Once inside, the following techniques help you stay in the spotlight, and away from the tomatoes. When the standing ovation stops, you'll need to know which offer to accept.
ElM: Make the first impression the best.
In the first few minutes, interviewers either choose or snooze. Some don't even take that long. Like movie critics (and every other decision maker), they remain only to justify their judgment. Often, it's merely to get more ammunition for a critical blasting.
Your critics are beyond busy. They're diverted, distracted, and disarranged. They discuss, disapprove, and dismiss so many hopefuls that first impressions become only ones. Yes they discriminate disproportionately, disobeying the law. It's not intentional, but neither is any survival instinct.
You can do far more to help them than an army of affirmative action officers. Stereotyping, like insisting on resumes, is a matter of survival. Just be sure you're "stereo typecast" in the role known as the target job.
If the pressure is hard to believe, consider that, in companies with fewer than 500 employees, it is not unusual for wage and salary, insurance, employee benefits, labor relations, affirmative action, management development, security, medical, training, safety, mail, telephone operations, plant maintenance, food service, company functions, civic activities, and a variety of other administrative duties to be performed by the individual who just escorted you into the office to talk about the same position as all those other clamoring candidates in the lobby. Your first number must be a show stopper. That's why I recommend you:
Use the "magic four hello."
This initial, programmed, perfect greeting consists of the following four components;
- A smile. (Genuine. Not just with the mouth, but the eyes as well. Practice.)
- Direct eye contact. (Straightforward, self assured, friendly.)
- The words, "Hi, I'm (first name) (last name). It's a pleasure meeting you."
- A firm handshake. (No live sharks; no dead flounders.)
Hone your handshake.
Aside from making the "magic four" flow naturally, a proper handshake is often the hardest technique to master. The negative impression that a hapless handshake leaves behind can completely obstruct the rest of your interview performance. It's as if the curtain never goes up, the lights never go on, and the audience is lined up at the popcorn stand.
The handshake sets the tempo of the interview. If you have either of the problems mentioned previously a shark that sprains or a flounder that flops practice shaking hands with your other hand. You may look funny, but you'll get hired. (You might get to know yourself better, too!) In Contact: The First Four Minutes, Leonard Zuninempha sized the importance of first impressions. He devoted an entire chapter to the handshake. Here's what he wrote;
A moist palm may merely show someone is nervous, a symbol which automatically eliminates any job applicant at at least one large company of which I am aware. Its personnel director once told me that regardless of the qualifications of a man he interviews, "if his handshake is weak and clammy, he's out." Such reaction to body language is far more prevalent than we realize, as others assume many things about our glance, stance, or advance.
We shake hands thousands of times in a lifetime, and it is unfortunate that most of us get little or no feedback on whether or not others like or dislike our handshake."
EIM: Don't address the interviewer by his or her first name.
Not in any telephone or mail contact or during the interview itself unless the interviewer requests that you do. It should always be "Mr." or "Ms." If the interviewer addresses you by your first name, ask if you may reciprocate: "Mr. Carlson may I call you John?"
Avoid assuming a subordinate role.
It's only natural to go slow in a new situation. Fear of the unknown, dependence on circumstances beyond your control, and being under close scrutiny can cause you to play a subordinate role.
But this is no time to hide in the wings. Crawling doesn't work, either. It's the time to put your best foot forward. The rest of your body generally follows.
Here are techniques to maintain emotional balance, size up the situation, and give an "A" audition.
Admire something in the interviewer's office.
When you enter the office, admire something like a company award, a desk accessory, or an item of furniture. Stay away from family pictures, clothing, and other personal items. It's too soon. By admiring the right thing, you're buying some time to:
Assess the interviewer's style.
This is essential. In those first few moments, while greetings are exchanged and seats are taken, you must be alert for clues to the interviewer's personality. If you can determine his or her style, and adjust yours to be compatible, you're getting hired. You'll be able to communicate successfully and develop rapport with the interviewer. No credentials or experience are as powerful as this. Communication authorities categorize personalities according to specific traits. If you "read" certain clues given by the individual and his or her environment, you can decide how to proceed.
EIM: Align with the interviewer.
Will Rogers said, "I never met a man I didn't like." Jeff Allen says, "Neither did I. That's why I never saw a job I couldn't get."
Do you know people who seem to have the knack for getting any job they want, when they want it? Do you wish you knew their "secret"? There's no secret. They simply learned that liking the interviewer has a dramatic, positive effect. It invokes a powerful rule of human motivation: PEOPLE LIKE PEOPLE WHO LIKE THEM.
