Friend or Foe – The Importance of First Impressions in Interviews
We pretty much immediately have a ‘gut’ reaction when we meet someone for the first time, that tells us whether we like this person – whether, so to speak we see them as a friend or a foe. How does that instinct come up so quickly with such a damning or embracing reaction and where does it come from? Moreover, if we want to create a good first impression when going for a new job, how can we do ourselves a favour and zoom ‘friend’ into our interviewer’s consciousness?
Not to get too bogged down in technical mumbo-jumbo – it’s commonly understood that the brain has two hemispheres, the left dealing with logic, and the right with creativity. This is what we know as the cortex, or new brain. But there’s also a third dimension, the hypo-thalamus or pre-historic brain (in fact, the brain stem) which is solely responsible for instincts. In ancient times, this was essential for making split-second life saving decisions.
Research from Switzerland more recently refers to the pre-historic brain as the ‘Gatekeeper’. Not being capable of rational thinking, the Gatekeeper’s sole function is to instantly judge whether someone is a friend or a foe, and it decides purely on instinct. If an approach causes the Gatekeeper stress, it switches on the fight or flight response. This immediately shuts down all other message receptors, and makes any further attempts at communication impossible. Today’s terminology would be you never get a second chance to make a first impression!
For communication to be effective, it’s essential to understand how this relates to modern life. Interviewees must learn to convey a ‘Language of Trust’, and that language isn’t just verbal, as the Gatekeeper doesn’t have the capacity to think. Your instinctive signals must deliver the message of a ‘friend’ in the first 10 to 20 seconds of meeting an interviewer.
This will present itself in your body language, with gestures, movements, facial expressions and eye contact being relaxed and open. Your voice tone and modulation must be calm, and the delivery of your speech controlled and gentle. Also, don’t invade his or her personal space. Your appearance, clothes, smell, enthusiasm and posture will additionally affect the Gatekeeper’s decision.
Your total focus initially is to get past the Gatekeeper. Then you can build and develop rapport, and open your interviewer’s message receptors. Once you’re through this initial first impression, you can move on with developing a relationship with your interviewer, for the gate will now be open to what you have to offer.
Let’s finally examine research on communication done at The Thomas Gordon Institute. They looked at the impact of voice, words, face and body, and how they all contributed to believability. After measuring the effectiveness of each component of communication, they came up with the following:
Facial Expression = 35%, Body Language = 35%, Voice = 23%, Words = 7%.
In other words, our appearance, the gestures we make, and how we deliver our words are more important than what we actually say. Remember, the Gatekeeper has no capacity for rational thought, just an instinctive reaction honed from ancient times. That gut-feeling is really a pre-historic brain feeling. Understanding this will help you to take control and ensure you get off to the very best start.
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