Article taken from: jobsjournal.com
Whether you admit it or not, an aggressive attitude doesn't work anymore at interviews. With the recession breathing on their necks, both interviewers and interviewees are aggressive enough and there's no cause to add incentives for further irritation. It used to work in the last century, especially in sales, but now, an aggressive attitude would more likely result in a similarly aggressive rejection of your job application.
Interviewers have changed their style and they care no more about the hunger and ambition in your eyes, but worry more about your emotional intelligence. Justifiably, interviewers hate any candidate trying to get ahead of himself or herself and trying to control the table. They want to see whether you are in control of yourself or not, and whether you are as much ready to give, as you are ready to take. Most of all, they want to find out whether you are anti-establishment or pro-establishment, whether you would be an obedient employee or a pain in the neck for the company. If you are ready to learn, and ready to give, you stand more chance of winning an interview than an aggressive know-it-all and have-been-there have-done-it type.
Being confident in an interview means not showing visible signs of lack of confidence. These include fidgeting, nervous ticks, desperation, over confidence and being overly assertive. Since 93% of communications is actually non-verbal and takes place through body language actions and voice modulation, you have to be careful about visible expressions.
To weed out bad habits of posture and expressions it is helpful to practice in front of a mirror and ask genuine well-wishers who would like to help you out, and are not fascinated by you. It’s usually not of much help to ask your mother or girlfriend, for God has conditioned them to see only your adorable and admirable part, and blessedly blinded them to the rest. And if you are a girl or woman, the same goes for your father and boyfriend. If you are married for more than two years, you can faithfully trust your spouse to provide a ready recitation of things you need to improve on.
The best critics are the parents or siblings who are of the same gender as you are. They will be more than happy to oblige you if you ask them to point out your weak points in action and body language. Trust them, for unless they hate you and are vengeful, they will be your most fair critics and help you to prepare for an interview. We fail ourselves often by failing to ask our well-wishers to help us.
In an interview, confidence is expressed through body language and rarely through words. Even if your words indicate confidence, they will lack meaning unless you sound confident and your body language supports your assertions. This is what you need to develop in your style and attitude. A balance of confidence and humility is indispensable for finding career success, however, the trick is that balance must be visible to others. Too often, we mean one thing and to the listener it seems we mean something else. That happens when body language is not synchronized with words, and expressions are not tempered or not under control. But body language is a true indicator of your attitude, and if you culture a confident and humble attitude, it will show through your body language and help you win an interview.
Kunin Associates will prepare you for the interview process. Visit us at www.KuninAssociates.com to learn some of the openings we are presently working on.
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