So you aren’t falling asleep and you have polished your shoes. Well done for making an effort. Your manner and your dress sense certainly say a lot about you, but your body could still let you down. Sit up straight and let us tell you how to send out the right signals.
A Firm Shake
This is a tough one when meeting someone for the first time, but if you can mirror their grip it avoids both you crushing their fingers and appearing like a weakling. As nervous as you are, make sure you don’t have extremely clammy hands – it’s not very pleasant.
Relax into your chair
The way you sit gives a lot of subtle information to the people on the other side of the desk. Use a moment to get comfortable. If you look relaxed, it’ll encourage the interviewer to feel at ease in your company. Just be careful not to take it to extremes and kick back like you’re at home on the sofa. Flipping the chair around and straddling it is also perhaps just a little too confident.
Eye contact
Keep it steady but whatever you do, remember to blink. To avoid the staring-like-a-serial-killer gaze, form a mental triangle of the interviewer’s forehead and make sure that your gaze doesn’t drop below eye level. If you focus on their mouth they might think you fancy them. Probably not a good idea.
Steer your body
Crossing your legs loosely is fine if it makes you feel happier, especially if you’re wearing a skirt, but if you can ‘point’ (not with your finger) at the interviewer with your knees or your toes it shows you are focused on them.
Use your hands
If you can be physically expressive as you speak it shows you are confident about the things you are saying, just be careful you don’t wipe out any prized ornaments on the desk.