Whilst doing your best to give a good impression and communicate your strengths in an interview, is your body language backing you up or letting you down? What non-verbal clues are you projecting and how does that change how you are being perceived?

We are all aware of own personal space. How people act within, control and use this space can give us a fascinating insight into human behaviour. We naturally protect our own space and our spatial relationships with others will depend on our relationship with them. Whilst we tend to suppress high emotions under the veneer of calm, the body cannot lie quite so easily.

In the past people were naturally more open and expressive, however we now tend to suppress our feelings and 'speak' in latent subtext - that is we usually hide our feelings beneath banal expression, and expect others to 'read between the lines'. Thus in Shakespeare we find Romeo declaiming his feelings for Juliet with fierce passion, and yet in a contemporary television drama today you mind find a character in a similar situation shrugging when asked and saying "she's alright I s'pose". However whilst we may deny ourselves the verbal expression of our feelings, physically we will unconsciously display them. It is useful to know a little of this non-verbal body language, both to ensure we are not unconsciously provoking a bad impression, and also to help read the interviewers position.

In the 1960's, E T Hall carried out research into this fascinating area, calling the concept "proxemics", the study of personal interaction viewed spatially, defined as "the study of the ways in which man gains knowledge of the content of other men's minds through judgements of behaviour patterns associated with varying degrees of [spatial] proximity to them." Put more simply, think - how do you relax on your own in front of the TV in your own lounge vs. how do you react in a meeting at work with two salespeople you have never met?

Have you ever felt that someone was invading your personal space by standing too close to you? And yet someone else could probably stand even closer and you would not feel invaded at all? Hall defined four "zones" of this personal space. These are:

Intimate - the space in which we hug, kiss, whisper secrets

Personal - the space we share with close friends

Social - the space we share with friends and colleagues

Public - the distance at which we keep strangers

It may be helpful to think of these as concentric circles, increasing in size from intimate to public. When we interact with others we establish a comfortable spatial relationship with them by dropping non-verbal hints. This outlines our personal space and the space we are willing to share.

Generally in an interview, we find ourselves sharing our space with a stranger, at a probably more intimate distance than we are really comfortable with. Hence body language works overtime.

In an interview, often the interviewer is sitting behind a desk, and is therefore protecting their personal territory with a physical object. It is wise then, to avoid placing anything on the desk, or leaning on it, because you will be invading their territory. It will be tempting to protect your own territory with a physical object too, for example a handbag/briefcase/CV balanced on your knee. However whilst protecting your territory you are signalling that you are closed to negotiations. Better to place these items by your side.

If the interviewer is not behind a desk, avoid moving your chair too close in - again you will be invading their territory and put them on the defensive.

Eye contact is tremendously important. It conveys a desire to make contact and keep communication clear. If you are sitting in a curved space where this is difficult, use shoulder contact.i.e lean in your shoulder to theirs (not physically touch shoulders, you don't want them to think you are a psychopath.)

The way you position yourself and the movements you make give off lots of non-verbal clues which illustrate such things as whether you are listening, agreeing, disliking, getting bored with whatever the other person is saying. This is equally true for the interviewer. Some body language is blatantly obvious: If you are telling the story about how you won a certificate for cleaning out the gerbil cages in year 6 and you see them yawn, you know its time to zip it. Here are lots more reactions to watch out for:

Body Position/Reaction:	Communicates:	Notes:
POSITIVES
Leaning forward Arms open Palms upward	Responding, engaged in this conversation	Notice how when one of you leans forward, the other will unconsciously do the same. Consciously lean forward to show you are engaged in the conversation, and by forcing them (unconsciously) to lean in you will force them to engage with you.
Head tilted	Reflecting	Avoid tilting too far this can indicate skepticism
Eye contact	Listening	But don't over-do the eye contact or you will look a bit scary.
Nodding Blinking	Understanding	If you don't understand however, ask! And don't blink too much; you will simply look like you have an eye problem.
Leaning in Legs open Feet under chair (knees forward)	Eager	If female and wearing a skirt, substitute 'legs open' with 'cross feet at ankles'.
Smiling	Agreement, Understanding, Liking	By far the best non-verbal clue, communicates a very positive message. Unless of course, you smile like a maniac.
Arms behind back (when standing)	Paying attention, Listening carefully	Unlikely that you will be standing in an interview though.
Sucking on pen/pencil	Evaluating info	Leave these to the interviewer!
Stroking chin, Eyes looking upwards & right	Contemplating info	But if you do this for too long you risk appearing either stupid or bored.
Putting down an object (e.g. pen), putting hands flat down on table	Ready to make agreement	Watch an interviewer for these signs. They are ready to negotiate - unless they seem aggressive in which case they are about to disagree with you.
NEGATIVES
Staring into space Slumped posture Doodling	Boredom, not listening	Hmmm...this one's obvious!
Crossed/folded arms Legs crossed tight at knees	Rejection, disagreement	For females, if you MUST cross your legs like this, lean forward to counteract.
Leaning back	Rejecting	The further back you lean, the further away you want to be
Feet pointing towards doorway Looking around Buttoning jacket	Wanting to escape	Not good; especially if you are getting these signs from the interviewer!
Finger or Foot tapping	Feels need to speak NOW	Watch out for this. Slow foot tapping can also indicate boredom.
Staring	Combative	Almost the opposite of smiling.
Frowning	Defiance, dislike	Obviously the opposite of smiling. An absolute no.
Hand/s on hip/s	Defiance, disagreement	More likely only if standing.
Leaning far forwards finger pointing Clenched fists	Aggression	Hopefully not a problem in interview situations!
Feet pointing inwards Hands clenched	On the defensive, possibly offended, or about to lie	Avoid!

And finally those tell tale signs that you/they are lying:

• Touching your face
• Putting your hand over your mouth
• Pulling at your ears
• Scratching your nose
• Casting your eyes down
• Shifting in your seat
• Looking downward to your left

the article is easy to understand. i am a psychologist in india.i think in the article we can also add

1.that wetting one's lips with tongue frequently also gives away the sign of being tense.

2. making noises of clearing ones throat frequently, indicate the person is not ready with an answer and hence buying time.

thank you