Preparing for a job interview is not easy. We try to look our best, we learn about the company, we avoid making big mistakes...
Surveys have shown that the color of the clothes you wear for an interview has an impact on the first impression you make. Thus, blue suggests that one is good at teamwork; black indicates that one is a leader; gray is associated with qualities of logic and analysis; white shows organizational skills; Finally, brown displays the fact that we can be counted on. Avoid:orange, which looks quite unprofessional.
It seems quite logical, but we don't talk the same way to a recruiter who is 30 or 55 years old. In the book Crazy Good Interviewing , John B. Molidor and Barbara Parus have thus established the main rules to follow according to the age of our interlocutor.
Between 20 and 30 years old (generation Y):we do not hesitate to bring visual elements to support our point and we insist on our ability to multitask.
Between 30 and 50 years old (generation X):we emphasize our creativity and we do not hesitate to mention how much our management of private life/work contributes to our success.
Between 50 and 70 years old (baby boomers):we show that working a lot does not scare us and we show respect for what our interlocutor has accomplished.
The “chameleon effect” is a psychological phenomenon to describe the fact that we tend to appreciate people who have a body language close to ours. Identifying the facial expressions of the other person and doing the same (while ensuring that it remains natural) is often taken as a mark of interest and indicates that one is serious. So if he or she is leaning forward with their hands on the table, we don't hesitate to do the same...
The first contact, when the interlocutor comes to pick us up, is super important:it's the moment to look him in the eye. English researchers have asked participants to watch videos of people meeting for the first time, then to estimate the level of intelligence of these people. People who dared to make eye contact were consistently rated as smarter.
As a general rule, we prepare for “classic” questions, but it turns out that it is rather for questions that we do not want to answer that we should prepare. A period of unemployment? We insist on the fact that we wanted to find a job that we really like. A dismissal? We explain that we were part of an economic plan. In short, we prepare positive answers for all potentially thorny subjects, and we refocus the interview on the present.
