Non-verbal Communication: What Candidates Think You’re Saying
Posted January 14, 2014 & filed under Hiring Resources, Uncategorized
Candidates don’t have it easy. To even get your attention, they have to jump through innumerable hoops. When they get to the interview, they have to say the right things on command, watch for non-verbal communication queues, and wonder if every silence is a disqualifying silence or just a pause for you to gather your thoughts. And the waiting afterwards isn’t any better.
You may not intend to give your candidates ulcers but unconscious body language can send all the wrong signals. 93 percent of communication is non-verbal. 55 percent of your message is conveyed through your body language, 38 percent through your tone of voice, and only 7 percent through your actual words.
Posture – Too rigid or too lax of a posture can deflate the confidence of potential candidates. An overly rigid posture seems icy or unaccommodating. An overly lax posture gives an impression of total boredom. The last time you interviewed a candidate, how were you seated? The non-verbal message sent by the curvature of your spine might have made a difference.
Public Speaker Matt Eventoff told Forbes that job seekers should aim for a “classic ‘sit up straight’” or neutral spine posture and that goes for interviewers as well. Imagine that you’re trying to balance a stack of books on your head. If your spine curves in a concave or convex way, those hypothetical books are going to topple to the ground. In an interview, anything less than a neutral posture can bring a candidate’s spirits down just as quickly.
Eye Contact – Unbroken eye contact is a bad idea. In the animal kingdom, it’s a sign of dominance and on some primal level, people find it unsettling too. Certain cultures can withstand longer stretches of eye contact but few people can handle indefinite stress of this type of non-verbal communication.
It’s best to keep things natural without overthinking it but occasionally, it’s good to check in on yourself with these questions:
- How long are you staring at the candidate’s eyes?
- Do you regularly shift over to another part of the candidate’s face?
- Are your eyes roaming elsewhere?
Smile – Positive facial expressions can directly influence the expressions of others. Take your smile for example. People are naturally inclined to echo the feelings and body language of others thanks to parts of the brain known as mirror neurons. It’s what prompts one person to smile when another person is smiling. The best part is that this type of action can be infectious and spread between people quickly. It’s a great way to start the interview off on a genuinely positive note.
Crossed Arms – This type of non-verbal communication is detrimental when coming from an interviewer. It may be a natural position of comfort or a way to show serious thought. Regardless, most people will read this specific type of body language as being heavy with doubt or distrust. Arms should be kept at the side or relaxed on a chair’s arms.
A Final Thought
Sometimes, after a long string of seemingly endless interviews, even the heartiest hiring manager can regress back to bad non-verbal communication. Previous interviews may leave them feeling exhausted or irritated. It happens to the best of us when the hiring process seems to stretch into infinity.
At that point, it may be best to take a break and allow a recruiting firm to weed through the candidates. That way, only the cream of the crop makes it through to the interview, relieving managers to focus their time and energy on other projects.
by James Walsh
