Understanding Nonverbal Cues: A Key to Success in Interviews

IntroductionJob interview opens up the opportunity to express talent and skill to grow further. The prospective employer goes much beyond the task of validating the resume of the candidates. The assessment does not remain confined to the search of good academic background; rather the corporate world demands more efficient employees having multifaceted talents and interpersonal skills. The students in today's era seek professional options at the graduation level itself. They start preparing to see themselves as professionals in the next 2-3 years getting placed in a secure position with a handsome package.The educational institutions too promise training classes for grooming their personality and nurturing the soft skills to meet the expectations of the campus drives. Training primarily focuses on making the students competent in the respective subject, GD, PI, FAQs, etiquette, etc. Another area that demands attention is the nonverbal message that one conveys in his/her ignorance, which is observed keenly by the prospective employer. In the recent times, the selection process has undergone a complete change. Students having excellent academic record are not always considered to be eligible for the job. This is apparent in the form of failure to crack a job interview by these students occasionally. The recruiters have the foresight to see the distant future of the candidate and assess that something is amiss with the candidate. That something is the body language of the candidates. According to Yuvraj Srivastava of Pepsico India, "The job interviewee should possess the ability to spell out thoughts clearly and convincingly, stand up and argue logically for one's own point of view. He/she should be able to provide multiple solutions to the problems posed. While intellectual ability is appreciated, the job interviewee should also display positive attitude and humanity". The interview is the stage of assessing a candidate's right fit to the job on offer. The parties, that is, the interviewer and the interviewee, need to be aware of the several aspects before conducting and participating in an interview. Interviewing is a skill and proper preparation with presentation can only serve the purpose.The candidates need to be aware of some important aspects of the interview process and they need to prepare themselves for the same. A perfect balance between hard skills and soft skills is the key to success. Proper understanding of nonverbal cues is important for the candidate to know in order to crack the interview. Interview is the assessment of the candidate's knowledge, skills, intelligence and presence of mind where the nonverbal cues are mostly observed, as nonverbal communication is more reliable than the verbal one.Literature ReviewRebecca Vickers (https://www.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/honors/documents/journals/ .../Vickers.pdf) analyzed a general understanding of the connection between nonverbal communication and interpersonal relationships that enables an individual to identify the type of impression they want to make, and to align their nonverbal cues accordingly.Recognizing the impressions of others helps a person to better decode and react to nonverbal input from others.Due to the impact of nonverbal communication on the communication process, many researchers like Parsons and Liden (1984), Gifford et al. (1985) and Goldberg and Cohen (2004), have studied the relationship between nonverbal communication and an applicant's success in the interviewAccording to Bhattacharyya (2010), "Selection" is the second step in the process of manpower planning. Selection is the process of choosing the right candidate, which matches the candidates' skills and the job requirements.Karthiga et al. (2015) in their work "Recruitment and Selection Process" focused on understanding the recruitment and selection process and the need to have a well-defined recruitment policy keeping in view the time-constraint to select the right candidate for the post. …