Get your grip right and shake your way to career success

Why your handshake is crucial to the success of your next job interview – keep it firm, but not too firm.

The pressure of the handshake is important as it indicates self-confidence. Jeff Topping / The National

Your interview begins the moment your potential employer sees you, says management consultant and recruiter Shane Phillips – and your handshake is crucial to your success.

He says there are five things to remember about how you proffer and clasp hands, from how you touch to where your palm faces, how much pressure you apply, what you do with the other hand and how far away you stand.

“You communicate visually when you walk into the room,” says Mr Phillips, chief executive of UAE-based The Phillips Group. “Make direct contact, put your chin up, stand straight.”

When you reach out your arm, make sure your palms are in contact. “Not allowing the palm to touch suggests the person is hiding something,” he adds. Your thumb should slide in by the other person’s index finger, and lock in to give a connection.

The pressure of the handshake is important as it indicates self-confidence – no “wet fish” shakes allowed.

But equally, exert a “decent amount of pressure”, not a bone-crushing level – which can come across as either aggressive or overcompensating for feeling intimidated.

Think, too, about where your palm is facing. “If I shake your hand and my palm faces down, I’m signalling dominance,” says Mr Phillips. But if you turn your palm up in a shake, that can look submissive. Keep it vertical and neutral.

Watch what the other person is doing with their other hand. If they use their left hand to take your forearm or grab you above the elbow and pull you in, they could be trying to control you.

Finally, don’t make your arm completely straight or at 90 degrees: too far and you’re saying you need a lot of personal space, too close and you send a message that you’re already trying to pull someone into your inner circle. “Make your arm 30 or 45 degrees – whichever feels more natural,” Mr Phillips advises.

He adds you shouldn’t underestimate getting it right: “In my personal experience, the handshake has always matched the subsequent performance.”

q&a now get to grips with it all

Suzanne Locke expands on the secret to a good handshake:

What’s so wrong with a soft handshake?

“A limp handshake sends the message that you’re not energised about the job and work is not a priority,” Mr Phillips says. “You have no fire in your belly to get things done and get them across the line. A firm handshake says I’m a player, a leader, I have vision, direction, focus, I’m succinct and results-oriented.”

Any famous handshake styles?

The “hand hug”, when you cup your left hand over the right for a two-handed shake, is a politician’s favourite – think Bill Clinton or Nelson Mandela. But you shouldn’t do it unless you have a connection, Mr Phillips says. When it comes to the palm, Adolf Hitler deliberately saluted palm-down, while Queen Elizabeth II shakes with her fingertips only, palms-down, to signify her royal status and keep her distance.

And for women?

If a woman is wearing traditional dress, don’t try to shake her hand unless she puts hers out first, warns Mr Phillips. But otherwise, women should give a business handshake in a business environment. “There is more leeway as women gravitate to a palm-down handshake, but the size of your hand makes no difference. Leave gender differences at the door.”

Great, my interview handshake’s perfected – is now the time to look for a job?

No. Mr Phillips thinks there’s too much uncertainty with oil prices, the US presidency and Brexit. The end of 2017 to the first half of 2018 will be the best time to change jobs regionally.

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