Applicants' Self-Presentation and Nonverbal Behaviors in Job Interviews

Abstract

This paper reviews literature concerning an applicant's self-presentation (ingratiation, self-promotion, exemplification) and nonverbal behaviors, e. g., eye contact, smiling behavior, and head nodding, and discusses the significance of these behaviors in job interviews. The extent to which a person engages in these nonverbal behaviors is influenced by gender, status, and personality. In the context of a job interview, these behaviors affect person perception, interpersonal attraction, and perceived job aptitude. These attributes of nonverbal behavior were associated with specific functions: there are an intimacyexpressing function of eye contact and smiling behavior, a reaction-feedback function of eye contact, an impression management function of smiling behavior, and a reinforcing function of head nodding. I propose that these nonverbal behaviors affected the interview as follows: these could be used for ingratiation, which provided a positive feeling to interviewers, self-promotion, which emphasized the competence of the applicants, or exemplification, which indicated the integrity of the applicants. Consequently, these results suggested that eye contact, smiling behavior, and head nodding by an applicant could affect the hiring decision.