’re interested in a company that includes fun events like summer or holiday employee gatherings, you’ll get the answer from someone who knows.
If you’re looking for insight in the business travel requirements, an answer to this question may yield an honest perspective on potential travel.
The answer can help you determine whether business travel with the particular company may be more than you’re looking for or anticipating.
This gives you insight into whether the person that you’re conversing with relocated to work at the present company, making the company more worthwhile to join.
Hobbies are one of the most popular talking points. Learning what people like to do in their spare time can help you understand and appreciate them as individuals and can provide opportunities for future conversations. Here are some suggestions:
Pre-interview small talk can be crucial for ensuring a smooth and successful interaction during an interview. Preparing some good conversation starters can help avoid awkward silences and uncomfortable beginnings in an interview. In addition, they allow you to start interviews with an instinctive and personal touch making you more likable and provide perfect opportunities for follow-up questions regarding the job.
Here are some perfect conversation starters to use with an interviewer:
Having the skills to start and maintain an interesting conversation is an excellent communication skill for job networking events. Choosing the proper conversation starters for networking events can help you develop meaningful rapport with other professionals in your industry, make new connections and build long-lasting relationships.
Networking events provide an excellent opportunity to build potential partnerships with professionals in your industry. But you can’t make these potential partnerships if you don’t leave a great first impression, and for that, you must know how to start and maintain great conversations. Therefore, to fully take advantage of networking events, use these five great conversation starters to mingle with like-minded professionals and develop meaningful relationships and potential partnerships:
Once you’ve successfully gotten the conversation started, it’s equally important to keep the conversation going in the right direction. You can do this by being an active listener. To be an effective active listener, show the interviewer that you’re listening by having open body language, and by making and maintaining eye contact. Show that you have summarized what the speaker has said when you ask relevant follow-up questions to show them that you are invested in the conversation and want to continue it.
ResumeHelp provides conversation starters to break the ice in any professional situation and to help establish a connection between you and others. It also has plenty of other resources and guides for networking and making connections.
Check out these resources if you need help with:
Have questions? We’re here to help.
While experts may not suggest you use a “cute” conversation starter in a job interview or at a networking event, it can be used in social settings to break the ice. Here are some cute conversation starters:
Answers to these cute conversation starters could help instigate an engaging conversation.
Using any conversation on this page can help you get off to a great start. To move past the small talk, segue the topic into questions the other person may be interested in. Then, through that switch in the conversation, you can subtly get to the point of the topic you’re looking to discuss whether it’s more information about a company or job, networking opportunities or job interview questions.
Small talk is important because it helps pave the way for authentic and deeper conversations down the line. It also increases your ability to bond with others and enables you to find common ground and shared interests with those around you.
Regardless of the situation, topics relating to politics, money, social media, personal family questions, death, religion, sex,gossip, or any controversial opinion tend to be awkward conversation starters. Start a conversation the right way with the questions on this page, and you’ll build your conversation skills and make meaningful relationships.
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