Did you know that most of what we communicate in job interviews is through body language? This fact shows how important it is to make a good impression with your body.
Sending the right message in an interview depends on more than just your words. How you present yourself, your gestures, and even your ability to preserve eye contact can convey a host of information to your hiring manager.
Body language is an essential part of communication that can convey a lot about a person’s confidence, competence, and professionalism. When hiring managers meet with candidates during interviews, whether in person or via video call, they’re constantly looking for insights into their characteristics, attitudes, and traits.
Why Body Language Matters
Preparing for a job interview can be nerve-wracking, but being prepared can increase your chances of success. The primary goal of any candidate should be to send the right message to a hiring manager. It’s up to you to convince a potential employer that you’re the right fit for your team by showcasing your skills and knowledge and demonstrating the right character traits, personality, and attitude.
When preparing for an interview, we focus most on what we’re going to say, not how we’re going to say it, or how we come across when we do. But overlooking the importance of body language during an interview is a missed opportunity. Your body language is one of the first things people notice about you, especially in a high-stakes situation like an interview, where everything is under more scrutiny.
First impressions matter, and body language is a key component of that. When you walk into an interview, you want your body language to convey strength, assuredness, and confidence. Even if you say all the right words in an interview, how you say them can influence how others feel about you as a potential employee. Even something as simple as a strong handshake can improve your chances of making a lasting first impression.
In an interview, your body language is your first opportunity to convey both confidence and professionalism, so it’s important to get it right.
Body Language Tips To Boost Your Confidence During Interviews
If you’re not sending the right signals in your interview with your hand gestures, and posture, your words may not have the right impact. Unfortunately, in a stressful situation like an interview, it’s easy for underlying nerves and anxiety to affect your body language and the impression you make.
So, how do you ensure you communicate the right message with more than just words?
- Make Good Eye Contact
Eye contact is the basis for making connections and building relationships. It is perhaps one of the most important forms of nonverbal communication in interviews. Making regular eye contact with your interviewers shows you’re actively listening to what they’re saying. It can also demonstrate authenticity and openness in some cases. It’ll also help you, as the interviewee, focus on the conversation and more accurately read facial expressions. This can help improve understanding and communication between you and the interviewer. A lack of eye contact, on the other hand, might make your interviewer think you’re hiding something or are insecure about your responses to their questions. Poor eye contact, including wandering eyes, staring down, and looking at your watch, will make you appear apprehensive and distracted. If maintaining eye contact makes you too uncomfortable to look into their eyes, try focusing on the middle of their forehead, the effect is the same, and it sometimes feels a bit easier.
- Stay Alert and Responsive
While in a job interview, you want to practice the art of active listening. Defined, active listening is the practice of preparing to listen, observing what verbal and nonverbal messages are being sent, and then providing appropriate feedback for the sake of showing attentiveness to the message being presented. It’s a way of listening and responding to another person that improves mutual understanding. Your body language isn’t just important when you’re talking, it matters when you’re listening, too. Show you’re engaged by nodding occasionally to show understanding, leaning slightly forward to demonstrate interest.
- Practice Good Posture
Good posture is one of the best ways to exude confidence in an interview, even when feeling nervous. Not only does proper posture improve spinal health but it also helps to convey confidence. To practice good posture, you’ll need to stand up straight, keep your shoulders down, and pull back to convey interest and professionalism. A good trick to help keep good posture is to rest your hands on the table or desk in front of you. While it can be easy to slouch, doing so conveys a lack of energy and confidence. Appearing too rigid, on the other hand, can make you appear uncomfortable or unfriendly. That’s why practicing good posture at all times, especially when you’re interviewing for jobs, is important.
- Tone Your Voice
Under pressure, your voice can change. Some experience squeaky voices, some others experience hoarseness and even others experience loss of voice altogether. Even though voice forms part of speech, it is connected to body language since, in essence, body language is the ability to actively harness the power of your physical body to project a positive personality. Toning your voice involves being aware of whether your voice is changing in the course of the interview and steering your voice back to a calm and confident space. The tone of your voice, the accents and stress put on certain words, as well as being able to breathe between sentences can all point towards the ability to communicate clearly and efficiently and give the recruiter a strong reason to hire you.
- Get Comfortable
Speaking clearly and with conviction can help make you appear more confident and professional. Before entering the job interview, take a deep breath, and try to relax and be present in the moment. By breathing deeply a message is sent to your brain to calm down and relax. And while it’s important to look good and dress professionally in a job interview, you don’t want to sacrifice comfort for style. That means nothing too tight-fitting that’ll cause you to fidget and shift in your seat. Doing so will make you appear uncomfortable, distracted, and lead you to potentially send the wrong message. Your body language should stay confident and polished through the very last second.
Body language plays a crucial role in making a positive first impression and conveying confidence and competence in a job interview. When a recruiter meets you, your interview should provide them with information that cannot be easily found in your CV or other academic paperwork. Your interview is not just to see if you’re intelligent, but also to see how well-rounded you are as a person. Body language allows you to deliver on this front with authenticity and with minimal effort. By paying attention to your body language and using it effectively, you can improve your chances of making a positive impression and landing the job.