Listen to Your Grandmother!
Remember when your grandma would say, “Stand up straight!” as she smacked you between the shoulder blades? She wasn't trying to be abusive; she honestly had your best interests at heart. You see, Gram knew that good posture conveys a positive message to the outside world. When you stand or sit straight up — as opposed to slouching — you look bigger. You appear ready to take on the world. When you sit up straight in an interview, you show that you're alert, interested, and eager. This may sound like a minor detail, but it might be the thing that sets you apart from other job seekers.
You're not experiencing déjà vu. You did already read about posture in Chapter 4; however, since posture is part of projecting confidence, and confidence is vital to landing a job, you'll read about it here in the context of the job interview.
Slouching in your chair during an interview sends a message that you are small and not confident.
Depending on the other types of body language that you combine with slouching, you could appear to be hiding from the world. Picture someone who's walking hunched over, his arms close at his side, staring at the floor as he walks. People might wonder what this guy is so afraid of!
Put Me In, Boss!
How does this carry over into the business world? Every office deals with crises and stressful situations. Your interviewer might specifically be looking for someone who can handle situations with ease (in other words, someone who'll drive a hard bargain with business contacts) and not succumb to the pressures associated with doing business (in other words, you won't allow clients to take advantage of you or your company).
Good posture gives you an instant attitude and sends out an unmistakable message to other people. Slouchers tend to be viewed as less confident, more nervous, less outgoing people. In an office setting, good posture makes you look like you're capable; poor posture makes you look world-weary.
People who stand tall appear to be comfortable in their own skin. They're ready to meet challenges head-on and tackle any problems that come their way. When you sit tall in an interview, you project the image of confidence — something your potential employer wants to see — even if you're shaking in your high-heeled boots (or loafers). For more information on posture, read Chapter 4.
Be There and Be Square
Posturing yourself correctly in an interview begins with your spine and ends with your legs. Sitting up straight is a good start, in other words, but if you let your lower body go wild, no one's going to notice how confident your upper body appears to be. More likely, they'll be asking “What's up with that guy's legs? Why are they over there?”
When you seat yourself in an interview, you want to square your shoulders and angle your body toward your interviewer. This simply means that you want your body to be facing him. It's not such a difficult task, actually; you want to avoid sitting so that your head is turned toward the interviewer with your lower body turned away from him, a position that can make you appear uninterested or shy. Angling yourself away from another person is an attempt to distance yourself from him (the technical term for this is “angular distance”) and is seen in situations from which there's no immediate escape (like a job interview). You can't increase the physical distance between yourself and the other person by, say, pulling your chair to the other side of the room, so you angle yourself away from him instead.
In any event, angling your lower body away from a person while your upper body is angled toward him is an awkward position to be in while you're in the middle of a Q&A session, for one thing; for another, it can come off as looking far too casual. (Try it at home and see for yourself. You can't help but feel as though you're lounging.)
To angle your body toward your interviewer, sit facing him with your back straight and your shoulders back. This creates a natural straight line between you and him, and try as you might, you are not going to get your legs very far off to the side. This means that your legs will also be angled toward your interviewer, which is right where they should be. (More on angling in Chapters 4, 17, and 18.)
What about those legs? Should you cross them or leave both feet flat on the floor? You want to avoid looking too comfortable — or too on-edge. It's all right to cross your legs, but don't jiggle your foot around; that tells your interviewer that you're nervous (or worse, bored). You should not stretch your legs out in front of you at any time during a job interview. That shows you're way too comfortable.
Here's one more tip on angling and positioning yourself: watch your interviewer and mimic his movements without being obvious about it. For example, if he asks you a question and then leans back in his seat, go ahead and lean back in yours a little. When he leans forward, slowly move yourself to a forward angle. This creates a kind of symmetry between the two of you. When it's done correctly, he'll know he likes you, but he won't know why. (When it's done too obviously, he'll spot it in an instant — so be careful!)
