gaurav200x
Gaurav Mittal
Our body language conveys more information about us than our speech. It has evolved over thousands of generations and gives us clues about people every moment of the day. If someone always meets you with a frown on his face, it’s pretty sure you will never like the guy. Let’s look at a few important aspects of body language:
Oral Region: Check out a child telling a lie; she’ll always cover her mouth with her hands after that. When you tell a lie or are unsure, there is an itch/urge to touch the region of your lips. Adults may not cover their mouth but may just touch a lip or play around with the nose. The person seeing it will get the impression that you are either lying or are not sure. Check the urge to touch this region during an interview.
Eye Contact: Maintaining eye contact with the interviewers is a sign of your confidence, comfort level and assertiveness. The trick is not to overdo it, though. Take care that during the interview you maintain eye contact not only with the person whose question you are answering but also with other members of the panel, so that they don’t feel left out.
You can try these eye contact exercises if you think you need them:
Smile: During an interview most students smile when they do not have an answer to a particular question. It is usually an embarrassed grin and badly timed. You need to enter with a cheerful smile and continue with it. There’s a lot riding on your little smile. Start smiling more and more; it makes you more agreeable, acceptable and selectable.
Posture: During the interview or GD, there are no hard and fast rules for the way you sit but let’s look at the implications of a few sitting styles.
You can sit in the American-figure-of-4 style or with both feet on the ground. Though care has to be taken that you do not open your legs too wide. It’s a very aggressive posture: it says, ‘I am making myself vulnerable to you, hit me if you can’.
Hands can be folded in the lap, closed or touching the table, but do not be fidgety and play with them — it conveys nervousness.
Don’t fold your hands across your chest. It’s a defensive posture conveying insecurity. And for God’s sake don’t bite on those nails.
You can lean forward to indicate interest. Leaning back in the chair denotes a laid-back attitude. Lots of students resort to it after giving a long and laboured monologue in a GD, thinking that after their latest monologue they have already been selected.
Swords In Hand: B-schools do not provide you pens or pencils for the written exam; during a GD, however, they will readily provide them. They are not being extra courteous to you for having cleared the written exam. During a GD the moment you get aggressive you either start pointing fingers or start brandishing your pen as a sword. You are under scrutiny. So keep the pens sheathed.
http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/newsarticle/stocksnews.php?autono=235527
Oral Region: Check out a child telling a lie; she’ll always cover her mouth with her hands after that. When you tell a lie or are unsure, there is an itch/urge to touch the region of your lips. Adults may not cover their mouth but may just touch a lip or play around with the nose. The person seeing it will get the impression that you are either lying or are not sure. Check the urge to touch this region during an interview.
Eye Contact: Maintaining eye contact with the interviewers is a sign of your confidence, comfort level and assertiveness. The trick is not to overdo it, though. Take care that during the interview you maintain eye contact not only with the person whose question you are answering but also with other members of the panel, so that they don’t feel left out.
You can try these eye contact exercises if you think you need them:
- Stare your dog out. (Yes, you might make him have second thoughts about you, but it’s easier to start with pets than humans. If you can’t even meet the dog’s gaze you will know you have serious insecurity problems.)
- Stare yourself out. Look in the mirror everyday and tell yourself that you’re confident, really confident. See who blinks first.
- Find a friend you feel comfortable with and take turns asking and replying to simple questions using eye contact. Then role-play more difficult scenarios, like asking for a loan or confessing to a ten-year affair with the friend’s partner.
- When you greet someone new maintain eye contact all the way through the verbal greeting and don’t rush your words. Smile at the same time — you don’t want to come across as aggressive.
- When you talk to colleagues call them by their names and don’t start speaking until they’ve met your gaze. (Don’t be too strict about this one). Try it on your more confident colleagues first as it could make the nervous type uncomfortable.
- Accost people on the street and talk to them while maintaining eye contact. Later do it only with the really intimidating ones.
Posture: During the interview or GD, there are no hard and fast rules for the way you sit but let’s look at the implications of a few sitting styles.
You can sit in the American-figure-of-4 style or with both feet on the ground. Though care has to be taken that you do not open your legs too wide. It’s a very aggressive posture: it says, ‘I am making myself vulnerable to you, hit me if you can’.
Hands can be folded in the lap, closed or touching the table, but do not be fidgety and play with them — it conveys nervousness.
Don’t fold your hands across your chest. It’s a defensive posture conveying insecurity. And for God’s sake don’t bite on those nails.
Swords In Hand: B-schools do not provide you pens or pencils for the written exam; during a GD, however, they will readily provide them. They are not being extra courteous to you for having cleared the written exam. During a GD the moment you get aggressive you either start pointing fingers or start brandishing your pen as a sword. You are under scrutiny. So keep the pens sheathed.
http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/newsarticle/stocksnews.php?autono=235527
