How is your handshake?
Sunday, October 17th, 2010Recent research at the University of Iowa in the US is the first of its kind to actually measure whether a handshake influences an interviewee’s chances of getting a job. Almost 100 students were recruited as guinea pigs, going through mock interviews with a recruitment specialist, and having their handshake assessed by several experts, posing as prospective colleagues, before and after the interview. At the end of the process the quality of the shakes were compared with the verdict of the recruitment specialists.
The students with good handshakes were perceived to be sociable, friendly and confident, while those with a weak, soft grip are seen as introverted, shy and lacking in self-esteem.
Those with the the firmest grip who also held eye contact were most likely to be hired. But the most interesting result was that women with a firm handshake received substantially highter ratings than did men with a handshake of the same firmness, so women may actually benefit more than men if they present a strong and complete grip.
But a warning came from Professor Cary Cooper, a psychology expert at Lancaster University, who commented that if women exert too much pressure on a male boss’s hand at an interview, “they might be perceived as very aggressive and a bit of a queen bee!” I wonder!……
