Job Interviewing Tips

My intern Julie interviewed me recently about body language tips for job interviews. She will be posting our interview on the blog and website soon. I just wanted to add some tips that are important in interviewing that are not directly related to nonverbal communication.

Let go of performance anxiety - Let go of the stressful thought, “Will I be good enough in the interview?” The interview is really about filling a job. They are looking for a match of characteristics and qualifications. It about a match rather than about you being good enough. And sometimes it is about the personality of the interviewer. Many interviewers are looking for someone like them. Some matching and mirroring of the interviewer could get you a job offer, but then you need decide if you like the energy of your new this person, who may be your future boss.

Be Polite - The smallest thing you do and say that shows your caring and courtesy has an impact. From holding the door for the interviewer, waiting for them to take a seat first if they don’t ask you to sit first, thanking them for taking the time to speak with you at the beginning and again at the end of the interview, to thanking them for offering you a beverage--your ease and proper etiquette shows so much.

Show you came prepared- Bring a nice leather bound notebook with a pad and pen clipped inside. The pocket should have copies of your resume and the printed research you did on the company and the job. You can even pull out the research you did on the company and ask the interviewer a question you have prepared based on your research.

In my presentation skills course and my How to Give a Great Interview course I talk about the power of words. I suggest you don’t use soft words like hopefully, if I get the job, and instead use words that show your confidence. "When I get the job..."

When you leave the interview, at your first opportunity write down your impression of what you did and any questions you might need to go over should you have another interview. Also write down things you did well and pat yourself on the back. Completing a job interview is like climbing a mountain. Sit back a moment and congratulate yourself and enjoy the view.
For information of public seminars Patti is giving on body language and deception detection in Philadelphia in the summer of 09 though Paliani consulting please contact us or go directly to the Paliani site. You can always contact Patti at Patti@PattiWood.net

Reading Body Language Can Make You a Better Listener

This is a direct quote from a recent participant in my body language seminar.

"Patti, I attended you public seminar in Philadelphia. I found that out of all the benefits of attending your body language program, the biggest was becoming a better listener. Yes, learning to read others body language has actually made me a better listener. I know that sounds strange, but I would often have a lot of “mental noise” that kept me from truly listening to someone. When I would be in a sales meeting the other person (prospect) would be talking and I would be thinking about my answers or what I wanted to say next, etc. Now that I know body language I am not just listening to the words, I am watching my clients. This has helped me eliminate all my mental noise and allowed me to focus, listen and engage much more effectively."

Attractiveness, skinny, funny

I have been blogging about our love of skinny woman and horrible prejudice against those who are overweight. You may not know that I am constantly working on my weight and I got this joke from speaker Nigel Risner today.

"Inside me there's a thin person struggling to get out, but I can usually sedate him with four or five cupcakes." -Bob Thaves

In my case it would two or three Dove bars.

Politician's body language: Lying and Trust

Question from a reader "How do I predict politicians future behavior from past body language?"
I have a separate category for Politicians on my Levels of Liars list that I created for my Deception Detection public seminar. Here is what I have observed and read in the research:

• Any person whose success is based on deceit can begin to rationalize that he or she must lie to succeed. By the way, men tend to lie more often about their success than woman.
• Anyone who believes that they are lying for some perceived greater good (for example, “Once I get into office I will do right for the people.”) will lie with less guilt and will give fewer cues of deceit making it harder for us to tell if they are lying.
• Repeating the same information, true or false, overtime can make it possible for someone to believe their own lies. This is an interesting result of how the brain reacts to dissonant information.
• Staff members giving misinformation is another problem that is rather unique to politicians. They are able to rely on their staff, speech writers and others to give them correct information and unless the politician is very smart and does their own fact checking before they speak and is savvy enough to create a staff made up of people with integrity, he or she can run into trouble. Before I do a body language read of a politician I like to study their staff to check the integrity of their 'spin doctors'. Read a case in point--the fall out from the recent Vanity Fair piece on Sara Palin. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/24392.html

Body language treatment of the obese and over weight

Another report has more bad new about body language behavior and the obese. The article says, "America condemns the fat and blames them for their condition. Americans tend to see in fat people the loss of control that they fear in themselves (Angier 1992). Americans also associate fat people with a wide variety of negative characteristics. Studies published over a 20-year period demonstrate that Americans see fat people as "unattractive . . . aesthetically displeasing . . . morally and emotionally impaired . . . alienated from their sexuality . . . and discontent with themselves" (Crandall 1994)
The following report on size discrimination also says, " In other cases, it has led to weight-focused job interviews, forced resignations, denials of promotions and insurance coverage, and exclusion from office social functions. It has also led to lower incomes ($6,700 a year less) and higher rates of poverty (10 percent higher) among obese women than among their nonobese peers(Gortmaker 1993). And it has negatively affected the wage increases of the obese: when they increase, they increase less rapidly than the wages
of the nonobese (Averett 1994)."

Are you as disturbed by these findings as I am?