How to Win the Job by Communicating with Confidence

Managing the First Twenty Seconds of the Interview

you for seeing me today.” You’ll be smiling warmly and

offering a professional handshake at the same time.

After the introduction, the interviewer will ask you to sit

down. Don’t sit down until he or she asks you to. If he

or she does not ask, say, politely, “May I have a seat,

please?”

2. If it’s a small office or you are very close to his or her
   desk, you may feel tempted to put your notepad or
   some other article like a purse on the desk. Don’t. The
   desk is the territory of the interviewer, and he or she will
   feel encroached upon if you pass that invisible line of his
   or her space and your space. Putting any item, including
   your hands or elbows on the desk will be taken as a sign
   of disrespect and an unconscious threat. If you wish to
   take notes, hold your notebook on your lap.


3. Don’t take any beverages into the interviewer’s office—
   spills or choking can be embarrassing and inconvenient.
   Even if you are offered coffee, it’s quite all right to
   politely decline.


4. Turn your pager and cell phone off! If you forget and it
   happens to ring, do not glance to see who called. Simply
   apologize for the interruption and turn off the device.

Your Attitude

Have you ever noticed that when someone likes you, you tend to
like him or her in return? Well, it’s the same with interviewers. As
I said earlier, many interviewers are going to be more nervous
than you would imagine at this meeting. They want you to like
them, just as you want them to like you.
It may seem hard to fabricate having affection for someone
you hardly know or who doesn’t seem particularly likeable, but
there is a way. One way that I’ve suggested to my clients that real-
ly seems to work is that they picture the interviewer as a friend of
theirs or someone they really admire.
You can pretend it’s your sister Sylvia or your brother
Harold, your Aunt June or Uncle Bob. It may seem a little bit
silly, but I’ve actually told clients to picture the interviewer
as a big stuffed teddy bear. Who doesn’t like a teddy bear? In