Having knowledge of nonverbal language in a negotiation or job interview can have a tremendous impact on its outcome. It is estimated that about 55 percent of our communication has a nonverbal origin. Specialists assure that another 38 percent is paraverbal. While seven percent is purely verbal.
In an increasingly competitive world, new skills often emerge to stand out or have a good job interview. In that regard, specialists highlight nonverbal language as a key skill that job applicants should master in this current era.
In the current job market, there are many ways to stand out above the profiles that apply for the position. One of these is communicative abilities, which are fundamental to perform in any job position.
And in that context, nonverbal language is all the information we receive and emit to one or more interlocutors that does not necessarily have to do with what we say.
Therefore, having the appropriate knowledge about this subject is a great advantage for recruiters of human resources, as they observe nonverbal signals and gestures, that is, what is not said, we can understand a lot about our candidates.
This importance is seen in the data of American psychologist Albert Mehrabian, who revealed that about 55 percent of our communication has a nonverbal origin (gestures, facial expressions, body posture), another 38 percent is paraverbal (intonation of words, speech rhythm, tone of voice), and the remaining seven percent is purely verbal. Hence, 93 percent of what we communicate is done unconsciously.
Why nonverbal communication is key In light of this, several specialists highlight nonverbal language as a key skill when it comes to a job interview.
According to Jordi Reche, an expert in communication, having knowledge of nonverbal language in a negotiation or job interview can have a tremendous impact on its outcome.
Therefore, mastering nonverbal language “can help you communicate better, but also connect better with people, and at the same time be able to know if those people are really connected with you, with all that entails.”
In that sense, mastering this form of communication can be present in an individual or group interview, whether face-to-face or even remotely, in video calls or on the phone.
“It can serve, for example, to know if someone is receiving well what you are talking about, but also to know their real response or thought to what we communicate to them,” he adds.
Another information signed by Álvaro Tejedor, director of Potenzia and coordinator of Psychoeducation at Affor Health, highlights that the nonverbal language we use can determine how suitable we may “appear in a job interview, how kind we may appear in a negotiation.”
“If you are aware of what you want to convey and are consistent in your verbal and nonverbal communication, you have more chances for your message to be more attractive, since the brain of the person in front of you is built to automatically identify inconsistencies in your way of communicating, it is a survival mechanism,” he says.
In summary, all specialists highlight that beyond words, there is nonverbal language, important not only in our work environment but also in our daily lives, since it does not lie easily and with which we transmit the true feelings or our inner state.