Seating Arrangements in an Interview

In this post we will take a quick look at seating arrangements in interviews and how it can affect a potential employers feeling of you from the start.

What a lot of us may be used to when taking a seat at an interview is that of the diagram below, with your potential employer (A) seated directly across from yourself (B). However this poses a problem, at least in terms of body language. According to Allen and Barbara Pease, the writers of The Definitive Book of Body Language, this seating arrangement is that of a competitive / defensive disposition. The table acts like a barrier leading to both sides feeling defensive and competitive. In fact according to Pease, 56% of respondents saw this as a competitive position.

Now, let’s look at a different option that might increase your chances of landing a job or at the least improve the way you come across to them. As you see in the diagram below you may have to take a bold action. By re-arranging the seat beside the desk and facing your potential employer at a 45-degree angle. It allows for good eye contact and is often used by those engaged in friendly, casual conversation. By sitting this way you and your employer to be (hopefully) may more openly see one another’s gestures and body language far more readily and therefore more easily connect with one another.

Animation: For those animators out there this can again be used in any interview or meeting scene between characters. By knowing these 2 seating arrangements an animator adds another potential staging option for use in their animations. You can also push the associated emotions that each arrangement brings with them. If you want the person being interviewed to emote anxiety then stick with the face-to-face way of sitting and push that emotion. If, on the other hand, you want them to look confident or arrogant try out the 45-degree angled seating arrangement, it may help you push the connection between the 2 characters.

I hope this helps for those who try it. Thank you for your time and have a great day.

References:

The Definitive Book of Body Language by Allen and Barbara Pease

Pictures / Diagrams created in Photoshop by yours truly.

Seating Arrangements and Attention

In this post I will be talking about seating choices and how those choices could potentially increase or decrease the amount of information a person might retain from a lecture or possibly a meeting.

As we see in the photograph below taken from “The Definitive Book of Body Language”, those who sit front and center as compared to where the speaker is standing, tend to retain 68% of what the speaker says. Moving a few rows back, we then see those who sit in the middle behind those in the front row retain 55% of what was said. That is already a 13% difference in retention! If we look once more we see that those who sit the furthest back and in the outside corners retain the least information out of all in the diagram.

According to Allen and Barbara Pease, writers of “The Definitive Book of Body Language”, not only do people learn more or less depending on where they choose to sit in a room, these people also tend to act in certain ways depending on their seating preferences.

“People who sit in the front row are keener than others to learn and show more attention to the speaker in order to avoid being picked on,” said Peace. “Those in the middle sections are the next most attentive and ask the most questions, as the middle section is considered to be a safe area, surrounded by others. The side and back areas are the least responsive and attentive.”

Now the way that business people can use this is quite obvious. If you are in a meeting simply sit as far in front and center as is possible, compared to where the speaker is talking, to help retain as much as possible.

This diagram can also be useful to animators. In a class room or meeting scenario an animator now knows that if the class were to raise their hands in an animation, the middle would be some of the first to lift their hands, followed by the front and then the back and sides if at all. It also potentially clues us in as to potential behaviors of those people sitting.

The ones in the front row might be those more apt to quieting the rest of the class down to hear what the instructor is saying, after all, they are there to learn and focus. Those in the middle might be more likely to talk during class yet are likely to quickly quiet down when asked. Those in the back and the sides will probably be the most talkative and therefore their eyes will probably not be on the instructor most of the time.

I hope you learned something from this post and if anything I encourage you to pick up “The Definitive Book of Body Language.” It is very informative, useful and entertaining.

Until next time readers, have a great day.

References: 

The Definitive Book of Body Language - by Allen and Barbara Pease 

Link to where you can find the book: http://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Book-Body-Language-Publisher/dp/B004N778YC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1310601683&sr=8-4

Pic: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/legal-aid-providers-offered-free-business-and-financial-management-training