November 14, 2017November 13, 2017

Building Rapport: Making Small Talk Work for You

Every interview starts with a casual conversation; maybe it is about the weather, sports, or even traffic. The hiring manager wants to put you at ease and avoid any awkward silence before the interview officially starts. It’s pretty well-known that small talk is an essential factor in building rapport for a long time, but a Harvard Business Review article lays out exactly how important.

The researchers did a study of 163 applicants and interviewers to see how much a first impression influences the interview. Half of the interviewers spent 2-3 minutes making small talk with the candidates. The other half watched a recorded video of the interviews and provided ratings. The interviewers who made small talk wrote down their initial impressions before moving on to the interview phase. When researchers reviewed the notes about the first impression, they found that they were directly related to job-related attributes. The hiring managers are judging your ability to perform the job the moment you walk in the door.

The researchers also found that the first impressions had the most significant impact on the first few questions. Interviewers rated applicants higher than deserved if they made an excellent first impression, and lower than justified if they made a poor impression.

It only takes 5 seconds for someone to have a first impression of your personality, trustworthiness, and intelligence, and you never know who is providing feedback on your behaviors. Hiring managers may very well ask the admins or other staff for input on how applicants treated them. There are a few things you can do to build rapport and increase your chances of getting hired.

Strategies to Build Rapport

For some, building rapport comes easy — **For some lucky people, building rapport comes easy.**

Physical Communication

There are a lot of bad handshakes out there, so find a partner and practice. Match the pressure of the other person; your handshake should be firm, but not a bone-crusher. On the other side, if you don’t apply enough pressure, you’ll also make a poor impression. Do your best to make sure your palm is perpendicular to the ground. If you turn your palm up you’re indicating submissiveness; downwards communicates dominance.

Be aware of your body and the messages you’re sending. Crossing your arms tells the interviewer that you’re closed off. On the other hand, be mindful of the space you are taking up and avoid spreading out or slouching. Since the first impression happens so quickly so be sure you’re practicing this while you’re waiting. How you use your head can also help make a positive impact. An article by PsychMechanics explains that tilting and nodding your head slowly conveys that you are interested and agree with what’s being said.

Mirroring

An article by PsychologyToday recommends mirroring the other person to build a stronger connection. When you’re mirroring, you are subtly reflecting behaviors. This includes the language they use, their tone, body language, and energy level. If the interviewer is using a quiet voice and not making a lot of hand gestures, you would do the same. When you’re nervous, mirroring can be a tough task to master. Practice mirroring with your friends and notice your how your behaviors change when you are around other people. By working on it beforehand, it will come more natural to you at the interview.

Verbal Communication

Topics are relevant. When you are trying building rapport, you should be looking for common ground and asking open-ended questions. Do your research on the hiring manager beforehand. Scope out them out on social media and see if you can find any common ground. Then, when you’re making small talk, look for opportunities to bring it up, but not in the “I-stalked-you-on-the-internet,-how-was-your-cooking-class-last-night” kind of way. Stay away from controversial topics like politics and religion, even if you think they’ll agree with you. Bringing up sensitive issues at the interview is always a bad idea.

Open-ended questions are another excellent way to get them talking. Asking questions that begin with how, what, and why can get the interviewer talking. The next step is to be a good listener. Don’t think about what you’re going to say next, just focus on what they are telling you. Do your best to be friendly and comfortable in the conversation, but remember this person could be your boss, so don’t forget to stay professional.

Practice through Networking

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Building rapport is a skill, and you will get better at it with practice. Every time you meet someone new, you have the opportunity to develop your skills further and build a bigger network. I know that for the introverts out there, this can be a daunting task but it will pay off dividends if it helps you get the job. You never know, the next person you meet could have an incredible job opportunity for you.

