Just a short one this time. I'm delighted to have found a paper that looks at the handshake in interviews and what impact handshakes have on interview outcomes!
The handshake does make a difference to your chances of getting a job offer. First of all, a handshake is more likely to lead to a positive employer rating than no handshake. But a good handshake is the best of all. A 'good' handshaker is one whose grip is full and firm, whose shake is vigorous and lasts some time and who maintains eye contact with the other person throughout.
Employers who receive this kind of desirable handshake are more likely to think the candidate is likable, warm and better qualified to do the job, and they are likely to think that they would be more satisfied with their choice if they hired this candidate.
Now that perhaps isn't a great surprise - we all know that employers (indeed, all of us) make judgments based on all sorts of nonverbal cues that aren't related to the job description.
Here's the bit that surprised me.
Handshakes actually are related to certain personality traits that are in turn linked to people's abilities to perform certain roles. A 'good' handshake correlates with an individual's degree of extraversion, emotional expressiveness, emotional stability and social confidence.
So then one final point which is about gender. There is a psychological concept of 'positive deviation'. This occurs when someone is particularly highly credited for doing something that they are not expected to do. In this case, women are not generally expected to give 'good' handshakes, so if they do, the employer gives them a particularly positive rating.
So, I'm not sure what that says about the validity and fairness of our selection procedures, but it's a great thing to be able to teach your nervous students as they prepare for their job interviews.
