This presentation covers the importance of body language and what it can convey in an interview. Also covered are good body posture, position of hands, movements during the interview and how to handle nervousness in the interview.

1. Interview Body Language
www.mindqjobs.com

2. What can body language show?
• Insecure or self-assured
• Busy or a quiet type
• Speaking truthfully or not
• Are you prone to stress
• How enthusiastic you are
• Are you a nice person
• Do you take your work serious
• Do you have a sense of humor
• Do you enjoy a joke from time to time.
www.mindqjobs.com

3. Initial Introduction
• Do not jump up excitedly when you are called in for the
interview
• Shake hands firmly, but not too powerfully and look
straight at the other person
• Look directly at the other person, and say your name
• Choose a place from where you can clearly see all the
interviewers and from where they can also see you.
www.mindqjobs.com

4. Body Posture
• Adopt a posture that shows interest but still comes across
as being relaxed.
• Sitting up straight in your chair at the beginning of the
interview, with your back against the back of the chair
• If you slouch or hang sideways in your chair, it might
give the impression that you are not that interested in the
job
• Sitting on the edge of your chair can come across as
being a little tense and might give the impression that you
feel uncomfortable
www.mindqjobs.com

5. Body Posture
• It is good to turn a little with your shoulders towards the
person asking the question and to lean forward a little.
This shows an interest in what the other person is saying.
• It is also important to pay attention to the posture of your
interview partners. In some cases you can achieve mutual
tuning by adopting the same posture as the other person.
• Pointing your feet toward the door or leaning in that
direction suggests that you want to end the conversation
quickly and flee
www.mindqjobs.com

6. Bad Body Postures
Slouching/Leaning on Arm Rest
www.mindqjobs.com Arms and Crossed Legs
Folded

7. Hands
• Folding your arms across the body can be interpreted as a
defensive move.
• Better to let your hands lie loosely on your lap or place
them on the armrests of your chair.
• From these positions it's also easy to support your words
with hand gestures.
• Keep your hands away from your face
www.mindqjobs.com

8. Good Body Posture
www.mindqjobs.com

9. Movements during the interview
• Nodding your head while speaking is a good way of
supporting your words or adding meaning to them.
• Hand movements can also help to liven up the interview.
• Movements with your hands during an interview might
indicate that you feel at ease quickly.
• It is better not to make too many hand movements at the
start of the interview but add them slowly throughout the
interview.
www.mindqjobs.com

10. Movements during the interview
• Watch the interviewers – if they are using their hands a
lot you can use yours too
• If they don’t make movements its better not to make
movements
• Tune your body posture to that of your interviewer
• Try to avoid movements like drumming your fingers on
the table, shuffling your feet, kicking against the leg of
the table, clicking of a pen
www.mindqjobs.com

11. When should you look at whom
• Look at all interviewers equally – by doing this you are
giving them a sign of trust
• Look at the interviewer that is speaking. This shows you
are listening
• It is okay to nod occasionally to show you understand
what the interviewer is saying
• When answering first look at the person who posed the
question but while answering take turns to look at the
other interviewers
• When emphasizing a point look at the person who posed
the question.
www.mindqjobs.com

12. Body Language of Interviewers
• Important to see the body language of the interviewers –
use this to gauge how you are connecting with them
• Notice the following movements – they show displeasure
• Nodding in disagreement
• Sigh
• Fold their arms
• Lean back
www.mindqjobs.com

13. Nervousness
• It is normal to be nervous during an interview
• Not being nervous might portray a body language that
you are not very interested and worried about the
outcome
• Interviewers understand that you are nervous
www.mindqjobs.com

14. www.mindqjobs.com