November 28, 2016October 31, 2016

What Takes so Long? Inside the Hiring Process

One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard throughout my career is that the hiring process takes way too long. Applicants don’t get it, and nothing frustrates hiring managers more than this. A lot of times, HR gets the blame for this too. I’ve seen company goals of 60 to 90 calendar days from the time they post the job to the start date. Of course, it’s frustrating. Today I’m shining a little bit of light on the hiring process that tends to look like a black hole for applicants. Keep in mind these are generalizations, and every company has a different process that may go faster or *gasp* slower than the time frames I’ve listed.

Job Posting (1-3 weeks)

Companies want to attract the best possible candidate pool, so job postings are usually put up for two weeks. This way, they can advertise and get a diverse applicant pool. I’ve seen postings just go up for one week, but most of them are around two weeks. If the job is highly specialized, or they are hiring for multiple positions, they might keep it posted for longer.

Some companies will look through the pool as people apply and start reaching out to candidates, but others wait until the posting closes to review any of the candidates. Here’s a tip, if you have a list of dream companies you’d love to work for, go set up profiles on their websites right now. You can set preferences so they’ll email you jobs that you’re interested in and you can apply right away.

Selection and Interviews (1-4 weeks)

Hiring Process - Reviewing Candidates

Applicant tracking systems have helped the hiring process move a bit quicker through automation. These systems scan the resumes and rank them based on keyword matches. Once candidates are ranked, hiring managers or recruiters see the “top” applicants in the pool. The systems are still learning, and in a lot of companies, there’s a distrust of the technology, so they may still review every resume in person. Once the top 5-7 resumes are selected, usually the next step is to schedule interviews. I’ve seen companies that have internal reviews of the candidate selection before the hiring managers move forward with scheduling, which can add a lot of time as well.

After the candidates are selected, then the interviews take place. This whole process takes 1-3 weeks, but it can take longer if there are vacations, holidays or other scheduling challenges. Plus, Some companies have multiple hiring loops or interview sessions. There could be multiple phone screenings, in-person interviews and they might require senior leadership to meet with final candidates. The more senior the position, the longer and more involved the interview process is. This stage is where applicants may be asked to participate in a personality assessment as well. Just a reminder that these evaluations test for consistency in your answers as well as your personality.

Once the interviews are finished, hiring managers select the final candidate. The next step is to get the conditional employment offer out to the applicant

Conditional Employment Offer & Negotiations (1-2 weeks)

The first step in getting an offer out is to determine what salary to offer. Small, nimble companies can move a lot quicker in this step than some larger businesses that have multiple layers of approvals and bureaucracy. At this stage, you should be negotiating salaries, benefits and other conditions of employment. After negotiations are done a conditional offer is initiated, but don’t turn in your two weeks notice quite yet. Most employers have pre-employment paperwork and testing to get through first. Once you agree upon a salary, the offer is considered accepted. As an applicant, you should request all of the details of the offer in writing. The next step in the process is to complete all of the required paperwork and all of the checks.

Background, References, Credit Checks (1-3 weeks)

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At this point in the hiring process, you’ll get a pile of paper to go through. In HR-speak, this is called your pre-employment paperwork. It typically contains your conditional job offer in writing and a bunch of forms to fill out. There are a lot of different pre-employment checks that a company can have in place depending on the type of positions. This list isn’t intended to be exhaustive, but to give you an idea of what they could include. It’s not common for an employer to use all of these checks, and there are federal and state requirements for companies that collect this information

Employment verification
Education verification
Criminal background
References
Drug Tests

Credit Check
I-9 Paperwork
Polygraph tests
Medical exams
Security clearances

It’s important to note that some background checks take longer than others. If you’ve lived in multiple states, the criminal records can take a while to report back. This is just as frustrating for the employer as it is for you. When clearances start coming through, the hiring managers starts getting antsy too. Typically a drug test only takes a few days, unless there’s a problem with the sample. If there’s a problem, the medical doctor reviewing the test will typically contact you first to let you know the results before calling the employer.

