It takes less than a second to make your first impression. According to a 2011 research by Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, based solely on how you look, people assess your competence and trustworthiness in only a quarter of a second. Furthermore, once people form an opinion about you, from the first impression, they tend to look for more information to confirm it, their whole perspective of you is going to be based and framed around this first impression. This is referred to as the confirmation bias. You want to use it to your advantage. You want to make sure people’s first impression of you is positive, so that they continue to look for positive information about you, rather than starting off with a negative impression they will try to confirm.
Your clothing style, make up, body language and hand shake all play a role in how impressions are formed.
Unfortunately for us women it is even more complicated. Research shows that we are judged more harshly than men, and that how much make up we wear, our hairstyle and clothes all influence how we are perceived. Moreover, women’s professional polish includes tasteful accessories, manicured nails and a hairstyle versus a man’s haircut.
The 4 critical elements to creating a great first impression:
1.Are you dressed for success?
What you wear definitely influences how you feel and from there the impression you make. Often, when you look good you feel good. You dress like a professional, and you feel like one. What you wear can fill you with confidence from within, to showcase on the outside.
General good advice on what to wear will start with the don’ts: not too tight, not too bright, not too flashy, and not too revealing. Not everyone loves neon pink, and you don’t want to create an adverse reaction as part of your first impression. A monochrome, solid, well-fitting professional outfit would be a good choice.
If you have been out of the workforce for a long time, you may want to check if your outfit is outdated. You want to present a current image, fitting with your attitude of being ready to return to work now. For help on getting your professional image ready, watch IamBackatWork’s webinar with Doreen Dove, an award winning image consultant.
2. Are you wearing the right amount of make up?
Research has shown that wearing makeup, without overdoing it, can help. Sadly, the natural look just doesn’t do it. The more glamorous women look (professional glamorous, not show-girl glamorous), it increases people’s perceptions of their likability, competence and trustworthiness. Nancy Etcoff, an assistant clinical professor of psychology at Harvard University, found in a study that there is also some evidence that women feel more confident when wearing makeup. The makeup likely not just transforming how the women are perceived but also how they feel.
Need to update your makeup? Go to the mall and get the help from the professionals at the make up stands in the department stores or the brand name stores. If you have the basics and need to brush up your skills, YouTube has abundance of tutorials on makeup application.
3. What’s your body language communicating?
Your body language tells a lot about you before you open your mouth! Your posture, standing or sitting up straight and not fidgeting exalts confidence. Are you standing, or sitting in a powerful position, or are you all closed up, feeling and looking small and powerless?
Eye contact is very important. Looking people in the eye gives a more confident and honest impression, not doing so may be revealing a sense of insecurity, shyness and suspiciousness.
Smile! A smile makes you more likable, friendly, and you seem happy to be there and more enthusiastic.
I highly recommend you watch Amy Cuddy’s Ted Talk about how your body language shapes who you are, and how you can change other people’s perceptions — and even your own body’s chemistry — simply by changing body positions. And don’t forget to practice the “Power Pose” before every interview.
4. What’s your handshake saying?
According to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, everyone should pay close attention to their handshake. People are making judgments and basing their initial opinions of you off of this small, gesture. A Fortune 500 CEO once said that when he had to choose between two candidates with similar qualifications, he gave the position to the candidate with the better handshake.
What is a good handshake?
Not too limp, you don’t want to seem weak.
Not too strong, the bone crusher, you don’t want to inflict pain on the other person, seem overpowering or make people wonder what you are trying to overcompensate for.
You don’t want to hold it for too long and seem desperate or for too short and perceived as rude, and that you are in a rush to get out of there. Living by the 2 seconds rule should work.
You also want to make sure to look the person in the eye, not to seem shy or insecure. Repeating the person’s name when you greet them, shows that you are friendly and attentive. “It is nice to meet you Sharon”.
So you want to stand up straight, make eye contact, hold out your right hand, give a good firm shake (2 seconds long), smile and greet the person by name!
All the women out there, next time when you shake hands, don’t come across as weak, shy or unworthy. You are better than that.
Yes, first impressions are all about judging a book by its cover. You want your cover to look spectacular! Your clothes, your hair, your make up and your body language, create your first impression, and all really matter. You are judged on all of those before anyone looks at your qualifications. According to James Uleman, PhD, a psychology professor at New York University “you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression”. Even if we’re presented with lots of evidence to the contrary, we’re attached to our initial impressions of people and we especially tend to remember first and last interactions and impressions. The impression you make will affect your future job opportunities.
Before your next interview make sure to pay attention to all these small details, that make a huge affect. Be yourself, but your best self.
Miki Feldman Simon, Founder & CEO IamBackatWork