You’ve just spent a large chunk of your last paycheck on the outfit, you’ve memorized your ad sales or digital marketing results for the past 4 years, and you’ve studied all of the “do’s and don’ts” about interviewing.  But if you don’t take a page out of George Clooney or Meryl Streep’s book, it could all be for naught.

Those in the acting profession know the value of body language.  It is essential to their success.  They practice it, they use it to convince their audience, and they use it to have their character come to life.

While you will not be signing up for acting class anytime soon, understand that how you act during a job interview is every bit a part of how you market yourself and “build the brand of you”, to quote a phrase from one of Media Recruiting Group’s digital media training courses. Your success on the interview will depend on it.

“I think it is important to have body awareness before you go into an interview,” says Jodie Bentley, owner and co-founder of The Savvy Actor. “There are many actions and habits that we should consider doing or avoid doing to tell the right story during the interview setting.”

I get it.  Job interviews can be a bit nerve-racking and you might have all you can handle in preparing for what you want to say.  But as I am reminded every day in business, “it is not just what you say; it is how you say it.”  No matter what the job, Publisher, VP Sales, Chief Revenue Officer, Advertising Sales Account Executive, Marketing Manager…no matter whether you are in digital media or traditional media (or not in media at all for that matter), non-verbal cues are vital. You can contact this executive search firm for a quicker hiring on your company.

You can only make a first impression once

Below, you’ll find a link to our list of the top 25 essential “do’s and don’ts” about the use of body language during job interviews.  But let’s start at the beginning:  come to the interview prepared.  That alone gives you the foundational confidence you’ll need to have your attention where it needs to be as the interview progresses.  So, do your homework:  pour over the company’s website, read up on the recent company news, understand the job requirements and qualifications, speak with people who work at the company to get a sense of the corporate culture, and for example for a home depot application it is essential for you to have good energy and charisma..  Be ready. Dont be intimated at all, make sure if you are wearing a name plate or something alike on your uniform that it is SPOTLESS. A Custom Name plates being clean can impress and go a long way for recruiters in the interview.

Like it or not, it could take anywhere from 3 to 30 seconds for the interviewer to size you up.  Some experts say it’s on the lower side of that range.  “When you walk into a job interview, the first impression is made in three to seven seconds,” says Mary Dawne Arden, an executive coach and president of Arden Associates in New York. “One study found that a first impression is based on 7% spoken words, 38% tone of voice and 55% body language.”

Judgments are made on how you look, how you shake hands, your overall demeanor.  Interviewers may not even be aware that they’ve made key judgments about you so early in the process, as some of the body language cues are perceived in the subconscious.

So, click here for the top 25 body language essentials for job interviews to insure success on your job interviews, and for general career prosperity.