Have you been to a job interview recently, perfectly qualified for the job, answered all the questions well but still found yourself rejected? The answer could lie in your body language; studies suggest that only 7% of communication is the words you say, 38% is through certain vocal aspects like your tone of voice and 55% is through nonverbal elements – your facial expressions, gestures, posture, etc. Here we look at the messages you’ve been sending out with your body language and how to tweak these to make sure you’re sending all the right signals.
- Adopt an engaged posture
Think about your posture. A natural thing for people to do in job interviews is slouch and cross their arms – this looks like you’re making yourself smaller and wrapping yourself up so you’re sending off signals that you’re defensive and nervous. Open up your body, don’t cross your arms or legs and lean slightly forwards from the waist to show the interviewer you’re engaged, interested and confident.
- Appear calm and relaxed
If you’re jiggling about, playing with clothes or other objects like jewellery or pens, then you will seem anxious and nervous and the interviewer will be less inclined to have confidence in you. A good tip is to focus on your breathing – slow your breathing down which will slow your heart rate and make you feel less nervy.
- Use the right hand gestures
Keep them steady and only to emphasise a point – palms upwards shows openness and trustworthiness. Touching your heart can signify that what you’re saying is genuine and comes from the heart. Steepling is a show of confidence and the reverse of this is clasping or squeezing your hands together with interlocked fingers, which is a sign of self-comfort and anxiety- so try to avoid this.
- Mirror the interviewer
This is an effective technique but needs to be done very subtly. Mirror any positive gestures or hand movements, waiting at least 10 seconds before doing it yourself – you can also mirror your speech, using their vocabulary or jargon or adopting the same rate and volume of speech. People trust those who are similar to themselves so this puts the interviewer at ease and helps you build rapport with them.
- Get your eye contact right
This is so important – it’s common for people to look down or avoid the gaze of the interviewer but by looking them in the eye you’ll be asserting your confidence and trustworthiness. Instead of staring into the interviewer’s eyes, alternate your gaze between their left eye, right eye and mouth every few seconds, or just enough to gauge their eye colour. For panel job interviews ensure that you make regular eye contact with everyone, but focus your attention on whoever is asking you a question or speaking.
- Avoid lying signals
The main tip here is to avoid touching your face, especially your nose, ears, throat or sideburns – these are all signs which will suggest to your interviewer that you’re being dishonest. With the way you’re answering their questions.
- Give the perfect handshake
An obvious one, but so many people get it wrong. It’s the unspoken word which initiates the conversation in any social or professional get together. Too firm and you’ll seem too dominant, too weak and you’ll seem underconfident – You should initiate the handshake and match the interviewers grip apply the 2 second rile, smile and repeat their name
By putting these body language tips into practice you’ll give off the right impression at your next job interview- now all you need to worry about is WHAT to say!
Cognitive Group are specialists in Microsoft Dynamics jobs and recruitment, focusing on Dynamics AX jobs, Dynamics CRM jobs and other roles in the Microsoft stack.
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