Body language experts explain how to conduct yourself during a job interview. From the very start of the interview process to maintaining your poise until leaving the room, Joe Navarro, Dr. Abbie Maroño and Anne-Maartje Oud demonstrate the things interviewers are looking out for and how to make the best first impression.
Director: Joe Pickard
Director of Photography: Olivia Kuan
Editor: Matthew Colby; Jordan Calig
Talent: Abbie Marono; Joe Navarro; Anne-Maartje Oud
Creative Producer: Katherine Wzorek
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Kariesha Kidd
Camera Operator: Josh Andersen
Sound Mixer: Kara Johnson
Production Assistant: Liza Antonova
Hair & Make-Up: Maureen Sherwood
Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Assistant Editor: Lauren Worona
Director: Joe Pickard
Director of Photography: Olivia Kuan
Editor: Matthew Colby; Jordan Calig
Talent: Abbie Marono; Joe Navarro; Anne-Maartje Oud
Creative Producer: Katherine Wzorek
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Kariesha Kidd
Camera Operator: Josh Andersen
Sound Mixer: Kara Johnson
Production Assistant: Liza Antonova
Hair & Make-Up: Maureen Sherwood
Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Assistant Editor: Lauren Worona
Category
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TechTranscript
00:00 Wear what you're going to use at the interview in advance
00:03 and be comfortable.
00:04 - Make sure that your handshake is proper.
00:07 Sat upright, good posture, eye contact,
00:10 but you are not staring them down.
00:12 - The human body is always transmitting.
00:18 The question is, who is receiving that information?
00:22 [upbeat music]
00:25 [claps]
00:27 - The interview really starts before the interview.
00:33 - Outside the door already.
00:35 - When someone hands in a CV.
00:36 - Or their social media.
00:38 - When you're parking your car,
00:40 are you taking a space that is not allowed?
00:42 - Are you greeting the security person
00:44 that is standing there?
00:45 - I remember going to an interview once
00:48 and the person that was gonna interview me
00:50 was in the elevator with me.
00:51 - Sometimes I give CEOs the advice,
00:53 sit down on that reception stool
00:56 and observe the person who's coming in
00:58 because then you can also already see
01:00 how they're treating reception staff.
01:02 - We assess each other in milliseconds, not even seconds.
01:07 - It's not just your body language or facial expressions,
01:10 it's everything that communicates.
01:12 - Some people are making already judgments.
01:14 - You have to make a good impression
01:16 first by understanding that you have to make
01:18 a good impression, selling yourself,
01:20 you're promoting yourself.
01:21 - So that's why you need to be confident
01:23 and be perceived as trustworthy as well as competent.
01:26 - Know what you're gonna say,
01:27 what they're gonna ask you.
01:29 Prepare, prepare, prepare.
01:30 - You don't have a copy of your CV and they refer to it.
01:34 You now look less prepared.
01:36 - And if you hand it to somebody, hand it with value.
01:39 If you do it like this, you know,
01:40 bit of the turtleneck like that,
01:42 it's completely different than this is who I am
01:45 and this is what I've done in life.
01:47 - As I walk into the room,
01:52 I have to remember that I have to be respectful
01:54 of that room.
01:55 - Always make yourself known.
01:57 So you walk up to them, you shake hands,
01:59 can I sit here?
02:00 Yes, you can sit here.
02:01 - I have to make eye contact with everybody in that room
02:05 and that I have to treat everybody equally.
02:08 - And not focus on the chair that you want to sit in,
02:11 but focus on the people that are present in that room.
02:13 - As you make your introduction,
02:15 I want to hear a strong voice.
02:18 I want to see an upright posture.
02:20 I want to see the chin up.
02:22 - Confidence.
02:23 - No hands in pockets.
02:24 I want to see your hands.
02:26 I want to see you ready to engage in an interaction.
02:28 - I will shake everybody's hands equally.
