First impressions count
Bad body language can disqualify job seekers in minutes.
Most hiring managers know within five minutes if a candidate is a good fit for a job, based largely on body language.
That’s according to an online survey recently conducted by Harris Poll for Career-Builder. Of 2,605 hiring and human resources managers surveyed, 51 percent said they disqualify candidates that quickly.
Failing to make eye contact by far is the No. 1 error among body-language mistakes. Others include failing to smile, playing with something on the table, fidgeting too much, crossing their arms over their chests, bad postures, playing with their hair, touching their faces, weak or too strong handshakes and too many hand gestures.
Mike Crandall, of Oklahoma City-based Sandler Training, and Wolf Gugler, who runs a Shawnee-based executive search firm with offices in the U.S. and Canada, aren’t surprised by the findings.
Many studies have found body language and tonality convey more than words, Crandall said.
“However most people — without outside help — still focus on words when they listen, pre-brief, and debrief things,” he said.
Crandall said his firm coaches leaders to pay attention to chair and table placement, to whom the candidate does and doesn’t pay attention, and more.
“We recently helped a client hire a top VP level leader for their team, and the CEO, president and general manager all needed some significant guidance on what and how to watch for,” Crandall said. “After one of our first team interviews, which included the three of them and me, I asked about what they saw and heard and had to point out eight of the 10 things that were key to disqualify the candidate, from a poor handshake, bad posture and eye contact focused on the wrong people to taking off his coat without asking and how he drank his coffee.”
Memorable interviews
Gugler, who conducts many face-to-face interviews via FaceTime and Skype, said he notices positive and questionable elements involving posture, eye contact, fidgeting, demeanor and self-assuredness.
“If a candidate looks away when asked a tough question about their abilities or work history, it usually prompts me to dig deeper to ensure truthfulness and confidence in their abilities,” he said.
Gugler’s most memorable body language faux pas involved an in-person interview years ago with a candidate seeking a director of customer service position.
“We were both seated in armchairs across from one another and as I was reading from my notes, I felt something brush my leg. … It was his leg!” Gugler said. “When I looked up, he was smiling at me. I gave him a thumbs-down sign and quickly concluded our interview.”
Rhonda Snow, a school administrator in Chickasha, recalls an equally memorable interview, where a candidate’s body language turned off interviewers. The woman had received so much Botox that her lips were huge and face didn’t move, Snow said.
“When she spoke, it was strange; we couldn’t take our eyes off her lips,” she said.
Meanwhile, many workplace experts focus on the importance of handshakes. For starters, Carey Sue Vega, of Oklahoma City-based Expeditions in Etiquette, reminds people, if they’re physically able, to stand to shake hands.
“If you’re behind your desk, do your best to come out from behind the desk so nothing is in between you and the person you are meeting,” Vega said.
At a women’s leadership conference hosted by Oklahoma City University in April, Atlanta-based body language expert Patti Wood, advised “scooping in, with your hand tilted down, so you get a palmto-palm firm grip, versus someone grabbing the end of your fingers in a wimpy handshake.”