Two Weeks Notice & Start Date (2-3 weeks)

finish-1414156_1920 The end is in sight! It’s risky to quit a job before you have the proper clearances from your pre-employment checks. Even if you’re confident that nothing will come up, there can be mistakes or delays in the process. One of my previous employers had a difficult time verifying my degree because I had placed a privacy hold on my records. I had to physically go to the campus to remove the hold before they’d tell the employer that I had graduated. Making the trip to my old college campus added some time to the process and almost cost me the job. The safest bet is to wait until everything is verified before you turn in your notice at your current company.

Most employees give two weeks notice at their current employer. Giving notice allows your current employer to come up with a plan for the work and a bit of training the person filling in. Some companies may ask you to stay longer if possible while others have policies to pay out the last two weeks and not have you complete the time. Paying an employee out and letting them go is rare. It tends to happen in when an employee is dealing with confidential or proprietary initiatives at the company.

What Can You Do?

As a job seeker, you don’t have a lot of control over the hiring process. The best you can do to stay informed and help move things along. Always ask what the next steps are so you know what to expect. Once you start talking about the offer with the company, ask how long the rest of the process typically takes. Respond quickly to emails, phone calls, and requests for information, so things don’t get stalled. Keep in touch with the company and your references. If your references aren’t returning calls, that can delay the process. Consider checking in with them to let them know to expect a call. Lastly, do your best to stay patient and assume positive intentions. Remember, the company needs you, and they’re doing everything they can to make the process work quickly within their boundaries.

November 30, 2016October 25, 2016

Video Interview Tips: How to Get the Job

Imagine an interview where you record your responses into a camera with no one watching. You’re given a question to respond to and a countdown to start talking. You give your best response to your webcam and then hit stop. You might see your face on the screen as you are recording or the question you’re expected to answer. If you’re lucky, the software will give you the chance to re-record, but that’s not always the case. Then you’re on to the next question. You might never hear back from the company, or you could be invited in for a face to face interview. If you haven’t noticed the video interview trend, get ready, they’re becoming much more common as a tool to screen applicants. We’ve got our best video interview tips to help you get ready.

Why Video Interviews

Companies like SparkHire and HireVue provide technology that allows employers to use video interviews as a way to both screen and interview candidates. These technologies claim that they make it easier for employers to hire higher performers and streamline the hiring process. More and more companies are starting to use these tools in their hiring process; GE, Honda, Ikea and even USPS are listed as clients. Conducting a video interview is much easier than a phone screen since applicants can do it on their own time and the recruiter can just review the tape later.

Video Interview Challenges

Lighting, sound, internet connectivity and even the lack of feedback are all things you have to be aware of in a video interview. There’s no space for you to ask questions or ensure that you answered the question they’re asking. Without an encouraging nod or even eye contact from another human being, it can be pretty hard to make sure you’ve hit the mark with these types of interviews.

As an HR person, I wonder about accessibility and fairness of a video interview. I’m curious if it creates additional opportunities for bias to enter into the hiring process. However, I can see the benefits from the employer’s side. It allows them to quickly move through a large number of applicants without having to worry about scheduling around time zones and meetings. It lets them narrow down the candidate pool much quicker and hopefully, helps the hiring process move along faster.

Video Interview Tips: Getting Ready

Congratulations, you’ve been invited to record your answers for a “virtual interview.” The company sends you an interview invite with a link to the site and some instructions on how to get started. Spend some time preparing before you sit down to record and treat this just like you would a regular job interview. Research the organization and the position so you’re ready to talk about why you want to work there and what skills you’ll bring to the job. In the initial screening, the questions are most likely going to be traditional or behavioral interview questions. If you are lucky, they’ll give you the questions are ahead of time so you can think through and prepare your answers

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Find a Quiet Space & Prepare

The benefit of video interviews and screenings is that they happen on your own time and in a place you’re comfortable. There are a lot of stuff to consider when getting set up for your video interview. Choose a time when you’re not likely to be interrupted and mute your cell phone. Set aside about an hour to record and turn in your responses. Some of the companies require a software download to use their tools, so make sure you’re not waiting until the last minute to turn in your responses in case you run into any technical difficulties.

