GrayPower Recruiting

Body language

Communication is often more about body language than speech. Take a deep breath and walk in with your back straight and head held high so you look - and feel - more confident. To achieve a relaxed smile rather than a forced grin, imagine your facial muscles are being ironed out.

Sit back in your chair and don't fidget, which will give the interviewer the impression that you are nervous, or worse still - lying. The same goes for breaking eye contact. Hold the person with whom you are talking in your gaze. Subtly imitating the interviewer's pace of speech and body language will create empathy.

Do not slouch back in the chair or tensly sit on the edge leaning forward, the first gives the attitude that you do not care much about the job and the other makes you seem over anxious. Keep your hands still and in sight. Use gestures but do not wave your hands around wildly to make a point.

Look the interviewer in the eye and speak directly to him/her. If there are others interviewing in a panel situation then include them in you answers but concentrate on the questioner.

How Important is it?

The importance of body language - the following is extracted from "The importance of body language - By Frank van Marwijk " http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Van_Marwijk.html

"People can not live without each other, we are social beings. As soon as we are in contact with others we are communicating. For this we can make use of spoken and written language. In these ways we make the content of a message clear to each other. However we can also communicate without words. This kind of communication tells us something about the relationship between people. Often this is more important than getting the content of the message across. The communication about this non spoken communication, which tells us something about the relationship between people, is called Meta-Communication. Communicating about communication! "

"Body language is a language without spoken words and is therefore called non verbal communication. We use body language all the time, for instance looking someone in the eyes means something different than not looking someone in the eyes. In contact with others it is just not possible to be not communicating something. "

"Body language is used especially to express feelings. For instance if we do not like someone, it is often difficult to say that directly to the person. However we can make it clear either intentionally or unintentionally through body language. The opposite is also true. We may say that we ARE angry through words yet our body language may be saying loud and clear that we are NOT. This can be very confusing for the receiver. This is usually described as giving out double messages - one message in words and an opposite message in body language. It is also difficult to lie or cover up our feelings through body language. People may give their true feelings away by not being aware of their body language. Research has shown that most people pay more attention to, and believe more readily, their impression of how a person acts through body language than what is said through words. As a consequence we tend to doubt, or put a question mark behind, the spoken words if they do not correspond with the language of the body . "

"Gestures, postures and proximity to another speaker by which one communicates nonverbally with others in a given culture."