Are you interested in Job finding, Resume Writing, Body Language and Interviewing Tips? I will be on a three person panel of experts today discussing interviewing tips for Channel Five News. You can find articles I have writing on the topic by going to the search portion of this blog and typing in job interviewing tips or body language and job interviewing tips. Here are are a few quick tips.
Life is good. Hard but good. With the economy being what it is some people are looking for new jobs or going on sales calls like never before. If you are in that situation you cannot afford to become stressed or "psyched out" before talking to a potential customer or employer. As a body language expert trainer and one on one coach I would like to share some great tools to "... prepare you mentally to go into the sales call or job interview and be at your best.
• One powerful technique to gain confidence and keep yourself from getting stressed during and meeting is to imagine the emotions you want the prospect or interviewer to have about you and deliver the body language that elicits those emotions. A recent job interview coaching client of mine was very anxious about an upcoming interview and his stress was evident in his body language. He was holding hands in his lap and had his feet tucked under the chair and his voice was so soft I was having to ask him to repeat his statement. I asked him what he wanted his interviewer to feel about him. He said the emotion he wanted the interviewer to feel was excitement. I asked him to imagine how he behaved when he was excited. Then I asked him act that way. His body language and paralanguage changed immediately. He held his head and torso up then he leaned forward and gestured up and out and used a energy charged voice to share his positive work experiences . He smiled and even laughed as he relayed one particular story. He didn't feel excited in the moment before he started moving his body, he felt afraid. But he said, "It was weird as soon as I brought my shoulders back and smiled and put some energy in my voice I got it excited." "It felt like I had just had a cup of Starbucks" So go into your interview showing excitement with up, energetic nonverbal behavior. Do know, of course that there are caveats to excitement being the appropriate response. But overall your demeanor can illicit the appropriate emotion for the situation.
• A second techniques to build confidence is to move and hold your body “UP” upward posture, head held up, gestures with up motions. When we are happy are body naturally moves up and holds itself up. When you hold or move your body the way you would like to feel the posture actually sends a message to the brain, “Hey I am feeling great, positive and up.” As you hold your body the little pharmacy in your brain starts producing the chemicals that match that state, (in as little as a 40th of a second.) and pumps them into your body and you begin to feel up. The combination of your up posture and movement up and chemical up state is felt by the interviewer. They start to give you attentive nonverbal cues and that makes you feel more confident. I call this the fake it till you make it technique. You only have to fake it for a fraction of a second before it actually effects how you feel.
• A third tool is to choose a word that expresses how you would like to feel in your interview and then get into a posture that matches it. So if your word is CONFIDENT your put your body in an open position, arms away from your body, legs uncrossed shoulder back heart forward, extending eye-contact for as long as three seconds, voice going down at the end of sentences.
• And a forth techniques is to use that same magic word to replace any negative thoughts you have about the interview. For example, replace the thought, “ I am going to mess up is and forget what to say with your magic word. “I am going to be CONFIDENT and remember what I want to say.”
E-mail Patti - Patti@PattiWood.net
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional
The Body Language Expert
Web- http://www.PattiWood.net
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