Set the Scene

Do a test run with the lighting and volume on your webcam. You want to make sure they can see and hear you clearly. Your light source should be in front of your camera, not behind you for a clear image. Be sure to check that your background is professional and not distracting. A blank wall works fine, but if you can use an office setting it will send a more professional message. Also, remember to plug in your charger since recording video can drain your batteries quickly.

Dress for Success

It can be easy to get a little lax when it comes to video interviews since you may not be leaving your house. It’s still critical to dress as if you were going to the office for an interview. Dressing professionally tells the hiring manager your serious about the job. It will also help you feel more confident and polished. Wear solid colors since patterns can come across as fuzzy and distracting. It’s a good idea to keep the jewelry to a minimum to avoid reflections into the camera.

Answer the Questions

Chances are you’ll need to record answers to between 3 and five questions for an interview screening. As you are answering, do your best to look at the camera and speak clearly. If you make a mistake, do your best to move on and don’t dwell on it. It might help to imagine that the hiring manager is in the room with you. One nice thing about the recordings is that you usually have the chance to collect your thoughts before starting on the next question. Once you’ve finished answering, take a moment to collect your thoughts. Have a drink of water and review your notes before getting started in your next response.

Having the ability to review and re-record your answers might be harder than just having one chance. For the perfectionists out there, this can be a major pitfall. Don’t spend hours trying to perfect an answer. Chances are it will be visible to the recruiter and come across as rehearsed or insincere. Unless you’ve made a major mistake, it’s best to move on without recording multiple times.

Waiting Game

Once you hit submit on the interview, the waiting begins. Usually, you’ll get some notice that it has been received by the company, either via email or right after turning it in. One downside is that it’s hard to follow up with anyone to see where you stand or even get an idea of what the next steps are in the process. Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell if or when you’ll hear something from the company after submitting your answers. The best advice I can give is to keep applying to other positions while you wait to hear back from the video screen.

If you’re ready to build your interview skills in a virtual environment, we offer web-based interview coaching services that will help you prepare, either in person or over the web. To learn more about our interview and resume coaching services get in touch via email or at (206) 289-0358.

Illegal Interview Questions

November 30, 2016August 25, 2016

Have shield-1020318 you ever been asked questions at a job interview that didn’t seem relevant or made you uncomfortable? Illegal interview questions are not job-related and target information about a job applicant that can be discriminatory. Generally speaking, HR teams do a lot of work to make sure that hiring managers don’t ask questions that are above boards, but these questions still get asked from time to time. As an applicant, encountering illegal interview questions should make you seriously consider if you want to work for that company.

One of my friends shared a situation where she was helping a team of managers does some significant hiring. She was the HR person partnering with a manager. They were interviewing their first female applicant when the hiring manager went off script and asked her if she had children. She told the interviewers, no, but the hiring manager continued down the path, telling the candidate that the position was for 2nd shift and that employees couldn’t leave work to go pick up their children. According to my friend, this hiring manager didn’t ask the male candidates the same question.

Fortunately, in this situation, everything worked out okay. The woman was very qualified for the position and ended up getting an offer from the company. As soon as the interview was over my friend reported the situation to the head of HR, who then removed the hiring manager from interviews until he was able to retake the interview training.

What are Illegal Interview Questions

The illegal interview questions below are off limit because they target information that is part of a protected class including gender, sexual orientation, national origin, race, religion, age, and disability. They are not job-related and will not help the hiring manager identify how you will perform.

Are you married?
Do you have children/want to have children?
How old are you/what year did you graduate?
What is your religious background?
Do you have a disability?
Do you have any arrest records?
Are you a union member?
Is English your first language?
Where are you (your parents) from?
Have you ever been hurt at work?
Do you have a car?
Do you own your home?

Hopefully, you don’t ever encounter any of these questions during an interview. If you do, there are a few ways that you can answer. First, it’s always okay to politely decline an illegal question. You could try: “I’m not sure I understand how this question relates to the Sales Manager position, can you please elaborate?” A more direct approach would be: “I am interested in this job, but I’m not comfortable answering that question at this time.” Yes, there is a chance that responding to a question like that could cost you a job offer, but ask yourself if that’s a company where you want to work in the first place.

