Michael Tally, a 31-year-old sales
manager at a New Jersey-based
packaging firm, walked down the long
hallway leading towards his office,
eyeing up the three candidates in
folding metal chairs. “Two were nervous-looking, ruffling through
papers in neat manila folders,” he
recalls. It was the morning of the third
and final round of interviews for the
newest member of his sales team and
there was a lot on the line. Nerves were normal. What he saw as he passed the third
candidate, a twenty-something woman,
neatly dressed and armed with her
resume, was not. “She was picking at
her split ends,” Tally says, “Literally,
snapping off the ends of her hair and dropping them on the ground.” “I hate to prejudge people, and I knew
she was completely unaware of what
she was doing. But since the position
was my call I can say with absolute
certainty that it cost her the job.”
“Every person has physical habits—in
poker, you might call them ‘tells,’ says
public speaking expert Matt Eventoff. “Many of them are fidgets, for some
people they’re grooming gestures or
postural things like a slouch.” In
everyday life these habits are no big
deal, he says. But in an interview setting
they can become a distraction, taking the hiring manager’s focus off of your
talents and onto your… bad hair day.
“You’re in a high-stakes situation with a
stranger, he says. “There’s a lot of
pressure and an imbalanced power
structure.” If there’s ever a time to get distracting (or worse, offensive) habits
under control, this is it. Body Posture The experts agree that aiming for a
neutral posture is your best bet.
“Leaning back suggests boredom or lack of interest,” says Karen Friedman, author of Shutup and Say Something: business Communication Strategies to
Overcome Challenges and Influence
Listeners. “People typically lean into a
conversation when they like someone,
so leaning back can signal the opposite. But beware overcorrection for your
lounging ways. Experts agree that leaning forward can be just as
problematic, as it can seem overly solicitous or even threatening. “Don’t
crowd the interviewer by leaning in too
closely or over his or her desk,” cautions
Amanda Augustine, job search expert at TheLadders.com. Instead, aim for a neutral spine, says
Eventoff. “Posture should be the classic
‘sit up straight,’” he says, as if a string were tied from the top of your head to
the ceiling. “It seems so simple, but it’s
amazing to me how many people
ignore this important advice,” says
“charisma coach” Cynthia Burnham, whose expertise is in helping top-tier
executives polish their public
appearances. Standing or sitting up
straight sends a message of self-
assuredness—but it also makes you
appear taller, which around the world is seen as a sign of smarts, confidence and
credibility. Physical Gestures “Avoid chopping gestures,” says Burnham. “Whole arm karate chop
gestures can psychologically cut up the
space between you ad your interview in
an aggressive way.” While not all of us
have a tendency to “karate chop,” there
are variations of the martial arts move. Pointing is often perceived as an aggressive motion and in some cultures
is considered incredibly rude. Eventoff
says any fast, repeated or aggressive
hand gestures should be kept to a
minimum. As in posture, erring on the side of
caution in an interview setting can also
be problematic. If you shove your hands in your pockets, behind your back or even crossed in front of your chest you run the risk of appearing closed off, stiff
or belligerent. “You should appear open
and approachable,” says Friedman,
“which means your hands should be in
front of you and ready to gesture
naturally.”

PART 2
Grooming Gestures “Grooming gestures are common in
high-pressure settings,” says Eventoff.
“It’s just nervous energy and a natural
desire to appear your best.” And for the
most part, he says, they’re not even an
issue. These small movements or habits —playing with one’s hair, fingernails and jewelry—only become a problem when they are a distraction to the
interviewer. But Eventoff says these nervous habits,
which seem so intrinsic and
unavoidable, are, in fact, the easiest to
kick—at least for the limited time
window of a job interview. When I tell
him of the incredible urge I feel to repeatedly tuck my hair behind my ears
when stressed or uncomfortable (think:
interviews, too-swanky nightclubs and
dates one through three), he tells me to
pull my hair back. “I always tell people
to avoid rings, watches and jewelry for exactly this reason,” he says. “If it’s
not there, you won’t play with it. If you
don’t play with it there’s no chance of
distracting your interviewer, which will
keep his attention where it should be:
on your conversation.” Facial Gestures
“I can say with certainty that the body
language I find to be the most
damaging in an interview setting is
facial gestures,” Eventoff says. From
eyerolls to staring to darting, beady
looks, the secret of successful interview communication is all in the eyes. “Don’t stare,” says Augustine of TheLadders. “While it’s important to be
confident and look the interviewer in
the eye, but locking eyes with someone
for an extended period of time can be
interpreted as aggressive, not to
mention a little creepy.” Cynthia Burnham’s rule of thumb here is a good
one. “We break eye contact when we
feel a connection kick in,” she says. The
next time you feel that “click,” she says,
hold eye contact for just a moment
longer and then beak away. “Do this especially when shaking hands or
meeting someone for the first time,”
she says. It shows just the right level of
engagement—without a whiff of creep.
Of course (and now this is becoming a
familiar tune), avoiding all eye contact to keep from staring is also a bad tactic.
Shifty, beady-eyed looks aren’t ones to
be trusted, and the experts agree that a
question answered while staring at a
bookcase or glancing at your
smartphone is an opportunity lost. “You’ve basically handed your
interviewer a reason not to like you,”
says Eventoff. “If your interviewer
appears distracted during a meeting it
may be rude, but it’s forgivable. If you
appear distracted or disengaged, forget about it.” In toto, the best bet for managing your
body in all of its quirky weirdness in an
interview is to practice moderation.
Moderate posture, moderate gesturing
and a moderate level of eye contact are
the neutral canvas you can use to tell your story—and to sell your best self to
win the job. But the first step in fixing your flaws is
accepting them. If after all this advice
you’ve found yourself questioning your
every move, you’re not alone. What are
your bad habits? Are you a hair tucker
like me or a karate chopper or a sloucher? “Your friends aren’t going to
tell you this stuff unless you ask them,”
Eventoff says. “And even then, they
might not want to offend you. No, like in all things, you are your own
best and worst critic. Eventoff says to
take the time to video a mock interview
to get a sense of your performance
under pressure. Grab a good friend and
your smartphone and spend five minutes practicing answering questions
on-camera (Eventoff’s only tip is to take
it seriously or you won’t project the
right amount of nervousness for your
habits to kick in). Play it back and watch
for habits that might be distracting.


PS: Sorry guyz, write-up seems a bit sorderly.

Sheybi na copy and paste nah...don't worry, we understand, hope you ave learnt from it sha, before copying and pasting it here...but do u think those that access NL in a cybercafe will get time to read all this considering their limited time at the cafe...bullet points would ave made a little sense...No hard feelings o

i feel u bro, point well taken. Wouldn't dream of telling others about it if i haven't learnt from it. But luckily i'm in a profession that doesn't really require an interview before u get a job (its all practical - show me what you can do). So i feel people out there need it more than i do...

bullet points or not. This is well appreciated. Thanks @Op

I appreci8.Pls c how u can continue & finish the remaining PARTS!