THE FIRST FEW SECONDS

It is Christmas morning on the battlefield. Two men approach each other in no man’s land. They watch each other with great care, watching for sudden movement, for a weapon, for a signal for a sniper’s shot. Eyes dart constantly from one hand to the other, to the face, the eyes.

One man speaks, and even though the other soldier does not understand the words, in his fear he listens carefully to the tone, the sounds of reassurance. Carefully, slowly, gifts are offered, some chocolate, some Schnapps. As the items are slowly exchanged, this time they look only at each other’s faces, which very slowly break into smiles.

A familiar wartime scene, which teaches us a great deal about the opening moments of an encounter where two human beings don’t trust each other and have reasons to be fearful. Without over-dramatising the much safer environment of the job interview, it is helpful to think about times when body language, movement, words and tone of voice make all the difference.

Be aware what your brain is doing in the opening moments of an interview. It is engaging all the ‘fight or flight’ mechanisms of your ancestors, working out whether this is a safe place to be, whether to be cautiously defensive, outright aggressive, or simply to sprint out of the door. Let’s face it, we’ve all been in situations where we have been tempted to do at least one of these.

This is why the opening moments of a job interview are the most important. You are at your most uncertain and your most vulnerable at exactly the same time as the interviewer is forming an initial view.

OPENING MOMENTS – FOLKLORE AND REALITY

Many career books and websites tell you that a complete, decisive hiring decision is made in the first few seconds of an interview. Look further and you will see there is no scientific research to back up this claim. Think about it – if an employer had all the information they needed in a minute or so, interviews would end at that point. Interview time is expensive for employers, and if they could get the right result by the work equivalent of speed dating, they would.

The most thorough interviews do not guarantee a perfect outcome, even when backed up with tests and other tools. So we live in an odd world where employers claim to be able to spot the ideal candidate in 10 seconds, yet also admit that they frequently hire the wrong person or fail to spot talent.

What seems true is that we form initial impressions which, for a short while, take a grip on our decision making. Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink (2005) argues that we make snap, unconscious judgements which rely ‘on the thinnest slices of experience’ every time we encounter a new person, situation or idea.

One of the first things we do as babies is to learn to read faces quickly, working out if this is someone we recognise and find friendly. We can apparently spot a smile from 30 metres away.

When our brain ‘thin-slices’ reality we make instantaneous judgements based on minimal amounts of information. If you’re avoiding predators in the wild, it’s an instinct that keeps you alive. Today we use the same kind of unconscious mapping in many areas of life, including shopping and dating.

Professor Nalini Ambady researched this effect by asking observers to watch videotapes of lecturers at Harvard University. Presented with a silent 10-second video clip, observers had no difficulty rating the teachers on a 15-point checklist of personality traits. When Ambady made the clips even shorter, the ratings were the same.

Ambady compared these findings with evaluations students made after a full semester of classes, and the correlation was astonishing: someone watching a two-second video of a teacher he has never met will reach conclusions about personality very similar to those of a student who has sat in the teacher’s class for many lectures.

Additional research undertaken by social psychologist Frank Bernieri required strangers to watch 15-second videos of applicants – knocking on the interview door, entering the room, shaking hands, sitting and being welcomed. These strangers rated the ‘handshake clip’ using the same criteria used by interviewers who had spent extensive time with these candidates. Once more, against all expectations, the ratings were very similar when looking at 9 out of 11 personality traits.

WHAT IMPACT DO FIRST IMPRESSIONS REALLY HAVE ON INTERVIEWERS?

Extroversion and sociability are the most immediate and obvious aspects of personality, and research shows that we measure these in others quickly and (largely) accurately. Interestingly, we are also more likely to trust instinctive judgements if we feel happy – so an outgoing person who makes the interviewer feel relaxed will always have a headstart. Therefore first impressions are not about the whole picture or about job effectiveness; they are almost entirely about how far someone is personable, friendly and open.

What seems to happen next depends on the interviewer, and is often subject to confirmation bias – where we seek out and favour evidence which validates a preconception regardless of whether the information is true. Professionally trained interviewers may seek broader, perhaps even contradictory evidence – if your first impression is not backed up with facts the initial glow may fade.

So, yes, in the first few seconds an interviewer makes some kind of decision, but this is not a hiring decision. It may, however, be a quick answer to the question ‘Can I get on with this person?’ Gill Best says ‘rapport transforms a dry exchange of information into a warm conversation. To develop rapport requires that you focus completely on the other person and respond not only to what is being said but also the way it is being said. Good rapport has a feeling of being in sync, as you will remember from enjoyable conversations you’ve had in the past. So stop focusing on yourself and focus on the interviewer; they want to have a good experience too.’

MAKING THE OPENING MOMENTS WORK FOR YOU

Psychologists sometimes warn selectors about candidate ‘impression management’ (as if the interview process was ever about anything else!). From a candidate perspective, everything in the hiring process is about impression management – every stage is your opportunity to influence the way someone sees you. If the interviewer has a picture you want to adjust, this should be done openly – ‘I expect you’re worried about ...’, or ‘You might be assuming that ...’.