Parents at the Job Interview

November 30, 2016August 22, 2016

Would you bring you parents to a job interview?

Over the past few years, parental involvement in the hiring and interview process has increased significantly. I’ve seen parents accompany their kids to the job interview and had calls from parents trying to negotiate salaries behalf of their children. At best, it’s something that gets talked about. It becomes a “can you believe what happened today at the office” kind of story. At worst, it could cost the applicant the job. It gives hiring managers the impression that the candidate family-515530 isn’t prepared for the job, not able to advocate for themselves or problem solve.

There’s no doubt that parents want to help their children. They want to stay involved in their lives, especially in that first ‘real’ job. However, parents can do more harm than help in some cases. I’m going to talk about ways that parents can be involved and helpful without getting in the way of the hiring process. If you (as an applicant) are working with a manager directly, keep in mind that filling this position is one small slice of the work they have to get done. Recruiters might be working to fill dozens of positions at a time. Expecting a recruiter or hiring manager to negotiate with an applicant and a parent can leave them frustrated and move on to another candidate.

Applicants need to take the lead

You need be the one talking to the hiring manager and recruiters directly. Parents, please don’t check in on behalf of your child. It’s not a good idea for parents to accompany you to the interview, if they’re helping you with transportation, ask them to visit a local park or coffee shop during the interview.

“My mom is the one who got me the interview at X company so that she can check on the status of the interview, right?”

It’s not a good idea for parents to check on the status of the hiring process, even if they work at the company. Keep the relationship professional and develop your identity apart from theirs. When I was working in hospitality HR, parents would try hard to help their kids get positions there. Some parents would check on the application every day, and get upset when I couldn’t provide updates. The best thing to do is let the process work. Parents, you aren’t going to help move the process along by pestering HR or the hiring manager, I promise!

Parents shouldn’t:

Check on the status of an application/interview
Sit in on an interview or wait in the lobby
Attempt to negotiate salaries or benefits
Act as a reference for a child (even if you have a different last name)
fill out an application on behalf of their child

Where parents can help

Parents and family members can be a fantastic resource to help applicants without overstepping boundaries. I encourage you to use your parents to work behind the scenes with you. If they’re working, ask them to keep an eye out for open positions at their company. Companies sometimes will post jobs internally before they start looking outside for applicants. Another thing that can be helpful is using your parent’s network to connect to other organizations. Set up informational interviews with their colleagues to learn more about different organizations and begin making your connections.

Applicants, ask your parents to:

Proofread your resume and cover letter
Help practice interview questions (samples)
Refer you to open positions within their organization
Keep an eye out for job postings
Use their network to connect you

The hiring process can be intimidating, and it’s understandable to want help navigating it, especially the first time. Show the company the skills and abilities that you bring to the table. Organizations have designed the job interview process to get to know you as a candidate, and that can get muddy when someone else is representing you as well.

November 30, 2016August 19, 2016

Three Common Types of Interview Questions

There are three basic styles of interview questions used by HR and hiring managers. Today, we’re going to explain them so you can prepare for your upcoming interview. We’ll start with behavioral interview questions since they are the most common and then discuss traditional and structured questions as well. When scheduling your interview with a recruiter, HR or the hiring manager, there’s no harm in asking what category of interview questions that you should prepare for.

Behavioral Interview Questions

Behavioral interview questions are by far the most common types of questions asked during a non-technical job interview. These questions are asking for candidates to tell a story about something that has happened in the past. The reason these are so popular among HR is because studies have shown that the way people behave in previous situations is a really good indicator of how they are going to act in the future. Because these behavioral interview questions are so widely used, it is where we focus most of our interview coaching practice.

A few examples of behavioral interview questions:

Tell me about a time you had a disagreement with a co-worker.
Describe a complex problem that you fixed with a single solution.
Talk about a time when you had to work in close collaboration with someone whose personality was very different from yours.
Tell me about a time you had to juggle multiple competing deadlines? How did you prioritize them? What was the result?

