The secret to successful interviewing is not only to know what you are going to say, but how you are going to say it. 

You’re going to spend a fair amount of time planning out the content of the interview, so doesn’t it make sense to plan out the non-verbal ‘conversation’ or body language?

I used to donate a coaching session to the applicants for Rhodes and Marshall scholarships when I taught at Princeton.  I always told them to imagine the interview in as much detail as possible – beginning with the room, the people in it, and their body language.  When the students would object, “But we don’t know what the room looks like,” I would say, “Find out if you can.  You need to know in order to choreograph your own body language intelligently.”

The point is that you’re under stress in an interview, and you don’t want surprises to overload your capacity for responding well to the moment at hand.  People can handle about 3 surprises before they begin to overheat, so try to minimize them by knowing as much as you can about the place, the interviewers, and your role in that place and with those folks. 

Ask the person you scheduled the interview with, “can you please tell me where we’ll be meeting?  And whom will I be meeting with?”  and so on. 

Once you’ve got as much detail as possible about the stage your little play will take place on, you’re ready to proceed to the ‘blocking’ or body language and choreography. 

The first step in the choreography of your body language is to get an ‘offstage beat’ or emotional attitude toward the upcoming interview BEFORE you meet anyone.   That attitude will make you more interesting to the interviewer with whom you’re about to shake hands.  I've blogged about the offstage beat before, so I won't go into detail here.  The main thing for an interview is to get a clear emotional attitude (we're hoping it's enthusiastic) toward the situation. 

Next time I’ll talk about the rest of the body language.