In my experience, I have found that nonverbal behavior and communication can play a significant role in affecting the reliability and validity of the interview. While remaining professional, I have found that my best interview experiences were those in which the interviewer made me feel comfortable. This put me at ease which allowed me to show them my personality more accurately and provide more open responses to their questions. Oftentimes, the interviewer’s nonverbal behaviors contributed to my feeling of comfort and connection.

In one interview that I had, the interviewers came off very cold and impersonal through their words and body language. For example, they rarely smiled and their body language was very rigid. I ended up accepting the job offer for the position and the culture of the organization was completely different. Everyone was very welcoming and friendly and has been a very positive place to work. I think it’s important for interviewers to reflect the culture of their organization during all stages of the hiring process so that the potential hire can assess if that would be fitting for them. Nonverbal communication is a key aspect of the interview for both parties to assess the personality and potential dynamic of the workplace.

I would have suggested to those interviewers to also show through their body language and tone the culture of the organization so that recruits have a better understanding of what it may be like if they worked there. The interview experience I had with that organization made me nervous that it would not be a good work environment, but was happily surprised that the organization was very different than what I had perceived from the hiring process. As was mentioned in this week’s lecture, nonverbal behavior can impact the candidate’s impression of the organization and impact their performance during the interview, affecting the validity of the interview process.

References

Swift, M. Week 5 Learning Materials: Improving Interview Effectiveness. Oregon State University.