Behavioral questions can be simple or contain multiple questions that you need to answer. Take notes on the question to make sure you hit all of the questions the interviewers are looking for and answer the questions completely. The STAR format is an excellent way to organize your response.

Structured Interview Questions

Structured questions are very similar to behavioral interview questions except they aren’t asking about past performance. These questions are more forward-looking and ask ‘what you would do’ instead of ‘what have you done.’ These are beneficial for entry-level positions and internships where people might not have as much background to draw from.

A few examples of structured interview questions:

How would you handle a situation where your supervisor asked you to do something unethical?
Imagine you are very busy with a large company project, and your manager asks you to take on additional, unrelated work. What would you do?
A furious client walks up to your desk. He believes that his being over-billed for services your company provided. After reviewing his information, you learn that the bill was, in fact, valid. How would you handle this situation?

Traditional Interview Questions

We call these the ‘mirror’ questions because they are the answers that candidates can rehearse in a mirror and fine tune their answers. These are pretty straight forward and easy to draft an answer. There isn’t any particular formula for responding to these questions. Traditional interview questions also don’t add a lot of value to the hiring managers, so we are seeing a lot less of them in the interview process.

A few examples of traditional interview questions:

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
What is your greatest strength/weakness?
Why do you want to work for this company?
Why do you want to be [insert job title]?
Tell me about yourself?

The one exception, is the ‘tell me about yourself’ question. In most interviews this question, in some variation is used to break the ice and move the discussion forward. Another variation of this question is ‘tell me about your work experience and education that has prepared you for this position.’ With few exceptions, we recommend that applicants focus on work history, education and any relevant training or experiences that relate to the job. This is not the time to talk about your love for the tuba, favorite cooking shows or your son in cub scouts, unless of course you’re interviewing for an orchestra, the food network or the forest service respectively.

November 30, 2016August 14, 2016

Interview Tip: How to be a STAR

The next time you find yourself in a behavioral interview, draw a little star across the top of your paper. No, I’m serious. STAR is my favorite acronym. It’s a formula for job applicants to use when they’re answering interview questions. STAR stands for Situation, Tasks, Actions & Results. It is well-known by Human Resources and hiring managers, but we’ve found that a lot of our clients haven’t heard of this interview tip before. Let’s break it down:

Situation

Anytime you are telling a story to someone; you have to give them a little bit of context, so they understand what’s going on. Imagine you’re telling your friend about an experience at a restaurant. If you dive into the conversation saying “The food was awesome, we had crab cakes and pasta.” Your friend is going to be caught pretty off guard. The same goes for an interview. The situation helps set the scene. Instead of jumping right into what you had for dinner, you should mention the restaurant name, when you went, who you were with and even a little bit of info on the restaurant.

It’s important to set the scene when answering interview questions, especially if you aren’t currently working at the company. Help the interviewers understand the circumstances surrounding your example and more context. Just recently I coached a client who was telling me about a story leading a team. The example was okay but not incredibly impressive. Once I started asking more questions, I learned his role, the team size, and the budget associated with it. These three things (Director, 150+ employees, and a lot of $) added significant weight to the example.

Tasks

The task is the assignment you are given. In most cases, the situation and task run pretty close together in your significant. In the restaurant example, the task becomes pretty simple, to eat food. However, maybe your friend wanted seafood, or you had to find a gluten-free restaurant that could accommodate dietary needs.

As an applicant, you want to be very clear and concise about what the assignment is. Share where the task came from (boss, owner, co-worker asking for help) and what it was. Explain the scale of the project – how big was the team, what was the timeline, what were some of the significant challenges that you needed to overcome. You want to help the interview panel understand the importance of the story.

Actions

The whole reason companies use behavioral interviews is that a person’s past behavior is a good indicator of how they will behave in a similar situation in the future. The actions in the STAR format are where you get to show the hiring manager that you are capable of handling workplace situations well.

