Guide to Mirroring Signs

Mirroring is a technique that trainers introduce to audiences as a practical way to alter the behaviour of others. They present this at one-day conferences and leave the audience to try out the technique by themselves.

Unfortunately, a few of these trainees will use mirroring at interview. Sometimes it’s done successfully, but other times it’s a complete and abject failure. When it does fail the interviewer prides himself on spotting the mirroring technique.

But what about the times when you didn’t spot the technique? What about the times when the candidate was so good that you couldn’t see past the presentation?.

Here are the key components to review at interview:

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Check for your twin

Carefully observe the candidate’s ‘body language’ and put a note in your interview sheet, or even a picture, to remind you to notice it. It’s a good idea anyway to help you understand and remember the candidate better. From the point of view of mirroring, look at your facial expressions, eye movements, hand position, gestures and any other body movements. Look at his. Do we have a match? If you dressed him up in your clothes could you be looking in a mirror?

I recommend: http://www.ere.net/articles/db/0E41324354ED4A52AC271B40B99A36CA.asp

Watch for opportunists

Other candidates will successfully mirror but only when they see an opportunity. The training that most receive is not deep enough for them to mirror all the time. Getting a bit of an understanding of what they are learning about interviewing, mostly online, can help you here (see recommended website). This subtle mirroring can be very difficult to detect and if you think you see it I would suggest you hire the person for a sales role!.

I recommend: http://www.quintcareers.com/interview_mistakes.html  

Watch out for your home accent

Your home accent is an easy target and one that you need to get a handle on. It's amazing how many of us are unaware that we have an accent. All of us do. Mirroring candidates use similar words and phrases as the interviewer and this can be very obvious if you not originally from the city or country where you work, or if you are just not from the candidate's city. For example, if you are from the UK and the candidate says ‘Good Morning, nice to meet you? How do you do?’, and the person is not from the UK, you might assume that he has learned British English, as opposed to American English. But you might also want to consider the possibility of mirroring. If the candidate says ‘G’day’ and you are Australian living in London then it’s a dead cert. You’re being had. Or maybe not.

I recommend: http://www.life-with-confidence.com/understanding-yourself.html 

Pace, rythm and style

Comedy is said to be all in the timing. The pace of delivery is a big factor in the impact of a comedian's act. So note the pace of the candidates speech. Is it high, medium or low? How about yours? Do we have a match? Watch for changes in the candidate’s spoken rhythm and style. Note the pace at the beginning of the interview and later on. You can even take it another step. Given enough practice you can include tone, rhythm, and pronunciation in your analysis. If you interview four times a day it will soon become automatic.

I recommend: http://www.answers.com/topic/mirroring-psychology 

Take it further

Popeye's favorite expression was "I yam what I yam!" and it looks like he was on to something. Watch out for people who talk ‘wrong’. Practical engineering people don’t talk creative and creative types don’t behave controlled and measured. If there appears to be something wrong, then there probably is. To some extent, people should be what you expect them to be.

I recommend: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024162/ 

And finally.........

Done well, mirroring can have a subtle but not insignificant influence on how you see a candidate. This is important in terms of hiring success because the influence of mirroring is going to be different for different people. The next person interviewing the candidate may not have the same interview experience as you. He may not be as susceptible to the mirroring techniques or he may just be too hard to copy because of age, physical size etc. If you are getting a few odd candidate assessment mismatches with your client or internal customers you might want to look at mirroring in more detail.

I recommend: http://english.talent-software.com/?p=170