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The most important communication during a job interview is often the unspoken kind. Body language, or nonverbal communication, can let interviewers know more about you than what you tell them.

Hand Shake
The initial nonverbal impression of the candidate comes through the handshake. Don't be timid, slide you palm all the way in and deliver a firm, confident handshake.

Seating Options
If there are several seating options to choose from, ask your interviewer for instructions. Do not just assume and take a seat.

How to Sit
Slide close to the back of the chair and sit tall and straight. Sitting on the edge of the seat can make you look eager, but also scared and nervous. Women should not cross their legs and instead seat with their legs together. Men should avoid sitting with their legs too wide apart or crossed with the ankle on top of the knee. Always maintain a comfortable space, about 3 feet from the interviewer. Shortening that space can feel invasive and inappropriately intimate.

The Hands
You can sit with your hands clasped together or hold on to a small briefcase organizer through the interview. Avoid steeping your fingers, particularly in the upright position, when answering a question. This can be perceived as arrogant. Hand habits, like nail biting, hair twirling, touching your face and hand twitching, can distract the interviewer and convey nervousness and insecurity.

Eye Contact
Eye contact conveys confidence and respect, but staring at the interviewer is not appropriate. Avoiding eye contact, especially while answering a question, can convey dishonesty.

Practice
The best way to get rid of bad nonverbal habits is to become aware of them. Practice the interview with a friend or family member. Using a video camera to tape a mock interview can be even more helpful. Get your mock interview partner to ask you tough questions that would make you nervous and susceptible to bad body language. Notice what you do under pressure and be conscious of it.

Evaluating the Interviewer's Body Language
Don't just listen to what your interview is saying, watch his/her body language. It can reveal how the interview is going. If the interviewer touches his/her nose, he/she is disapproving somewhat of what you are saying. If he/she looks at the watch or shuffles papers, you are not on the right track. If the interviewer leans towards you, he/she is interested in what you are saying and is listening to you. If he/she is leaning back on the chair, she is evaluating you with a critical eye. If she/he suddenly moves from relaxing in the chair to sitting upright, you have said something that needs to be evaluated from a different perspective. You can tell if a difficult question is coming if the interviewer places his/her fingertips together in an upright steeple-like position. If the interviewer stands up, the interview is over.

• Optimal Resume's Online Interview Trainer (See above for information)
• STAR Method for Answering Interview Questions
  The STAR Method simply provides a logical approach to answering any question by providing a guided approach to using one of your past successes in responding to the question.
• Extensive List of Behavioral Interview & Competency Based Interview Questions
• Reading Your Body Language and the Interviewer's
• Interview Boot Camp Presentation (PowerPoint Show)
• How to Handle Illegal Interview Questions
• Research Companies Using Mullins Library Resources and LexisNexis

For more information on interviewing, please review the following articles:

• Secrets to Interview Success
• Steps to Interview Success
• Secrets From the Other Side: What Recruiters Know That You Don't
• Six Steps to Help you Prepare for a Webcam Interview
• Interview Dress
• How Good Are Your Interviewing Skills?
• The Interview: Connecting Your Qualifications to the Employer's Needs

Dressing for Interview Success

While the college campus may be the perfect forum in which to exhibit your flair for the latest in fashion style, the interview is not the place to do so. With very few unusual exceptions sandals and sweatshirts are out. Dress shirts, dress shoes and business suits are still in. Many people do not like to wear neckties or heels, but you need to dress appropriately to make a great first impression. Even though many companies have relaxed the internal company dress code, interviews still follow the conservative standard.

Campus fashions and work fashions are two different worlds.

Unfortunately, most college grads are woefully under prepared with proper interview dress. They feel they can “get by” with what is already in their wardrobe. Usually not. Dress for the world outside college is quite different from the campus scene. Remember that stylish is typically not conservative. Conservative is “in” for interviewing. Why? Because you should be doing the talking, not your clothes.

This is not to say that you need to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe. Go for quality over quantity. One or two well-chosen business suits will serve you all the way to the first day on the job and beyond. Then, when you are making some money (and have a chance to see what the standard “uniform” is for the company), you can begin to expand your workplace wardrobe. For now, no one will fault you for wearing the same sharp outfit each time you interview. If you desire some variety within a limited budget, you might consider varying your shirt/blouse/tie/accessories as a simple way to change your look without breaking your wallet.

