Interview Body Language mistakes

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I have made several of these mistakes during job interviews. #2, #3, #4, #6, #7, #8, #9. The funniest one was #9, I kept moving my arms way too much, and the interviewer wasn't even listening to me. He kept looking at my arms. One mistake I made that isn't mentioned here is leaving my seat and rushing toward the door. It means "I want to get the f***k out of here.

1. Failure to make eye contact
Managers who've seen it: 70%

2. Failure to smile ­
Managers who've seen it: 44%

3. Bad posture
Managers who've seen it: 35%

4. Fidgeting too much
Managers who've seen it: 35%

5. Playing with something on the table ­
Managers who've seen it: 29%

6. Handshake that is too weak ­
Managers who've seen it: 27%

7. Crossing your arms over your chest
Managers who've seen it: 24%

8. Playing with your hair or touching your face ­
Managers who've seen it: 24%

9. Using too many hand gestures
Managers who've seen it: 10%

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/worst-bo ... z31B1M0naj

This is not surprising. To be honest, most managers don't know enough to do a reasonable judgement within the domain of their business or technology, so they resort to other indicators, such as body language.

WTF does bad posture, fidgeting, and crossing your arms have to do with assessing your ability to do a damn job???

A WEAK HANDSHAKE? Well, gee. If I owned a company, we SURE wouldn't want those people who only give weak handshakes! I mean, for the love of god!

I can answer this. The interview isn't just an assessment of one's ability to do the job even though this is just one aspect. It is also an assessment of one's ability to mesh with the organization and team as a whole.

I do agree that it is all ridiculous. What they're saying is that if I don't stick my pinky out when I drink my coffee I won't get the job.

Here is the thing for me. I want to be in a company and live in a society in which I can be myself and not have to put on an act.

Thank you for posting this!
Most of my work has has been in academia so I had to do "normal" interviews.

I will have to start doing them though quite soon. Fortunately my other brother is a social genius and has been helpful to me about these types of things.

Also remember to dress well!

I agree completely. It's always amazed me that knowledge, ability, and work ethic take backseat to social skills in the work realm. It's not just interviews either, I'm sure a load of people on the forums could also tell you stories about being overlooked for promotion, raise, etc, based almost exclusively on how well they "fit in." The saying: "It's not what you know, but who you know" is true and it's a large part of why the western world, and especially the USA, is crumbling.

I learned the hard way *WHY* certain incompetent people got promoted and realized it was because they were no threat to the power structure. I don't want to be around when the s&*$ hits the fan like it's happening at my current employer. Their incompetence is slowly coming out and no doubt I will be the one who they try to blame.

As for the topic at hand, my very first interview was at a small company that did screening for T-shirts and shipped around the world. The owner walked in, talked about what he wanted and asked how I could help. Didn't get the job but let's just say I wish all interviews were like that!