www.fastcompany.com: Body language provides a key to succeeding in job interviews. Non-verbal cues make up 60 to 80% of face-to-face communication. Even more than your words, your physical presence shows your strengths (or shortcomings) as a candidate.
14 comments:
This article contains some tips that I find useful and some that I think are not as widely applicable or effective. Good posture is definitely important; sitting up straight looks more energetic and attentive, whereas slouching makes you look less confident or excited. While I agree eye contact is important, I think looking into the webcam instead of at the person on the screen makes it harder to read the other person’s face. Also, the article mentions Zoom interviews and some challenges they present but doesn’t talk about in-person interviews with masks. This could have been mentioned in the section about smiling, as it’s a tip that can’t be used as much when your mouth is covered. I’ve done a few masked in-person interviews and I always made sure to wear contacts to avoid my glasses fogging up. I did appreciate the tip about being turned towards the interviewer/webcam, as it hasn’t been something I’ve thought about during interviews.
Imagine staring the interviewer in their eyes the whole time... While I do agree that eye contact is very important, especially with demonstrating confidence, it may not always be necessary to keep eye contact the whole time. I think there are moments when you can give it break and relax your eyes. I think the most important thing is to go in with confidence and let all of your actions and words be done with confidence rather than force it through little things like constant eye contact. I think that applies to most things here. Truth is, if you're not the right fit, you're just not the right fit. There may be an awkward interviewee but the job that they are applying for is one where the position requires the person to work alone at all times, so it may be okay. That being said, I do appreciate these tips. I'm just a firm believer in if it's for you, it will happen. If you fake your persona at the job interview, you may end up working on a job that you completely hate...
I think this article is very helpful, and one of the things I have struggled with since graduating high school because the last interview I had that was actually in person was for colleges. All interviews I have had for jobs since have been over the phone or over skype of zoom. I usually consider body language one of my strengths in an interview, so only doing phone interviews and video interviews is really tough because I feel so awkward over the phone and video which I don’t feel in person. So, I found the tips they had about video interviews helpful like looking at the webcam and sitting the right distance from the computer. But I still find it so much harder to make “eye contact”, focus, and “cultivate stillness” in a video interview than I do in an in-person interview, and I know other people feel that way too.
I was hoping for more from this article if I'm going to be honest. I feel like while the tips are definitely true and important, they're things that are fairly common sense. Many of these are just things I was told as a kid when I went to big family functions or work dinners for my parents. Sit up straight, be polite, make eye contact, don't fidget. It's nothing revolutionary or job interview specific. I found it a little nit-picky with their example of the interviewee being turned slightly off center of the interviewer and that being an indication of disinterest in the job as a whole. I understand that in this context it could have been an indication but it could have also just been coincidence. Teaching others to look for those signs might teach interviewers to examine body language too closely and look for signs that aren't there. Overall still a useful beginning list if it's your first time in any kind of official meeting or interview setting.
I agree with Apriah that I would feel really put off if somebody maintained direct eye contact with me throughout an entire interview. I think looking engaged, actively listening, and just acting natural can be enough as far as body language goes. I will say that I find it a little bit easier to be present and have what would be considered proper body language in an in-person interview in comparison to a video interview where I am just at my desk. I think it just takes a lot more work to get into the interview/meeting headspace while you are in an environment that you are so comfortable in. But that might just be me. I'm sure there are plenty of people that find it easier to remain calm when they are physically in a familiar environment. I think a lot of these articles fail to take into consideration that the way an interviewee and interviewer best react will depend on how their own chemistry is. Two people that are extroverted will interview entirely different than two people that tend to be less outgoing.
Surprisingly, one thing I am looking forward to after the pandemic is being able to communicate with people non-verbal and receive those cues without explicitly going out of the way to express myself. Additionally, I think we will all be excited to do that, making the whole interview process way less stressful. However, a lot of these tips are still applicable to meeting people in the pandemic. Honestly, certain aspects are even more important such as posture, gestures, movement, and eye contact. A lot of my peers and I have talked about the importance of smiling with your eyes recently. We’ve created almost a new pandemic smile that underneath our masks might honestly look more like a grimace. I find this article to be surprisingly stressing on “never”s and “always”s. What I have learned is that if you operate more on instinct than anything else, and remain calm and relaxed, that will get you further than any amount of articles you can read on the subject. Plus, unfortunately for us at the moment, practice makes perfect.
If I am being completely honest, this article didn’t really teach me anything about how to go into and handle an interview. All this article did was list the more obvious and general things everyone knows they should do when doing an interview. Obviously, there are people that don’t know these things, but for the most part I believe most people know one should smile, make eye contact, and keep good posture during an interview. I also feel that there is so much more that could’ve been advised to do when in the midst of an interview. That being said, I have been in lots of interviews for various jobs and colleges, and one thing I found incredibly hard yet effective was being able to make direct eye contact. Sadly, making appropriate eye contact can’t necessarily be taught. Yet, it happens to be one of the most effective tools I’ve used when speaking with people. Good eye contact varies based on the scenario at had, but it is absolutely vital, I’ve found, when interviewing for, because it affirms a level of confidence that many employers look for in candidates. Confidence is key, and through good eye contact that can be achieved.
