The effect of non-verbal communication
Non-verbal communication is very important, especially when you are having a job interview or assessment. Non-verbal communication is communication that does not involve words, such as body language, facial expressions, tone of voice and gestures. You can tell a lot about a person just by looking at the way someone walks, talks, stands and the overall appearance. During a job interview or assessment, it is important that you are aware of the non-verbal communication you are sending out, and how this can come across. How? Read all about it below.
When the recruiter calls you for the interview and sees you slumped in a chair, you can pretty much forget about it. An open and active posture works to your advantage. Sit up straight, keep your shoulders in line with your ears and slightly push your chest forward. This posture gives a positive impression and exudes confidence, even if you may not feel too confident at that moment. To maintain an open posture, do not cross your arms, make sure that you are turned towards the recruiter and try to not cross your legs.
Always stick your arm out to shake hands and make sure that you give a good amount of counter pressure to the pressure exerted by the other party. Shake once or twice, smile and keep eye contact. If you are worried that you have sweaty hands, go to the toilet and keep your wrists under the tap for a minute.
When you’re talking you will probably make some hand gestures to support your words. This is not bad at all and even is encouraged. However, try to minimize further unnecessary gestures. An excess of gestures is distracting. Suppress the tendency to, for example, touch your face or fiddling with your hair. These are gestures that are likely to calm you down but can be very annoying to the person sitting across from you.
Eye contact is a difficult aspect. Little or no eye contact can indicate that you are not interested, but making too much eye contact is very uncomfortable for both parties. Try to look at the person sitting across from you for a few seconds before you look away again. A short glance can come across as being fearful, avoidant or uncertain.
All our emotions are accompanied by certain facial impressions, which we are often unaware of. The most important aspect of your facial expression is whether it fits your message or not. You could practice your facial expressions in front of a mirror to make yourself more aware of them. A good facial expression, while listening to your conversation partner, is often a light smile accompanied by occasional nods and proper eye contact. Tone of voice It is not only about what you say in a job interview, it is also about how you say it what is important. The aspects of your voice that influence this are the speed, tone, volume, pause, height and articulation. Similar to facial expressions, it is important that you speak in a way that fits your message, because it also transfers posture and emotion. Pay attention to the other person too! Just like verbal communication, non-verbal communication is about interaction. Therefore, during the conversation, also try to pay attention to signals that your conversation partner sends out.