Career and Intern Services

Making a Good First Impression

Interview Tips:

  1. What to Wear
  2. Interview Etiquette
  3. Interview Questions
  4. Job Applications

NONVERBAL SIGNALS

You may have the best answers to the interview questions, but if your nonverbal skills are lacking, it won’t matter one iota! Nonverbal signals can relay your attitude, outlook, interests and approach. “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.” – Peter F. Drucker.

In her article “A Second Look at First Impressions” Cheryl Ferguson notes that everything you do from how you treat the receptionist to the interview team, to what you are wearing, to what you say and do not say factor into the hiring decision.

One Human Resources Director revealed how one candidate kept her waiting while he continued a cell phone conversation in the lobby. “Arrogance or the impression that I’m more important than you, or my time is more valuable than your time,” screams DIFFICULT EMPLOYEE to everyone who comes in contact with this type of individual.

So how do you use nonverbal communication to your advantage? Susan Heathfield in “Believe What You See” supplies the successful job seeker with some helpful tips:

Attentiveness and eye contact – to look engaged in the conversation, lean in slightly to close some of the distance between you and the employer. And make eye contact! If you spend the whole interview letting your eyes roam all around the room and rarely make eye contact you risk the employer assuming that you have little confidence or that you just don’t care. But be careful—if you stare without ceasing, this relays overly aggressive behavior.

Facial Expressions and Body Language – entire books have been written on this topic, so we just want to touch on it lightly here. Just make sure your words match up with your body language. If they do not, this indicates serious discomfort or lying. And do NOT walk into an interview and become too familiar with the interviewer or your surroundings. A candidate who leans way back in a chair with his leg crossed at the knee, shows cockiness or aggressiveness. Sit with both feet on the floor and your back against the lower back of the chair.

Did you know that if you constantly tap your pen, fidget with your jewelry at the end of sentences or stroke your hair every few minutes that you are radiating how uncomfortable you are? The employer is left to interpret whether you are uncomfortable with your skills and abilities or the setting?

INTERVIEW ETIQUETTE

Interview Questions ->