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Research shows that interviewers conducting job interviews, on average, score worse on candidates who they find anxious, regardless of their level of competence. But what exactly betrays the “nervousness” of the applicant and is it possible to control these manifestations of anxiety?
Canadian psychologists Amanda Feiler and Deborah Powell decided to answer these questions. They conducted a study that included 119 students looking for an internship and 18 interviewers from the Canadian Employment Service. Interviewers conducted “educational” interviews with students, as close as possible to the real ones.
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Each interview lasted 10 minutes, after the end of which the student was asked to rate how much he was worried, the interviewers also had to rate how anxious the “candidate” seemed to them and what impression he made. The interview was recorded on video, which was then viewed by a panel of experts who assessed factors such as body language, speed of speech, laughter of students, as well as their personality traits.
Only a few of the gestures that the experts paid attention to were actually related to the anxiety felt by the students. Anxious students, on average, gesticulated and nodded less, paused longer before answering a question, and spoke more slowly. However, such external manifestations of anxiety can vary greatly in different people – some, on the contrary, become “jittery”, start talking too quickly and “cheekly”.
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At the same time, interviewers saw manifestations of anxiety in a very different way – in particular, they mentioned lip licking and biting and restless movements. The only sign of anxiety they identified correctly was slow speech.
As for personal qualities, first of all, anxiety was expressed in coldness and lack of assertiveness (that is, self-confidence that does not turn into aggression), which was quite accurately determined by the interviewers. The researchers suggest that anxious students made the worst impression in the first place not because of anxiety itself, but precisely because of a lack of warmth in communication and assertiveness.
The researchers believe that these results may be important for job seekers preparing for interviews. “It is not uncommon for candidates to worry that their ‘nervous’ gestures and movements will indicate to the interviewer that they are anxious. Apparently, movements play a much smaller role than demonstrating assertiveness, friendliness and warmth in communication, ”conclude the authors of the study.
Подробнее см. А. Feiler, D. Powell «Behavioral Expression of Job Interview Anxiety», Journal of Business and Psychology, 2016.