No matter how well dressed you are, whether at work or out socially, if you don’t convey natural confidence through your body language then your image will suffer. 55% of the impression you make on others depends on how you look and how you act. Even before you open your mouth to introduce yourself, people have already made judgements about you. They will decide how successful you are, where you might live, how old you are. By how you act they’ll form a first impression about your confidence, your honesty, your personality. How you walk, enter a room, shake hands, use eye contact, facial expression and gestures convey more than you realize about your personality. A job interview doesn’t begin when you are seated comfortably across the desk of the personnel manger, but when you first walk into his or her office from that moment on the interviewer’s brain is registering signals about you and your confidence, your energy, your abilities. MAKING AN ENTRANCE-How you walk through the door tells others whether or not you believe in yourself and whether or not others should believe in you. So don’t hesitate, hold your head up, take a deep breath and go in with purpose in your pace and a smile on your face. Don’t encumber yourself with anything more than a briefcase or a handbag. Make sure if you wear a coat that it does your all important entrance justice. If yours isn’t up to par, take it off and carry it, folded, over your left arm (the same one carrying your briefcase), leaving your right hand free to make handshakes.
HANDSHAKES- One of the strongest personal signals you send about yourself every day is through your handshake. How you shake hands tells others three things about you:
*- How confident you are.
*- How sheltered a life you lead.
*- How much respect you have for others.
You express confidence through your handshake in two ways. First, by how quickly you offer your hand upon meeting people. Hesitation conveys uncertainty and lack of confidence. And second, by your steady grip: if its weak you are unsure of yourself; if its too firm you are over confident and egotistical; if its firm and direct then you are telling others that you know who you are. Aim for a firm, direct grip so that the ‘web’ between your thumb and forefinger meets that of your partner. Anything halfway is a sign of weakness. Any thing more is too threatening. If you have perspired palms, don’t despair. Many women as well as men have moist palms, particularly when nervous. If suffering from sweaty palms, use an anti-per spirant before a meeting.
EYE CONTACT- Perhaps the most obvious sign of self- consciousness is the ability to look people in the eye for prolonged periods when communicating. Eye contact reveals a lot about you- your honesty or hostility, your enthusiasm or disinterest. If you can’t look people in the eye, you appear to be under confident, concealing something, or just not attending to what is being said. Anyone can improve his eye contact through practice. When speaking to more than one person at a time, remember to ‘connect’ with everyone in turn via eye contact.
TELLING GESTURES- ‘Holding your own hands’ in front or behind your body is another negative, closed gesture implying weakness or nervousness when addressing people. Try holding a pen in one hand or putting one hand in a side pocket, if you are too nervous to adopt the preferred stance of both hands at the side- the most open and confident posture.