Body language is a strong form of communication which can be used to convey subtle aspects of your personality. While most people only passively use body language, it is possible to use it actively by being aware of how it works, and making corrections. This may be as simple as sitting upright instead of slouching, making eye contact or turning your body to directly face whoever it is you’re speaking to. At first glance, these may seem insignificant adjustments, but they make a big difference to how you are perceived by others in the room.
While positive body language has universal applications, it is especially useful during job interviews. How you present yourself determines your success and, therefore, knowing the right body language for interviews can you give you an edge over other candidates and help you hit the nail on the head.
To this end, our hiring experts at Saransh have some great tips, as follows:
Have a Pleasant Smile
It may not come naturally in nervous situations, but it is important to know that smiling allows other people to perceive you as approachable and friendly. Unless a recruiter feels this way, they may not be comfortable around you and this ‘barrier’ may prevent them from hiring you even if you are otherwise a strong contender for the job.
Smiling also represents your ability to stay calm in a tense environment. For a recruiter, this is a highly sought-after personality trait, because it translates into being stable enough to perform work functions in high-pressure situations. Since this is not something everyone can do, a pleasant smile might just be the thing that gets you the job.
Maintain Eye Contact
When you are honest, you easily meet someone’s gaze. When you are lying, you want to break away from a stare, lest the truth in your eyes be revealed.
Of all body language, eye contact is perhaps the most difficult to master. In nature, it is a sign of confrontation and hostility. Amongst civilized humans however, it can be systematically use to signify sincerity and confidence. This is why it is also perhaps the most powerful of all body language-based traits.
If you are able to answer interview questions while maintaining eye contact, it allows the recruiter to see past just the verbal answer and gives a peek into the foundations of your thought process. Any interviewee that comes across as being sure of themselves has a much higher chance of being hired, and making eye contact is a great way to achieve this.
Minimize Distracting Movements
When you move frantically, it may come across as a sign of an unclear mind that is trying to cover up its chaotic tracks with unnecessary distractions. Examples of such movements are frenzied hand gestures, constant leg shaking, nervous stroking of the brow, etc. All of these tend to disturb the flow of conversation and thereby reduce the chances of making a great impression on the recruiter.
Minimizing these distracting movements allows you to draw focus away from your physical appearance alone and put the spotlight on your personality. A recruiter who is able to see your personality and match it to the job description needs to go no further in confirming your appointment because that is really all they are trying to understand from the interview process i.e what makes you uniquely you and how you fit into the job profile!
Modulate Your Voice
Under pressure, your voice can change. Some experience squeaky voices, some others experience hoarseness and even others experience loss of voice altogether. Even though voice forms part of speech, it is connected to body language since, in essence, body language is the ability to actively harness the power of your physical body to project a positive personality.
Modulating your voice involves being aware if your voice is changing in the course of the interview and steering your voice back to a clam and confident space. The tone of your voice, the accents and stress put on certain words, as well as being able to breathe between sentences can all point towards the ability to communicate clearly and efficiently and give the recruiter a strong reason to hire you.
‘Respond’, don’t ‘React’
In many interviews, recruiters purposefully try to put you off your balance just to see if you can regain it. This is done by asking you trick questions, making you comment on a topic you’re clearly unaware of, making observations about your life or some such other technique designed to test you.
Never be in a hurry to answer. The idea behind ‘responding’ and not ‘reacting’ is to be calibrated enough, both in mind and body, to take a step back, assess the situation and to come back with an answer. ‘Reactions’ are often explosive and sudden, whereas ‘responses’, in contrast, are well-thought without being impulsive.
Everyone can perform in a calm environment but your recruiter may want to see how you function under pressure. If you can respond calmly, your chances of getting hired increase manifold. This calmness can be demonstrated both, in speech and bodily response, and therefore to respond properly, good body language comes in handy.
When a recruiter meets you, your interview should provide them with information that cannot be easily found in your CV or other academic paperwork. Your interview is not just to see if you’re intelligent, but also to see how well-rounded you are as a person. Body language allows you to deliver on this front with authenticity and with minimal effort, if only you know which buttons to press.
If you are looking out for a job and wish to know more about how you can crack interviews with confidence, reach out to our recruiters at info@saranshinc.com. We will be happy to assist.