02:31 Not just going to focus on the highest status person
02:34 or the leader.
02:35 If you ask most people, have you ever had a bad handshake?
02:41 Yeah.
02:42 - We all have had those awful handshakes.
02:44 - Yeah, it was wet, weak, this, that, whatever.
02:47 - If we are meeting up for the first time,
02:49 we align ourselves and that we have a short handshake,
02:52 usually it's like this.
02:53 - If you're giving me a very light handshake,
02:56 don't want to be grabbing at the knuckles.
02:57 If you're giving me a really strong handshake,
02:59 I don't want to give you a loose handshake back.
03:01 I'm going to try and match your level of grip.
03:03 - Especially when you're a woman,
03:05 I've had so many bad handshakes because of the strength
03:09 that men probably want to portray.
03:10 I still don't understand.
03:12 - People try and dominate a handshake,
03:14 never try and dominate a handshake.
03:15 - But what we do see a lot, too long,
03:18 they keep shaking like this all the time,
03:21 or they hold the hand, which makes it very uncomfortable,
03:24 or they probe the hand, which is like the finger like that.
03:27 - Keep all of my fingers below your wrist.
03:31 - So up to the point where they touch you here,
03:33 or here, or even here.
03:35 And that we would not advise,
03:37 unless I know you very well, it's like, "Hey, how are you?"
03:39 You know, then it's like, "Oh, so good to see you, great."
03:42 - Humans impress first visually, then vocally,
03:46 tone of voice, then verbally,
03:48 and the last is haptics through touch.
03:51 The brain catalogs all this negative stuff.
03:55 - You have to let them set the stage and the rules.
04:01 - Don't talk over them.
04:02 - Turn yielding.
04:04 Does this person ever shut up?
04:05 - Some people start talking immediately,
04:07 "Hi, I'm here for the job,"
04:08 and they start selling themselves.
04:10 - Take a breath, you know what you're doing,
04:12 and speak comfortably.
04:14 - Depending on how many people you're talking to,
04:17 I would always wait just to let them take up
04:20 the moment of interaction
04:21 and to tell them what they want from you.
04:23 - Show you are engaged, you are actively listening,
04:27 and you are in the interaction present.
04:29 - Use your hands and use your face to emphasize.
04:31 - As they're talking, I want you to be nodding along
04:34 with what they're saying, not too much,
04:36 that you look like a bubble head.
04:37 You wanna have a slight head tilt when you're talking to them,
04:40 especially when you're trying to show empathy.
04:42 - When people ask a question, make sure you answer it.
04:45 Don't be so busy talking that you are not aware
04:49 that you've been asked a question.
04:50 - I want to see you orientated towards them
04:53 because orientation behavior shows interest.
04:56 - Don't pick at your clothing,
04:57 don't pick out lint and so forth, don't preen yourself.
05:01 - Even because they are uncomfortable,
05:03 you might see a self-hug, you know, those kind of things,
05:06 and we so do not advise that.
05:08 - The best conversations take place
05:11 with comfort for both parties.
05:13 - I'm overly sat with my shoulders back and my chest out,
05:18 trying to be really, really upright.
05:20 I look like a robot.
05:21 - If you are very comfortable like that,
05:25 that is not, that's not a good portrayal.
05:27 - You will feel in your body when it feels unnatural.
05:31 Listen to yourself, feel comfortable,
05:34 and it should feel natural.
05:35 - Everybody knows this, but a lot of people don't do it.
05:38 - Don't be caught off guard with any question.
05:40 - Have a trial interview,
05:42 have somebody just ask you a few questions
05:44 and see how you come across.
05:46 And if you're clearing your throat
05:47 and you have to hesitate for too long,
05:50 people don't like that.
05:52 Hesitation is a killer.
05:53 - Always say thank you.
05:58 Show them respect by showing them
06:01 you are grateful for their time.
