Mind your job interview (body) language

How important is body language in interviews? You’ll read in a lot of studies or guides around presentation skills that say it is the most important thing to your success, that words account for 7% of meaning, tone of voice counts for 38% of meaning and body language accounts for 55%.

These are pretty startling statistics, and they do make you sit up and take notice. But it’s a pretty bizarre statement when you think about it, as this mob points out. They suggest that if we derive 93% of meaning from things other than words, then we wouldn’t need to say anything in order to be understood.

How important is body language in interview?

I could write a prescriptive list on where to place your hands, how many hand gestures to use, how long your handshake should be and how much eye contact is acceptable, but then I would have to write an equally long list about where the opposite is true.

Some interviews are more formal, some are not. Rules for one person, may not work for another. If you are in an interview in a formal setting to start gesticulating wildly and rearranging the plant pots to make your point, may not win you brownie points. But then, someone interviewing you in a coffee shop might love the way that you pick up the spoon and wave it around.

How do you manage your body language in interview?

I try to keep it simple.

When I coach people on interview skills, I look to see whether what my client is saying is consistent with how they are saying it, and what they look like when they are saying it.

Think of it this way. I’ll never believe a footballer’s scripted and well worded TV apology after he’s been bad on a big night out. And the reason I won’t is that the words are often not his. He’ll be reading them out. His tone will be monotonous and he won’t look at the camera. He’d have more luck with me if he looked me in the eye, put his hand on his heart, and said three words: “I’m really sorry.”

It’s the same with interviews. If you are using examples that excite you then this comes out in your tone, your body language plus your face lights up when you talk. It’s written all over your body without you even thinking about it. Everything lines up and that’s when people believe you.

I see getting body language “right” in interview as more about confidence in yourself, the right preparation and a desire to be in the interview rather than going through the motions.

If your body language is not right for your interviewer, it’s possibly not right for the job.

PS:  If you’re curious about the body language research, it’s by Albert Mehrabian It’s derived from some experiments he where he looked and attitudes and feelings. Here’s what he states on his website: “Total Liking = 7% Verbal Liking + 38% Vocal Liking + 55% Facial Liking. Please note that this and other equations regarding relative importance of verbal and nonverbal messages were derived from experiments dealing with communications of feelings and attitudes (i.e., like, dislike). Unless a communicator is talking about their feelings or attitudes, these equations are not applicable.

If you think about the applicability of this research to an interview setting, think about this when you start to talk about how much you’d like the job. A long scripted spiel may have a whole lot less impact than you emphatically saying “I’d really like this job”

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