Please remember, you have a resource available to you where you can get FREE business casual and business professional attire to keep. The Walton College Career Closet is a resource for you to get access to the clothes you need for interviews, career fairs, business meetings, and all other activities where you need to look your best. Please visit the Career Closet page for more details.

For those of you who need a quick review of the basics, follow these guidelines for successful interview dress:

Men and Women Interview/Career Fair Attire - Professional Dress

Men

• Necktie should be a conservative pattern - Learn how to tie a tie: The Half Windsor
• Dark shoes (black lace-ups are best)
• Dark socks (no wild colors)
• Get a haircut; short hair always fares best in interviews
• Fresh shave; make sure facial it is neat and trimmed
• No earrings (if you normally wear one, take it out)

Women

• Wear a suit with a jacket and skirt (knee length or longer) or slacks; no dresses
• Shoes with conservative heels
• Conservative hosiery at or near skin color (and no runs!)
• Small purse, briefcase or portfolio
• If you wear nail polish, use clear or a conservative color
• Keep your makeup simple and natural (it should not be too noticeable)
• No more than one ring on each hand
• One set of discreet earrings only

All clothes should be expertly pressed and clean for your interview day.

If you are still not sure how to dress for the interview, call and ask! That’s right—call the employer. But this is one time when you do not want to call the Hiring Manager—instead, ask to be put through to Human Resources and say:

“I have an interview with _____ in the _____ department for a position as an _____. Could you please tell me what would be appropriate dress for this interview?”

While many work environments have shifted to business casual as the workday standard, business suits are still the interview standard. When in doubt, it is almost always better to err on the side of conservatism (Source: Collegegrad.com).

Business Casual Attire for the Workplace/Networking Events/Business Socials

Men and Women

• Clothing should be of solid colors (black, navy, khaki, taupe, white) or small print (plaid, floral)
• Clothing should not be tight, and both shirts and pants/skirts should be ironed
• Shoes should also be of solid colors (black, navy) and should be leather, microfiber, fabric. No sneakers or flip-flops
• Conservative jewelry
• Socks should match your pants
• Tuck your shirt in if you can and wear a belt, if your pants/skirt has belt loops. Belt should match your shoes/outfit

Examples of Business Casual Attire

Types of interviews can vary based on purpose, format and style. Review the information below to help prepare for an initial meeting with an employer or for a second interview! 

Based on Purpose

• Screening Interview: This type of interview is used to quickly and efficiently eliminate unqualified or overpriced candidates. These interviews are conducted by professional interviewers, recruiters, or human resources representatives seeking information regarding your educational background and experience using a highly structured question-and-answer format.
• Selection Interview: This interview is used after some type of screening process. These interviews are usually conducted by a professional practitioner who will be the candidate’s supervisor. There may be additional sessions with other members of the work team, including support staff. They are generally less formal and less structured than the screening interview. Questions tend to be open-ended, with subsequent questions based on the candidate’s responses to previous questions.

Based on Format

• One-on-One Interview: This is the usual interview procedure. Screening and selection interviews usually include one interviewer and one candidate. At times, a second company representative may join in, or the candidate may have a series of interviews that involves several individual meeting with different people at the organization.
• Search Committee Interview: This format consists of many interviewers and one candidate. Search committees are used by business and industry for selection of high-level corporate officers. Nonprofit organizations may use their boards of directors to interview candidates for positions. Search committee interviews are also common for positions in the field of education, including public schools and higher education institutions.
• Group Interview: The reverse of the search committee interview, the group interview consists of many candidates and one or more interviewers. Group interviews are sometimes used as a screening procedure by smaller companies. Several candidates may be invited at once to hear a presentation about the organization. The technique is sometimes applied to assess leadership skills and ability to work in groups. Afterwards, candidates may have an opportunity to speak briefly to someone individually.

Based on Styles

• Question-and-Answer or Directed Interview: This style is highly structured; the interviewer comes prepared with a list of questions.  This technique is frequently used by recruiters and professional interviewers to seek facts about your background.  The same set of questions is asked of each candidate, and responses are later compared and evaluated.  This is the general format for screening interviews. Building rapport and connecting with the interviewer can be difficult in question-and-answer interviews.  Feeling that you may be “striking out,” you could become discouraged and lose enthusiasm.  Keep in mind that the interviewer is bound by the structure.  You may, in fact, be making a positive impression without getting feedback.  Continue to promote your experience, skills, and interest to the very end.  It could pay off with an invitation to a far warmer second interview.
   
