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.