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Your Body Language During the Job Interview

When you first meet the hiring authority during your job interview, your handshake should be firm and strong, but not so strong that you crush the employer's fingers in your grip. Avoid giving a limp handshake. The interviewer will probably indicate with a gesture where you are to sit.

Once seated, don't slouch but sit erect and with a very slight forward lean during the job interview. To slouch in your chair during a job interview conveys a detachment from the situation that suggests this interview isn't really that important to you or your job search. If you are not interested in what is going on during the job interview how interested will you be in the job itself? This type of body language during the job interview can also suggest that you are not that bright. To sit strait up during your job interview indicates that you are alert and a slight lean forward lean into the conversation conveys interest in the job interview questions.

No slumped shoulders either during the job interview. Slumped shoulders suggest that the weight of the world is on your shoulders and you are nearly beaten down. Who wants to hire a beaten down person for their open job position? You should not squirm uncomfortably in your chair during your job interview. This type of body language during the job interview is distracting to the interviewer and may suggest that you have something to hide in regards to your employment history. Try not to fidget with your hands and avoid gestures with closed fists during your job interview. Fidgeting behavior suggests you are nervous (who wouldn't be in a job interview) and have something to hide. Other body language to avoid during the job interview is closed fists, they convey aggressiveness.

Body Language DO's:

Sit fairly erect in your chair during the job interview. This body language suggests that you are alert, interested and involved.

Sit with a very slight forward lean to the upper part of your body during the job interview. This conveys your interest in the conversation and the interviewer.

Keep your hands open and relaxed so you can gesture when appropriate during the job interview.

Avoid clenching your hands together as you are less likely to use them to gesture during the interview.

Avoid clenched fists, this type of body language during the job interview suggests aggressive behavior.

Body Language DON'Ts:

Fidget with your hands during the job interview.

Squirm (reposition yourself frequently) in the chair. This type of body language during a job interview suggests that you have something to hide from your potential employer and the job interview questions they are asking you are making you uncomfortable.