• Open-Ended or Nondirective Interview: This style, generally informal and less structured, is used by professional practitioners to assess candidates’ skills, experience, and personality attributes.  It is the usual format for selection interviews, which are frequently second-round interviews.  The questions in this interview are open-ended, requiring paragraph-long responses from you.  Your responses may then prompt a series of follow-up questions to clarify or expand on your answers.
   
• Behavioral Interview: Employers selecting applicants are always looking for better ways to predict the future success of candidates.  Recently, behavioral interviewing has become a popular technique used by human resources professional and hiring managers.  Behavioral interviewing is based on the premise that past behavior is an accurate indicator of future behavior.  An interviewer identifies particular skills needed to succeed in the job to be filled and then asks applicants to demonstrate their abilities in those areas.  Applicants are expected to give concrete examples of their past performance. Examples of behavioral interview questions include:

• Tell me about a time when you demonstrated leadership.
• Tell me about a difficult problem you solved.
• Give me an example of a time when you calmed an irate customer.
• Would you describe yourself as a self-starter?

Sometimes the questions sound a lot like the open-ended questions discussed earlier.  However, the employer is looking for specific content in your responses.  To respond effectively to behavioral interview questions, it is necessary to tell a story.  There is a formula you can us that will ensure that your response is complete - The STAR Formula:

• S = Identify the situation you were in.
• T = Explain what the task was that needed to be done.
• A = Describe the specific action you took.
• R = Detail the result of your action.

Below is an example of a behavioral question and response.  The elements of the STAR formula are indicated in parentheses so you can see how they provide the structure for the candidate’s response.

Employer: Tell me about a time when you demonstrated leadership.
Candidate: I’d be happy to. (Situation) Last year while I was working for the multimedia department of a large ad agency, we were developing the homepage for one of the company’s biggest clients.  The site was to be interactive and animated so it was pretty cutting-edge.  I headed the design team and was coordinating efforts with the programmers, who were supposed to actually write the code that would make our design work.  The problem was, they couldn’t do it.  They tried, but they didn’t have the specialized technical knowledge for the project, and there wasn’t enough time for them to learn.  (Task)We were coming close to our design review deadline, and we needed to have a prototype to show the customer.  (Action) I made the suggestion that we go outside the company and hire someone with the specific technical know-how to bring our design up.  When I got the approval, I went looking for the person myself and brought her onboard for the project; (Result) we delivered the prototype on time for the design review meeting with the customer.  There were some all-nighters involved, but we met the deadline.  The customer was pleased, and our VP was elated.

This exchange contains all the elements of the STAR formula, it tells an engaging story, and it gives the employer a vivid snapshot of the applicant’s capability.  Practice using the formula to answer several behavioral interview questions.  You won’t necessarily be able to predict the questions you’ll be asked, but if the formula has become second nature to you, you’ll probably tell great stories when the questions are asked.

• Stress Interview: This interview is purposefully staged to determine how a candidate will perform under stress.  It may be typified by long periods of silence, challenges to a candidate’s opinions or qualifications, or a series of interruptions.  While these are extremely uncomfortable interviews, it can be calming to remember at that moment that a technique is being used.  The interviewer does not disapprove of you but wants to see how you handle pressure or rejection.  In management, sales, and customer service positions, these attributes are essential.  Maintain your cool, deal with the negative behavior, and continue answering questions calmly. If you are repeatedly interrupted and asked new questions, you could say that you would be happy to answer the new question when you finish the previous response.  Or ask the interviewer which question to answer, thus calling attention to the interruptions: “Let me clarify – which question would you like me to answer?” If the interviewer minimizes your credentials, restate your qualifications for the position.  Remember, they selected you for an interview so they are interested.
   
• Technical Interview or Demonstration: This style is used to test your specific knowledge or ability for the position.  If you are interviewing for a programming position, you may be given a printout and asked to debug the lines of code.  A technician may be asked to repair or diagnose an equipment problem.  A sales candidate may be handed an object and asked to sell it to the interviewer.  If the position you are applying for involves speaking before groups, you may be asked to prepare and deliver a brief presentation.  These opportunities to demonstrate your abilities usually come in the second or third round of interviewing.  You may be in advance that final candidates will be asked back to deliver a brief presentation.  Consider all of these as opportunities to compete on the basis of your abilities.  If given a chance to prepare in advance, don’t decide to “wing it.”  Your competitors will eat your lunch.

