Interview intelligence
Mind your body language
I.M. Soni

Ur body language plays a big role while you are facing interview for an important job. Your preparation may go waste, if you fail or falter on this count. Similarly, your having qualified in the written test may also come to naught.

Interview is called "a view from inside." Many candidates, having an impressive CV, are called for the interview. This face-to-face with the prospective employer is not a "match" but a friendly conversation.

But the butterflies in the stomach unnnerve quite a few. The silent signals from the body undo others. Being tongue-tied or blushing when faced with direct questions are only two of the painful symptoms of being shy and timid. Your body language (kinesics) itself can pronounce a judgement against you.

There are others who gush out with words, which make them commit indiscretions. A torrent of words needs efficient mental "brakes."

@@Eye contact may prove the undoing of many, especially girls. They either fail to meet the stern gaze of the interviewers and lower their eyes. This reveals yielding ground too quick, too easy.

Girls mind everything except the most important — how they communicate. Most importantly, how they communicate through their body. They ignore the fact that the entire human body is an instrument of communication. It emits significant signals. Eyes do. The hands, arms, feet, lips and even the toss of the head.

When you come in contact with other people, you communicate. This can take place through voice, words but also without words — non-spoken language that is non-verbal communication.

Posture, movements, and the intonation when you speak are all part of this. Non-verbal language can be multi-channel communication. Looking at someone, for example, means something different than not looking at him. Even your very presence conveys a message, as does your absence.

When it comes to expressing feelings 55 per cent of the communication consists of body language, 38 per cent is expressed through your tone and only 7 per cent is communicated through words.

This means you express 93 per cent of your feelings through body language. This is one area where some otherwise brilliant candidates fail or falter. Often they give wrong signals and pay the price.

Through communicating you can clarify the meaning of a message or even your relation with the other person. This can take place with or without words.

Impact on interviewer

Spoken language and body language go mostly hand in hand. When someone says something, information is conveyed through body language at the same time. This non-verbal information can support the content of the message or may contradict it.

Take the case of a candidate who says in answer to a question that she is fond of reading books but at the same time her face goes crimson. The interviewer at once notices (evaluate) that she is lying. Body language speaks louder than words.

Non-verbal message is regarded as the true one because it is very difficult to lie through the body language. Human body is a sensitive machine. It registers everything correctly.

Most candidates are not aware of their body language. When lying, they give the feeling that something is not right through their behaviour. A person may say that he is telling the truth but his guilt shows in his inability to face the questioner with straight eyes.

A male candidate with a haughty air, defiant air, defiant look, sits facing the interviewer but he betrays nervousness by tapping his fingers on the table. He is a put-on show. Another of his ilk is the one taps the ground with his feet all the time during the interview. His nervousness comes through.

Body language gives more of a hold-on than words, which makes one automatically doubt the words when they do not correspond to the non-verbal signals.

How you come across, is not only determined by the words you speak. Communication control is important to leave a good impression behind after a job interview. Attention to your body language is important.

A candidate verbalises his belief in simple living and high thinking in words. He quotes Mahatma Gandhi on the subject. But his credibility is low or nil. His dress proclaims that he is just the opposite. He is too overdressed to be simple.

A false on fabricated may reveal the candidate’s falsity through his/her body language. Universities give weightage to extra-curricular activities for admission to various courses.

A candidate presents to the board of interviewers a bunch of certificates, obtained through "sifarish." While showing the bunch, her hand trembless and she scatters the papers. She, then, at once wipes beads of perspiration from her forehead. Body language has exposed her act.

Hands too speak this language. A chairman of a selection committee extends his hand to the candidate. He is startled to find the candidate’s hand limp, lifeless and sweating profusely. The message goes across and it is registered.

Many reveal themselves through voice. An awkward question. The candidate loses his rhythm, coughs, clears his throat, and begins answering in faltering tones.

Over-confidence, which often leads to boasting, shows, too. Exaggerated gestures with arms go with sweeping statements about self. Sportsmen usually indulge in this gimmick, and pay the price.

The literary coxcomb cannot resist the temptation of carrying some books to the interview. When questioned, he instinctively turns to lift a book, which shows he uses it as a "crutch."

The nervous scholar also adjusts his spectacles repeatedly, speaks at a break-neck speed as if he is going through a news bulletin on television. He also drops names, and is caught.

Julius Fast says that body language may include any non-reflexive or reflexive movement of a part, or all of the body used by a person to communicate an emotional message to the outside world.

Eyes becoming wide at the sight of a pleasant scene or likeable person tell their own tale. They are windows to the soul.

Eyes give the opposite signals, too. Blinking shows uncertainty. Side-glance is furtive look. Squint is dislike. Remember, there is a significant difference between a "stare" and a "look". With it, you can make or break the other person. How? By giving him a human or non-human status!