06:03 - Expect to, you know, say goodbye and shake hands,
06:07 maybe hand out a card.
06:09 If not, you can just nod,
06:11 validate everybody that you had the opportunity.
06:13 - This is the last time you have a chance to influence.
06:16 - Remember, the interview is only over
06:18 when you are completely out of sight.
06:20 - You leave the room with proactiveness
06:22 and a posture that shows you're active
06:25 or that you are energetic to go for what you want to go.
06:28 - Often, if you feel that it went really well,
06:30 people can completely relax
06:32 and they don't walk out the room with as much confidence
06:35 or as much poise as they came in the room.
06:37 - You're only done after you're back in your car home.
06:40 - So maintain that confidence level,
06:42 maintain that posture, maintain that poise
06:44 until you are fully out of the room.
06:46 When it comes to virtual interaction,
06:51 you're actually at an advantage.
06:53 There's actually a lot more control.
06:54 - Is the lighting good?
06:55 Is the sound okay?
06:57 - Many people have learned the hard way
06:59 not to use the camera that came with their computer.
07:02 Go out and buy that or borrow a decent 4K camera.
07:06 - You are in complete control of your virtual space.
07:09 So you can make sure that it's tidy,
07:11 that you don't have things that are drawing attention away.
07:15 - There was somebody applying for a high-end job
07:17 and in the background, there was only liquor.
07:19 It might be in his kitchen, so you can say,
07:21 "Oh yeah, well, he's got liquor in his kitchen."
07:23 But we pick up on the liquor first
07:25 and in our brain, we make an association.
07:27 - Eye contact is really important virtually.
07:30 You just have to remember
07:31 that everything is now exaggerated.
07:33 Your gestures are now reduced to 27 inches.
07:37 That's what most cameras capture.
07:39 - They can't look at the rest of your body.
07:41 So there's going to be more emphasis on the face.
07:44 - The other difficult thing with Zoom is the technique.
07:47 So we have sometimes a delay of a question
07:50 and that feels awkward sometimes.
07:52 Like, can I talk already or not?
07:54 And you see the hesitation.
07:56 The turn yielding is a bit delayed.
07:58 That can throw the interviewee or the interviewer off.
08:02 So you have to be extra alert on that.
08:04 - When they are talking, look at the screen.
08:06 And when you are talking, look at the camera.
08:09 What people often do is they look at themselves.
08:11 When we are constantly assessing our own non-verbals,
08:14 it's really tiring
08:16 and it's really cognitively demanding and draining.
08:18 So it creates what's called Zoom fatigue.
08:20 And that will affect our non-verbals
08:22 because we're going to show fatigue.
08:24 We're going to show disinterest.
08:25 - In essence, the rules are the same.
08:27 The important thing is that you understand
08:29 that you have to be extra alert of your body language
08:32 because there's no room for interpretation.
08:35 (upbeat music)
08:38 - The goal of any interview as the interviewer
08:42 is information elicitation.
08:44 As the interviewee is to show confidence,
08:46 competence, and trust.
08:48 - You're going to create a conversation with that person
08:51 or you're going to ask questions as well,
08:53 or you will have examples that really apply to it.
08:56 - You want to make the other person feel comfortable.
08:59 You want to make them feel
09:01 that you are someone to be trusted.
09:02 - How did this person dress up?
09:04 Are your clothes clean?
09:05 Or do you have food on your clothes?
09:07 I mean, I'm relaying here what I've heard from HR.
09:11 They're assessing you
09:12 because you're going to be representing me.
09:14 We may have a great brand name,
09:17 but it's your face, your presence,
09:19 that's going to make that difference.
09:21 - There might be a hundred people applying for that job.
09:23 If you come prepared and you have a genuine interaction
09:27 with showing that you really want it,
09:29 there's so much more chance in that setting than,
09:32 oh, I'm just here, this is my resume, yeah, please hire me.
09:35 (electronic beeping)