Just as the knowledge of how hormones affect you can give you a leg up on your competition for a job, you can also use your interviewer’s hormones to your advantage. Health journalist Gabrielle Lichterman, author of 28 Days: What Your Cycle Reveals about Your Love Life, Moods and Potential, says that being cognizant of an interviewer’s hormone levels can help you better connect with her or him.
If your interviewer is a woman who has not been through menopause, Lichterman suggests the following:
- Determine if she is in the first or last half of her cycle. One clue to figuring this out is how much she is smiling.
“If she smiles a lot and shows a lot of teeth, chances are it’s the first half of her cycle,” Lichterman says. “If she’s sedate, quiet, and doesn’t show any teeth when she smiles or rarely smiles, she’s most likely in the second half of her cycle.”
- If your job interviewer is in the first half of her cycle, you should raise your energy levels to match hers.
“If she’s in the first half of her cycle and you can tell that, pump up your energy just a notch,” Lichterman notes. “She wants to be engaged and she’s easily excited by new ideas and fresh viewpoints. She wants to be swept away in something new and exciting, and something that’s really going to rev her engines.”
- On the other hand, if your interviewer is in the second half of her cycle, you will need to turn down the volume because this is a time when she will not be interested in taking as many risks as she would be earlier in her cycle. If you have ideas that you want to share with her, do it in a way that appears more safe.
If you interview for a job with a man, Lichterman suggests the following:
- First thing in the morning, when a man has his highest level of testosterone in the day, you will want to be energetic in order to match his mood.
“If you’re meeting with a male interviewer in the morning, he’s going to be more energetic, aggressive, and combative. Men are more likely to say no in the morning than they are in the afternoon,” says Lichterman. “In terms of ideas, you want to come across as solid—someone he can’t say no to and someone he can’t look for a reason to say no to.”
- If you have a midday interview with a man, keep in mind that this is the best time of day to introduce new ideas to him because he will be much more agreeable.
- After 2 p.m., a male interviewer is feeling the effects of his declining testosterone, so keep in mind that he is not as sharp as he was earlier in the day.
“The most important thing in the afternoon interviews with men is to make it simple,” says Lichterman. “Don’t give him any complex ideas and certainly do not go on and on with one idea—don’t talk in circles, keep it simple.”
Part One: How hormones can help you land a job
Part Two: Advice for men: How hormones can help you land a job (continued)
Related Reading:
The importance of nonverbal communication during job interviews
Nonverbal behaviors during interviews
More interviewing tips
Job interview horror stories
More Workplace Communication:
10 workplace lessons from 'The Twilight Zone'
What employees can learn from Sarah Palin's resignation
E-mail etiquette do's and don'ts
What the #%@&!?: The problem of profanity in the workplace
Do you suffer from stage fright? The signs may not be so obvious to your audience.
Subscribe via RSS or e-mail.
Comments