The purpose of this study was to examine phatic communication use in employment interviews and whether or not phatic communication use affects applicant perceptions of the interviewer. A lab experiment was conducted with three conditions: the absence of phatic communication, phatic communication, and phatic communication violation. Ninety-nine participants were interviewed and then they completed a survey that measured predicted outcome value, liking, relational closeness, and communication satisfaction. First, the current data revealed that when interviewers used some kind of phatic interaction, applicants rated the future relationship with the interviewer (i.e., predicted outcome value) positively; when phatic communication was absent, applicants rated predicted outcome value more negatively. Second, predicted outcome value was positively related with liking, relational closeness, and communication satisfaction.