How Must the Interviewers' Body Language Be

Interviewing, as we have seen, is not a natural activity like a conversation, nor is it something you can merely pick up. “Like learning to drive a car, it requires, firstly, an understanding of the basic skills and, secondly, regular practice. And just as after my first (fortunately minor) car accident my father insisted I immediately go out and drive so as not to lose confidence, I recommend that if you have a bad or inconclusive interview, do not let it put you off, but set up your next one as quickly as possible,” says a recruitment manager based in New York.

The interviewer's body language should be saying:

• I know why I am conducting this interview.
  
  
  
  
• I am confident in my skills as an interviewer.
  
  
• I am interested in you.
  
  
• I want to hear everything you have to tell me.
  

To ensure these messages are being delivered to the interviewees as unequivocally as possible, you should:

• Sit comfortably in your chair in an upright but relaxed posture, feet close together. Slouching, drooping shoulders or legs splayed out in front of you indicate boredom.
  
  
• Look at your interviewees with an interested expression, leaning forward when listening to their replies. Do not gaze blankly into space, eyes hardly blinking - what a teacher of mine used to call 'Windows open but no one inside'.
  
  
• Avoid sitting with your head propped up by a hand, eyes half-closed. It's the classic boredom pose.
  
  
• Try to keep your body as motionless as possible. Do not fidget, doodle on your pad, drum fingers on the desk or arm of chair, click your ballpoint pen or chew your pencil - all these and more signal lack of interest.
  
  
• Keep your arms and legs uncrossed. Crossed limbs are a defensive posture which suggests that you want to block off information rather than receive it; and as the interviewees tend to copy you, they will also start to defend themselves with their arms across their chests and communication between you will be restricted.
  
  
• Keep your hands away from your face, especially your mouth, because, apart from muffling your speech, the gesture signals uncertainty, tension or even untrustworthiness. Do something useful with them like making notes.
  
  
• Avoid postures indicating superiority, such as sitting with your hands clasped behind your head and legs crossed -one adopted by men more than by women. Steepling the fingers in front of you is a confident gesture, but combined with resting back in your chair makes it look more like arrogance.
  
  
• Avoid other specifically male postures that have no place in an interview, such as one leg draped over an arm of the chair, or feet on the desk. They tell your interviewees that you are much too important and have far better things to do with your time than to listen to what they have to say. They also convey territorial possessiveness that you are the master of all you survey - a statement you would not have to make, since most of your interviewees probably know and respect it anyway.
  
  
• In contrast, make more of placing your hand to your cheek, holding or stroking your chin, and tilting your head, all the while looking at your interviewees with an interested expression. These gestures say, 'I am relaxed but at the same time alert and involved, and I miss nothing.'
  

We take in information approximately four times faster than we speak; therefore, while interviewees are replying to our questions we have time to study and observe them and still not miss anything they tell us. Given a little practice, this should become second nature.

The postures of positive, confident, involved interviewees will be, to a large extent, a mirror of your own. They, too, will:

• be seated comfortably with their legs and arms un crossed, their hands resting comfortably in front of them
  
  
• lean forward occasionally when listening to your questions
  
  
• have their eyes on you, looking away only when they are considering a question and formulating a reply
  

Tense, anxious and frightened interviewees will express their negative emotions in numerous ways, some which will be obvious to you, some not. They may: fidget, scratch, bite their nails, pick at their cuticles or the skin of their hands, or cover their mouths with their hands when they are replying, making it difficult for you to hear them properly.

When they feel threatened, they will cross their arms and legs, men at the knees, women at the ankles, clasp the arms of their chair or ball their hands into fists.

These gestures will be accompanied by the frequent clearing of the throat, answers preceded by 'umms' and 'ahs', and the uncertain pitch and wavering tone caused by rapid breathing. When you observe any of these signs, it is your cue to reassure them. This you do by softening your voice, leaning towards them and smiling when appropriate, all the while maintaining encouraging but not threatening eye contact. Check also your own posture to make sure that they are not by any chance imitating you.

Interviewees also have ways of telling us that we are not doing our job properly. If, for instance, they stare as though in a trance it is not because they think we are absolutely fascinating, but rather that we are boring them. Similarly, if they look everywhere in the room except at us, it is clear that we are not getting through to them.

If you take your time to introduce a question, you may see the interviewee tugging an earlobe. This means, 'Thank you, I've got the point. Now, when is it my turn to speak?' And if interviewees move to the edge of their seats, lean or point their feet towards the door, they are giving us the message that they have had enough of our tedious questions and want to get out. Our response to any of these messages is to start the communication process up again by (1) making our questions more relevant and challenging, and (2) talking less and listening more