Actions should be the bulk of your story. As a hiring manager, I want to hear about what YOU did. One of the biggest errors we see in interviews is people use “we” instead of I. While this is okay when you’re explaining to your friend about your dinner, “We ate crab cakes, pasta, and ice cream” it doesn’t play well during an interview. Instead, be very clear about your role and the process you took to solve the problem. Don’t get lost in the details and be specific about your role in each example. Hiring managers are looking to hear about your process and how you resolve the story.

Results

Results are where you get to shine. So many times people forget to discuss their results, and it hurts them in an interview. As a hiring manager, I try to ask probing questions in case the job applicant forgot, but usually, I won’t keep asking if they continue to leave out the results on more than one example.

The biggest interview tip on this topic is to avoid using a story that is currently in process. It’s incredibly hard to demonstrate results on a project that hasn’t finished, and hiring managers care about the results. They want to know if your actions were effective or not, and if not what you learned and how you would do it differently.

The next big thing to try to do is to quantify your results. A story is much stronger when you can prove it through numbers. Did sales go up by a certain percentage? Were you involved in increasing customer satisfaction? Did you reduce the number of hours it takes to perform the task? Sometimes it can be hard to put numbers to a story, especially if it’s been awhile since you were in the situation. Try your best to recall but don’t make the numbers up. Honesty is important, and hiring managers might use their networks to fact check your examples.

“What do you do if the outcome wasn’t good?” Proceed with caution. One example with a negative result isn’t necessarily going to hurt you in an interview. I only recommend using this type of story in a couple of situations.

You can explain that the adverse outcome was to no fault of your own
The question is about a time you failed/made a mistake etc
As a last resort, and you can’t come up with another example

In all of these situations, you need to be able to explain what you learned from the example and how you would do things differently.

November 30, 2016July 2, 2016

Interview Body Language & Confidence

Interviews are high-stress situations. We spend a lot of time talking with clients on how to manage stress and be confident. One of the most common pieces of feedback we give to people is “Don’t be afraid to brag.” You will be far more successful at an interview if the hiring manager believes that you are confident and qualified for the job. As a coach, part of our job is to help you build that confidence. You have to believe in your ability to do the job to convince someone to hire you. Remember that your interview body language matters. The hiring manager will notice how you are carrying yourself and it will have an impact on the outcome of your interview.

Interview Math

When you apply for a job, there are anywhere from 50 to 500 people who are also applying. Applications are screened and ranked, either by an individual or a computer program. Interviews cost a lot of money. Companies have to pull people away from their regular job and want to interview the fewest number of individuals to find the best fit. This typically means they’ll interview around five people for each open position. So already, you are at a minimum in the top 10% of the applicant pool. From here, just based on statistics, you have a 20% chance of beating out the other candidates to get the job.

If you make it to the interview phase, you are already one of the top applicants for the position. Someone reviewed your application and was confident that you had the skills to do the job. Otherwise, they wouldn’t waste their time interviewing you. The next step is to show them that you are the best hire for the job, and to do that, you have to believe it too.

Nonverbal communication:

Non-verbal behav Superhero pose ior sends messages to the interviewers about your potential. They also have a real effect on your confidence and impact your hormones. Amy Cuddy is a social psychologist who studied body language and the impact. She found that people who assume a power pose (think, Superhero) for two minutes saw a 20% increase in testosterone and a 25% decrease in cortisol. Testosterone is a hormone that is responsible for making you feel more confident and assertive, while cortisol is a stress hormone. These changes in hormones leave people feeling more confident and less likely to be affected by a stressful situation, like a job interview.

I challenge you to spend two minutes somewhere in private in a superhero pose before your next stressful situation. Put your hands on your hips, take a wide stance, and puff out your chest. You might feel silly, but no one else should be there to see you. Afterward, be sure to sit up straight, take up some space, and put your cell phone away! Practice your interview body language in the days leading up to it. The more you project confidence, the more confident you will become. And remember, you are already in the top 10%!

If you can spare an extra 20 minutes, I strongly recommend checking out the TedTalk. There is a lot of great information that is useful for any situation where you need a little confidence boost.