A Great Handshake Can Get You a Job

According to a new study, a job applicant's handshake can be a deal-maker -- or a deal-breaker.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on September 28 2008

If you’re looking for a new job, there are plenty of factors to consider before meeting with the bigwigs. You’ll want to make sure your resume is state-of-the-art, your clothes are polished and professional, and to make sure you’ve got ready answers for all the standard questions. But there’s one issue you may not have considered –how’s your handshake?

According to a new study, a job applicant’s handshake can be a deal-maker – or a deal-breaker. Researchers at the University of Iowa set up mock interviews for 98 business school students with local employers, who later graded the students on their employability. The students were also greeted by five trained “handshake experts,” who ranked each student’s handshake by firmness of grip.

No matter what the students’ qualifications, or what they said in the interview, the handshake was the most powerful predictor of whether a potential employee would be likely to get a job.

“We found that the first impression begins with a handshake that sets the tone for the rest of the interview,” researcher George Stewart said in a statement. “We probably don’t consciously remember a person’s handshake or whether it was good or bad. But the handshake is one of the first nonverbal clues we get about the person’s overall personality, and that impression is what we remember.”

So if you’ve got a grip like a cold fish, better brush up on your shaking skills –a great handshake could be the number one key to getting your foot in the door at a new job.

Filed under: Business, Science, Weird,

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