Page 166 - Boost Your Hiring

152 Boost Your Hiring IQ

Nonverbal Clues
There is no doubt that people’s attire, posture, and grooming can affect
how we judge them. People who do not wear the proper attire to an in-
terview may be sending a clear message that this is who they are and
that they don’t necessarily want to change. This could be a possible red
flag.
Eye contact, or lack of it, can be a giveaway about people’s self-confi-
dence. Watch candidates’ eyes for clues to their comfort level, especially
when they’re talking about themselves. Also, keep in mind that there
are certain cultures that have a problem with eye contact; so before you
jump to conclusions, stop and to consider why candidates may be doing
what they’re doing.

Communication Style and Confidence
Besides eye contact, posture, and demeanor there will be other clues as
to whether candidates you are interviewing are confident and sure of
themselves.
Communication style will vary according to the level of responsibil-
ity that you are interviewing for. You would expect someone applying
for a management position to have a strong command of language and
vocabulary. When interviewing for a mailroom or warehouse job, how-
ever, vocabulary and language skills may not be as important, although
good communication skills will always be necessary if a person is to in-
teract with other people.
It is a good rule of thumb to think of this person as a possible repre-
sentative of your company, a person you could be proud to send to in-
teract with your most prestigious customer.

Patterns and Words
A sign of an accomplished interviewer is someone who can listen and
hear what is not being said as well as what is being said. By listening and
reading between the lines, you will find that you are able to ask ques-
tions and bring out information that would otherwise not be heard. The
following story illustrates this perfectly:

Michael was interviewing for a job as an HR coordinator. During the in-
terview he gave an example of quitting a basketball team earlier in his
life because he had life conflicts and it became too difficult to handle
everything at once.
When asked why he had left some of his other jobs, he talked about
finding the work to be dull and not as much fun as in the beginning. He
also talked about quitting his pursuit of a degree because he decided put-
ting his effort into his career was more important.