Source: Hayes, K.H. (1999). Managing career transitions: Your career as a work in progress (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Second Interviews

If you successfully complete the screening phase and first interview, you may be invited back for a second interview with the organization. A second interview is another opportunity to market your skills and potential. But remember, the selection process is narrowing and the company is trying to impress you too!

Tips to prepare for a second interview:

• The second interview is generally more in-depth than the first. You should research the employer more thoroughly. Review your research of the company. Read everything you can about the organization, including annual reports, brochures, and articles. Research will enable you to understand the company’s perspective and become familiar with key issues faced by the employer. Refresh your memory of who you met during your first interview and the details of the job from your former interview. It may be helpful to talk with friends or contacts employed by the organization. 
• Go over your interviewing skills again. Take copies of your resume with you. Bring your transcript and list of references. If they ask you for them and you have them available, you will impress your interviewers with your planning and organization. 
• Take a portfolio of any work you have done related to the job. 
• Plan what you will wear (click here for information on business professional and business casual attire). 
• Know what to expect: if you are traveling out of town and/or flying, be sure to obtain appropriate contact information for the trip coordinator; keep a record of your travel and hotel arrangements; coordinate travel plans to and from the airport. Make sure you have all the information you will need when you arrive, including: where you are supposed to be, when you should be there, and who you should ask to see on your arrival; how to get to where you are supposed to be and whether or not you have the proper documents; how everything on the trip is being paid for, whether it is all pre-paid, or how you will be reimbursed for any cash outlays of your own.

Second interview format:

A typical second interview may begin with the director of human resources. You may be given a tour and be introduced to at least one senior officer of the company, the person who would be your immediate supervisor, and some of your future colleagues. You may also have lunch with some of these people. The director of human resources usually acts as the master or mistress of ceremonies for the day and will be the last person you see, often in his/her office during a wind-up chat. The visit or interview may last for most of the workday. In addition to taking an entire day, the second interview may include pre-employment testing. Some hiring organizations use written tests while others simulate on-the-job situations in order to assess your decision-making abilities. Interviews also test your poise, stamina, enthusiasm, and knowledge. Keep the following suggestions in mind during your visit/tour of the office/plant:

• You are expected to dress professionally unless the company tells you otherwise. 
• You are being interviewed by everyone you meet during your visit. All of them, including support staff, will be giving feedback into the hiring decision. Maintain your professionalism and be yourself. 
• Do not smoke while at the facility or in the presence of company employees. Ordering alcoholic beverages at a business lunch or dinner is a complicated issue. Company dining rooms are usually nonalcoholic. As a rule, it is considered appropriate for you to ask for something other than alcohol. 
• Be aware of your table manners. Companies look for social skills as well as skills needed for the job, especially if the job entails contact with the organization’s customers. (Click here to view tips on Social and Dining Etiquette.) 
• Try avoiding controversial subjects (politics and religion) when making "small talk" with the interviewers. You can never tell whether your stated position on a topic can help or hurt your chances for a job offer. 
• When asking a question, include references to facts you have already learned (if appropriate) to show that you have a grasp of the subject and have done your research. Inquire about the advantages of the position and reasons the interviewer enjoys working at the organization. If you can get the interviewer to promote the position to you, you will establish yourself favorably in his or her mind.

Other tips to remember: 

• Be aware of the attitudes of the employees you meet. Do they seem happy? Tense? Overworked? Challenged? Bored? Are they glad to meet you and genuinely enthusiastic about the company and their jobs? 
• Be aware of the physical surroundings. You are also interviewing the employer to find out if this company has the sort of environment in which you would like to work. 
• If you submit a reimbursement/expense report to the company, remember: only seek reimbursement for the actual expenses of your trip – do not include entertainment or personal expenditures; obtain receipts for hotel and travel costs; select the most convenient means of transportation with the employer’s authorization; conserve on meal expenditures. Also, the following items are not considered normal business expenses: entertainment; insurance, interest on loans, or excessive tips (should not exceed 15 % of the food bill); personal phone calls; valet expenses; expenses for persons other than the individual invited.

Source: Michigan State University Career Services Network