Host Sheila Boysen-Rotelli is diving into the importance of a great first impression, something that holds true across all areas of life.
Episode Highlights:
- First impressions aren't just about what you say, but how you say it
- Human beings make judgments about people within the first few seconds of meeting them
- Researchers at Oregon State University conducted an experiment to see if there was a correlation between first impressions and interview success
- They evaluated interviewee behavior, performance, rapport, and professional skills
- Random evaluators who only saw the first impression gave the same rating as trained evaluators who saw the entire interview
- Candidates tend to focus too much on the interview and not enough on nailing the first impression
- At the end of the day, you want to be confident with your first impression and how you come across to others
- The First Impression Model consists of 2 aspects
- People are trying to decide how confident you are based on your body language, handshake, posture, and vocal power
- Subconsciously, everyone likes to be around confident people that are engaging to be around
- There are several methods to practice to appear more confident
- Non-verbal signals such as body language are so important to a first impression
- Winning athletes take up a lot of space when they feel pride, expanding their body and lifting their heads up
- Losing athletes shrink their body down when they feel shame, rolling their shoulders forward and hanging their heads
- Fronting is when you angle your toes, torso, and top towards the person that you are trying to engage
- Enhance your engagement with eye contact which helps you connect and read their body language
- Handshakes might be a thing of the past in a post-pandemic world, but they might not completely go away
- The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience showed that across cultures, strangers are able to connect at a deeper level via handshakes
- Get palm-to-palm as quickly as possible; never give them just your fingertips
- Keep the handshake vertical by keeping your thumb pointed up and your pinky pointed down
- It depends on the situation, but it's important not to overdo the handshake by pumping too many times
- Reciprocate the other person's firmness and this will show them that you respect their preferences
- Dry your hands completely before shaking someone's hand
- There are a plethora of methods to sound confident and to use your vocal power to make a good impression
- Your facial expression when you speak translates the tone of what you say
- The majority of a conversation comes after a first impression, so it's important not to fall back into a monotonous tone
- Avoid social scripts and questions that barely warrant real answers
- Think about questions that bring up some sort of excitement for the person that you are talking to
3 Key Points:
- It only takes a few seconds for human beings to make snap judgments about each other, so first impressions are vitally important.
- Sheila used to focus all of her energy on what to say and not how to say it, resulting in a generally boring first impression.
- 2 non-verbal ways to appear confident are fronting, or angling your body towards the person you are trying to engage, and making eye contact.
Tweetable Quotes:
- "We decide if we like someone, if we trust them, or if we would want to work with them in the first 15-20 seconds of meeting them." - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
- "First impressions make all of your interactions easier. No matter how well you answer an interview question...if you have a bad first impression, it's almost impossible to recover." - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
- "The moment we mutually gaze with someone, we feel more connected to them." - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
- "We're constantly listening for vocal signs of emotion." - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
Resources Mentioned:
