Chattanooga: Get a grip new motto for job seekers

Hunting for jobs in an employers’ market means job seekers need to get a grip — literally.

A new study suggests prospective employees who have firm handshakes are more likely to win over prospective employers. The findings show a good handshake is as important as what potential employees wear or how they look during interviews, according to a University of Iowa study.

“This is a tight market for jobs right now, and employers are going to be able to hire the cream of the crop. Applicants need to be in shipshape,” said Deborah Hester, resource coordinator in the Tennessee Career Center at the Chattanooga office of the Tennessee Department of Labor.

The Iowa professors’ study, which will appear in September’s Journal of Applied Psychology, monitored 98 college students nearing graduation as they participated in mock interviews. The study tracked opinions of the interviewers. First impressions were a big part of the employers’ overall opinion, amounting to about 20 percent of the evaluation, the study found.

That first-blush evaluation includes dressing well and showing confidence, which according to the study’s author, is what a strong handshake does.

“Employers make up their minds very quickly, sometimes in the first few minutes of the interview,” said study leader Dr. Greg Stewart, associate professor of management and organizations at the University of Iowa. “There is a big first-impression effect. People who give a good first impression might get a pass even if they don’t know all the answers, but if you have a bad first impression there is a big hill to climb.”

Good handshakes mean grabbing the full palm of the hand, having a strong grip, with good up-and-down vigor, holding the handshake for an appropriate amount of time and, perhaps most importantly, making eye contact during the handshake, he said.

“What we found was that extroverted, outgoing people have better handshakes, and to employers that probably means they do other things better,” Dr. Stewart said. “Certainly this matters in sales and business.”

Both men and women offer weak handshakes, said Jean Dake, director of placement at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, but women are often the biggest offenders. That’s backed up by the Iowa research.

“On average, women have a weaker handshake,” Dr. Stewart said. “But they usually get just as high interview marks. That’s because they do other things to make up for that. They are better at engaging, listening.”

But female participants in the study got tremendous marks if they offered a strong handshake, he said.

“Women who do this well really impressed our interviewers,” Dr. Stewart said. “They got a lot more benefit.”

Ronald Harris, manager of corporate work force diversity for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, said having a good handshake and eye contact often can set an applicant apart.

“If I’m interviewing five people and No. 3 has a good handshake and good eye contact and the others don’t, I’m going to remember that person,” Mr. Harris said. “If all things are equal in qualifications, that interview can’t go wrong with a good handshake.”

That’s why Ms. Dake makes students practice shaking hands.

“We do it with each other,” she said. “We stress that a good, firm handshake matters.”

She said some students overlook appearance and think that, if they are simply qualified and knowledgeable, they will be hired.

“But it’s important to look and act the part, too,” Ms. Dake said. “On the other side of that, you can’t look the part and then not be prepared.”

Ms. Hester said her career center serves a wide range of potential employees, but she gives them all the same advice about first impressions.

“We get everything from homeless people to those with six-figure incomes,” she said. “I tell them it starts from they get out of their car. You never know who is watching you while you are waiting. You want to always look prepared.”