First impressions don’t just count, they’re critical. A recent article by Business Insider looked at studies about how people responded to subliminal smiley or sad faces, before being shown unfamiliar Chinese characters and unsurprisingly, the effects were pretty consistent – people like smiley faces! This not-at-all-obvious conclusion does actually go a little further and they also found that in job interviews, first impressions can be a serious variable when it comes to selection time.

So, this is not really anything particularly new, but what can we do about it? The article makes a few suggestions, from a firm handshake (which we entirely agree with), to offering a cheeseburger (which we think might be a tad odd in an interview). The rest of the suggestions are a little on the obvious side, so we decided to conduct our own investigation to see if there are some tips we can provide – not just for interviews, but any kind of meeting.

First up, confidence. Yep, it’s the oldest one in the book, but that’s for a very good reason. So, even if you’re not 100% sure about the answer to “what percentage conversions did you get on that project?”, be convincing about your reply. You could even marry some of this bravado to a little honesty, with the always convincin