Body language is an important part of our communication especially in a job interview setting. In recruitment we get to meet many, many people with different personalities, skills, background and of course many types of body language.
Often when I meet someone to speak with them regarding a job with a client, I notice something about their body language specifically that causes me to believe it will either be a help or a hindrance in the interview process when they’re in front of the interviewer for real.
I recall one such case where I was interviewing a software developer and he wouldn’t look me in the eye at all, for any reason. The moment I’d look at him he’d suddenly look away and down at the ground. It was really odd and a bit unnerving.
Typically, in our culture we often assume that when people avoids looking you in the eyes it’s because they’re lying or are being untruthful. So in this instance, it got me thinking and wondering why he wouldn’t look me in the eye and wondering if he was going to do the same thing in an interview with a client of mine?
The last thing a recruiter wants to do is put someone in front of a client when they think the person will perform poorly or will embarrass them or their recruitment company. In this instance, the guy was a pretty smart person but was quite quirky and I wasn’t sure if he was the type of person who would go over well in the interview with my client or not.
In the end he canceled the interview with my client and at the time I figured it was probably a good thing.
But what sorts of things do you do in interviews – perhaps when you’re under stress – that might unnerve the people you’re interviewing with?
