Job interviews are pretty nerve racking experiences, and numerous studies have highlighted the importance of making a good first impression.  The latest of these comes from a recent study from Cass Business School, which explored how differences emerge in how we perceive success in interviews, and how our interviewers do.  It suggests that the best approach is to focus on communicating the hard work that lay behind our success, rather than just the success itself.

The research found that success on its own was not enough to determine the impression we make, with our journey to success as important in making ourselves appear likeable to the interviewer.

First impressions

The findings emerged from three experiments conducted with volunteers from the United States and the Netherlands.  Two of these experiments simulated job interviews, with the final one simulating a first date.  In each scenario, the participants were asked to participate as either the interviewee or the interviewer.

If the volunteers were in the role of the interviewee, they were asked to speak about themselves in a positive way, with feedback then given by the interviewer based upon what they wanted to hear more about.

Across each experiment, it emerged that interviewees tended to overemphasize the successes they had enjoyed, and didn’t give anywhere near enough emphasis to the effort and hard work that went into those successes, despite this ultimately being what the interviewer wanted to hear.  The researchers believe this underlines the importance of telling the story behind your success, and the role this plays in making your successes human and relatable.

“A success story isn’t complete without the hard work and explanation of why we were successful. Did the success come easy, thanks to one’s talents, or was it attained through hard work? Both of these attributions can be part of successful self-promotion, but my research shows that emphasising effort is more likely to garner a positive impression and people really want to know the story behind your success,” they explain.

“For example, if you’re on a date and talking about a marathon that you recently ran, perhaps talk about all the training that helped you to cross the finish line. Or, if you’re in a job interview and are talking about a successful project that you led to completion, include a few details about the challenges along the way, and how you overcame them.”