Although there is no single magic tool that predicts job performance, one of the most reliable is intelligence. This isn’t about having a bagful of paper qualifications; it’s about being smart, interested, focused and curious. This is revealed in the way you reflect on your experience, your ‘take’ on employer problems, and your questions at the end of the interview.

FIRST IMPRESSION MASTERCLASS

Careers specialist Stuart McIntosh writes that ‘at interview there are two key elements – the “non-verbals” (handshake, body language, tone, delivery) and the psychological (confidence, believing you can get the job). Eighty per cent of success at interview relate to these two intertwined factors.’

As we have seen, ‘chemistry’ starts in the first seconds and there’s plenty you can do to make a great impression. Below are some important reminders about first impressions. The first group is for those who are new to the interview process, the second for those who are more experienced at being interviewed but want to improve.

Category 1 – Little interview experience

• Arrive unflustered – this generally requires good journey planning. Double check everything.
• What does the interviewer decide about you when you walk in the room? Get your image right – see Chapter 8.
• Prepare for interview nerves. Read Chapter 5.
• Be courteous, thank them for inviting you to interview, introduce yourself to each person in the room and wait to be asked to sit down. Remember to also thank them for their time at the end of the interview.
• Communicate the right attitude. Do your homework and show real interest in the organisation.
• Use your body to communicate attentiveness and energy – sit up straight and lean forward slightly. Pull your shoulders back slightly and breathe from your abdomen – your voice will sound calmer through sounding deeper, and it will help you relax.
• Be open and friendly – to everyone, particularly reception staff. Smile every now and again; it won’t kill you.
• A firm but not aggressive handshake works best if you stand square on to the person shaking your hand and look them in the eye at the same time. Every other variant – limp, damp, fingertips only, over-hearty – puts you on the back foot. Practise!
• Start on a warm note. Be prepared to say something relaxed but clear about simple topics like weather and traffic. Ask interested questions about the building or organisation.
• Rehearse out and minimise verbal tics used as fillers such as ‘you know’, ‘kind of’, ‘absolutely’, or stock phrases like saying ‘What we did was ...’ every time.
• Communicate some degree of confidence by speaking clearly. Don’t ‘boom’ or over-broadcast. If you are naturally very audible you may need to tone things down, but most people need to make their speaking voice slightly louder than normal. Small talk in the interview room helps you to get a feel for how your voice sounds in that space.
• Pace yourself – for most people this means slowing down slightly so that what you say is clear and sounds thoughtful. Racing to deliver examples usually ends up sounding like a frenetic jumble sale. Speaking too slowly makes you sound impossible to motivate.
• Anticipate gaps and snags. Think in advance about reasons why an employer might want to withhold a job offer. If there is anything you lack (qualifications, experience, a skill?) think about balancing evidence (e.g. ‘I don’t hold a management qualification but I have been a manager in a structured environment for 10 years and my achievements include ...’).
• Prepare, prepare, prepare – not just your narratives (see Chapter 13) but also your questions for the end (see Chapter 12). You will always give an impression of confidence if you have clear plans for what you will say.

Category 2 – You can’t tell me much about being interviewed but I will read this for interest

• Be courteous. Yes, you’ve been through this a hundred times and the interviewer is half your age, but your readiness to respond openly to the process and observe the social niceties is the first thing that’s noticed. Don’t be arrogant. If you sound as if the interview is a waste of your time, you’ve already sent out signals that you’re more interested in yourself than the job.
• Respond to the ground rules carefully. Don’t keep throwing in amusing anecdotes when the interviewer wants to get down to business.
• Avoid name dropping of individuals (it makes you sound like you have superior connections) but do mention the names of organisations you have worked for or with.
• Don’t misjudge casualness. You may be the preferred candidate, but being late, under-prepared or dressing down for the interview can undo much good work.
• Be generous – don’t hold the floor, even though you have a million achievement stories at your fingertips. It’s not your party, you’re just the guest.
• Start on a high. Experienced introverts can be cautious or reserved. Prepare yourself to speak with enthusiasm from the outset, if necessary by telephoning a friend to explain energetically why you want the job five minutes before the interview starts.
• Don’t trash yourself or anyone else. Experience sometimes comes hand in hand with cynicism. Irony plays badly in an interview, as does criticism of former employers.
• Exercise the edit button in advance and always think ‘leave them wanting more’. Contain yourself. Nervous chatter also suggests you are covering something up. Experienced candidates tend to say far too much and in the process lose focus and give away negative information. Trim down epic stories into mini-narratives otherwise you cut the number of questions you will be asked. Give brief facts, not your life story, but include sufficient details to gain impact (see Chapter 13).
• Prepare to hurdle – plan ways you will get over the predictable barriers and problem questions, ranging from ‘Why are you on the market?’ to ‘You don’t have a degree ...’. See Chapter 15 on predictable probing questions.
• Get nervous. If you have no anxiety at all about the conversation, you are either complacent or unexcited. Even if you are an experienced candidate, tomorrow’s interview should involve adrenaline if it’s worth doing. As Tiger Woods said: ‘If you don’t feel nervous, that means you don’t care about how you play.’
• Don’t be over-confident. Maybe it’s worth glancing over the Category 1 list above?