Interview blues

I will never get tired of talking about how much I hate interviews. The idea that a series of questions and a brief dialogue determines the course of so many careers is mind-boggling – but what else can employers do?

They can’t spend months getting to know every potential employee before making a hiring decision.

Too little time

So interviewers have to use whatever information they can get in the thirty to sixty minutes they spend with you. And according to behavioral investigator Vanessa Van Edwards, 93 percent of that information is nonverbal.

All that time you spend prepping pitches and stories and questions is going towards just 7 percent of your communication.

But that doesn’t mean that your nonverbal signals are out of your control. On the contrary, Van Edwards has plenty of tips to help interviewees ensure that everything about them is letting their potential employer know just how great and employable they are.

Expert testimony

And guys, she seems to know what she’s talking about. She’s a published author, Huffington Post columnist, behavioral investigator, and self-described former boring person.

Van Edwards has built her career around decoding human behavior, using science and obsessive people-watching to develop behavior tips and tricks that are actually effective.

Aaaannnd she’s compiled a few short videos of said tricks designed for the nervous and downtrodden – AKA people looking for jobs. The entire series is only forty minutes long, plus an hour long podcast that I’d say is optional but super interesting.

It has more science and info about micro-expressions, which are way harder to control than the firmness of your handshake.

The best part about these videos is that they get super specific with actionable ways to improve things that combine to give other people a first impression of you. How much time do you spend thinking about the backs of your shoes? HR people say it’s the last thing they notice about a candidate as they leave the room. Do you think smiling all the time makes you look confident? Nope, it actually makes you look weak and scared. Science says.

Do yourself a favor, watch the videos

See? These tips are the real deal. Don’t think that perfect body language means your words are meaningless, though.

Prepare yourself for all aspects of the interview, and then nail it like . . . er . . . a confident hammer.

#InterviewInfo