Don’t Let These 3 Non-Verbal Interview Habits Be The Reason You Don’t Get An Offer

I thought I was “Mr. Perfect” until someone made me record myself doing an interview question. HOLY ____. Probably the most cringe-worthy 3 min of my life watching that tape…

We each have our “thing” that we do during interviews - but chances are we don’t even realize it.

Do you know who will realize it though? Your interviewer.

I’m on the other side of the table now and see the same things over and over when interviewing candidates to join our firm.

So please - record yourself like I did and avoid these three common pitfalls.

1 ) Need for Speed

Most of us sound like rappers trying to rush through the “mom’s spaghetti” verse of Lose Yourself by Eminem when answering interview questions.

The nervous excitement takes control of your body - making you talk 10x faster.

You won’t realize in a relaxed rehearsal environment. So - schedule high pressure mock interviews with mentors you have lots of respect for to simulate the nerves.

2 ) Losing the Staring Contest

I’ve learned to treat it like a first date at the end of the night when you’re about to lean in for the first kiss…

Eye contact establishes intimacy. I sucked at it with stranger interviewers. It seems to be a common trend to have a tendency to repeatedly glance up to the corner / floor / ceiling.

I taped an “X” to the wall and stared at it while rehearsing.

3 ) Leaning on Our Crutches

The # of times I said “So like, ya know” during that video is EMBARRASING.

Humans naturally want to fill the awkward silence.

We don’t realize it until we record ourselves. Use that front-facing camera to figure out what your “crutch words” are. Common ones are “like” “um” & “so”

Point Is - Record yourself to find your Achilles heel & fix it before it costs you the interview.