Body language is extremely important. Many of the ideas in this article seem like they could be common sense but I am constantly finding myself having to make an active effort to keep these ideas in mind. Training yourself to do these things subconsciously is a lot of work. I think that it is plenty to just keep them in mind while you’re interviewing. As stated in the article, even just your posture can have an effect on how people perceive you. It is valuable to keep in mind how much body language affects our opinions about someone. Something I hadn’t thought of before was the power found in stillness. I agree with this idea because I think stillness shows confidence that you deserve to be there and that you know exactly what you’re doing. As I move forward in life I will cultivate stillness not only in interviews but wherever I need a little extra inner strength.
The tips and advice given in this article on how to conduct and utilize body language in the setting of an interview are mediocre and fairly generalized. They can honestly be applied to a lot of different situations in life, not just in a job interview. And although it is understandable why the author was doing their best to be extensive in their explanations of the effects and impact of each piece of body language, I personally found it a little overboard. People and situations are subjective and prone to unpredictable changes; over preparing and overanalyzing can honestly be really useless when one considers the fact that there is no constant or set standard you are looking to appeal to. It would’ve been a more interesting read if the author had delved further into the modern day application of COVID-19 and masks, as the absence of facial expressions below the eyes has definitely highlighted the usage of body language more.
As pretty much everyone else who commented on this article said, these are good tips, but not really anything new. It is probably a good reminder not to lose track of the little things since we’ve all spent a year and a half largely not practicing.
And like yeah, obviously, don’t relentlessly and unblinkingly stare at your potential employer, but that’s not really what they’re trying to say in this article, they’re just saying make some solid eye contact and don’t be looking around aimlessly. This is just standard advice, there’s not really a lot to dig into here. I think the last one, about posture, is probably the one that people don’t think about most frequently, but even that one is pretty standard. It just boils down to “project confidence” and you’ll be fine. Interviews are nerve wracking, but they’re not actually complicated. Just do what you normally do.
As many have said before me, these tips are helpful, but not new, though I suppose publications of new articles are more easily accessible for the people who need to make use of this advice for the first time. I know that eye contact is something I am very bad at; I can barely maintain eye contact with someone when I am holding a casual conversation with them and I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why; it's just uncomfortable. But I try my damnedest. I know I fold my hands a lot when talking to people, especially while seated. I always considered it a sign of politeness rather than lack of confidence or closed off-ness, but I guess different people interpret it differently. What I really need to remember is interviews are just another conversation, the only difference is they're slightly less casual and I really should not cuss in them.
Having had to interview before, (as I am sure we have all had to) this article provided some valuable insight into the world of applying for jobs. Not to brag (and I mean that) but I do amazing at interviews. To be fair, I grew up in a very “professional household”. Therefore, the word interview is one that has been a part of my vocabulary for a while now. Nevertheless, reading this article provided an interesting lens from which to observe the concept of an interview. For one, the importance of body language. Often overlooked in practice, the way we physically behave with others is as important as what comes out of our mouths. And especially in a time post-quarantine, where interviews (including the one for Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama) were online, I have found it particularly challenging to get back in the rhythm of in-person doing.
Another week with another article about “tips for interviews” that are largely unhelpful. I wish that someday there would be one on here that says something that isn’t either generic or bad. I completely agree that body language and how you hold yourself in a job interview is very important, but I think there’s room to relax a little bit more than what the article is talking about. Like sure if the interviewer is actively asking you a question it’s probably good to look at them, but I don’t think glancing away for a second to think or looking down if you’re taking notes reads as ignoring. The phrasing of “high status people tend to look longer at people they’re talking to than lower status people” was also weird to me. The rest of the tips are kind of obvious; like of course you shouldn’t go into your interview glaring at them or sit poorly. And what does “And still others may cock their heads in a submissive pose.” mean???
I think that “Rehearse and record yourself before every interview” was a great note by the writer. I think that one of the most valuable classes I took in high school was a theater class where I had to perform. I was in the class because I was a technician for the show that they produced during class time, but I still had to turn in the performance projects… I was so nervous and never want to perform (even if it was just recording myself and submitting it to the teacher). I hated it and was very self-critical but it really pushed me and taught me a lot! Theater really helped me come out of my shell and work on myself as a person. I still struggle with body language, eye contact, and mainly focus. Why I say focus or stillness is because I get distracted very easily. My mind is always going a million miles a minute and I have to catch myself and slooooooooooow down. I continue to work on my confidence everyday but I still struggle with it frequently and know that at the end of every interview or interaction there is always something I can work on. It’s a process and we aren’t going to be perfect every time (or ever). Experience and practice, failure is a great teacher, learn to forgive yourself and know you will do it better next time.
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