Pay Attention to your Behavior

If getting a job were as easy as dressing for the part, modeling might be the stepping stone to a corporate partnership. Alas, there's more to a job interview than your wardrobe. Equally as important is your demeanor; how you carry yourself. Do you come across as an intelligent, inquisitive, articulate and polished candidate? Or are you a shaky, sputtering dunce?

Presumably, if you landed an interview the employer thinks you have some promise. Once under the microscope, you will be judged for three primary abilities.

• Are you able to handle the required job?
• Will you be up to the task?
• Will you be a pleasant employee or a pain in the neck?

Nearly every attribute that we want to convey to an employer — intelligence, reliability, experience, a quick-learner . can be done through our body language. It can also be undone. Presumably you know the basics, like giving a firm handshake and sitting up straight in your chair. There are a few more subtle behavioral tendencies you'll want to stay on top of.

Let's start with the eyes. Again, presumably you know not to spend your interview looking around the office. But be wary of sustained stares. Try to keep your eyes on the interviewer for three-quarters of the time and in the remainder, break your gaze with smooth shifts to your note pad or to the interviewer's hands. Once you are asked a question you may pause, take a brief glance away and a deep breath before refocusing on the interviewer for a killer answer.

Hands are another tricky body part. Some people have a tendency to gesticulate with sweeping arm gestures; others often let their hands lie limp at their sides. The easiest way to recognize if what your are doing is inappropriate is to stay away from things that:

• look like you a fidgeting
• close your body off to the interviewer such as putting your arms across your chest
• pull or tug at articles of your clothes
• distract from your face and whatever you may be saying

Some other notes:

• Avoid crossing your legs
• Women, don't let your shoe dangle
• Don't smile for the entire interview. You'd be surprised how many people do so, thinking that they are giving off a cheerful, positive disposition. What they are really conveying is someone who may be a bit ditzy and not entirely serious about their work.