Is it true that the eyes give you away in a job interview? Yes. Is it right that certain postures during an interview count against you in the selection process? Yes. Can we say that, with certain answers, the body signals that something is wrong? Yes.
Non-verbal language is as important as the CV, as vital as the group exercise and as necessary as the interview. Those postures, glances and gestures, often involuntary, can ruin an excellent group exercise or an interview that was going well.
Always bear in mind that words convey only 7% of the message. The legs, the eyes, the head, the hands and the body as a whole account for between 60% and 80% of it.
What is non-verbal language?
By definition, it is the set of outward signs that, voluntarily or involuntarily, reveal negative aspects of what we say or contradict it.
Let’s look at a few everyday examples:
- In a conversation with one or more people, one of them keeps looking at things around the place where the conversation is happening. This tells us they’re distracted, if not uninterested.
- Someone near you gives off unpleasant smells. Leaving aside possible health problems, this tells us they lack personal hygiene and care.
- Someone in untidy or creased clothes comes across as disorganized, indifferent, lazy or uninterested.
What should we watch out for?
In just four minutes with someone, we can form a complete picture of them from their personal appearance and the way they express themselves.
Depending on the job we’re after, this non-verbal side of the selection process becomes vital. It should be one more thing candidates think about and take care of whenever they present themselves, at any stage of a selection process.
We’ve said before that a CV needs to be interesting; now imagine the candidate physically sitting in front of the recruiter.
These are the key aspects of non-verbal language to take care of.
Common mistakes:
- Watch your handshake: neither limp nor crushing.
- Being serious during the first contact matters: it says a lot about a person’s character.
- Creases, stains, dirty shoes or hair, nails, the smell of tobacco and so on give the candidate away and put them in a position that’s very hard to recover from.
The gaze: perhaps the most treacherous non-verbal element in an interview. If we don’t look at the recruiter, we seem dismissive; if we look away, it can be a sign of shyness or inferiority; and if we look straight at them, we become the focus of attention, warmth or alarm, depending on the angle of our eyes.
Dilated pupils show strong interest in the topic of conversation, while a forced laugh tends to come with averted eyes.
The hands speak for themselves. Open hands suggest sincerity and honesty, while clenched or closed hands show frustration or, worse, that something is being hidden. And don’t even think of resting your head in your hands: it tells the recruiter you’re bored and have no interest in what’s being said.
Hands say far more than words. Covering your mouth is read as lying, exaggeration, falseness or uncertainty. Moving your hands a lot suggests an emotional person; moving them very little, a rational one.
Legs and arms reveal thoughts that the other person’s words don’t express. For example, crossed legs should make us think they disagree, and if it’s the ankles that are crossed, that they’re keeping back something we ought to know, or that they’re wary or nervous about telling us things.
Some types of non-verbal language
Paralanguage is the non-verbal quality of the voice: vocalizations, accents, laughter, yawns, sudden pauses or speech imperfections such as hesitations, repetitions or silences.
Proxemics is the space we use when talking, in both the personal and social sides of communication. It’s the closeness or distance between the people communicating.
There are four types:
- Intimate: less than 50 cm.
- Personal: around 50 to 75 cm.
- Social: one to two metres.
- Public: more than two metres.
See also: 7 body language techniques that will help you in business
Featured image: MONUSCO Photos, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
.jpg){kind=link}