Recruiter Stories #6: The Handshake - A Limp Rag
Consider it professional cretinism, but a recruiter begins assessing a candidate from the very first, even initially accidental or insignificant, moment of contact - how an email is written, grammar, familiarity or excessive stiffness, a resonant or expressionless voice on the phone, entering through the door, nimbleness or clumsiness, body language, eye contact and... the handshake.
I cannot - simply cannot - shake the impression (but perhaps I shouldn't) that a feeble, limp or excessively delicate handshake says nothing good about a person's decisiveness, backbone or self-confidence. Especially if the owner of such a handshake is a man.
Sometimes there is a pleasant and open conversation (I prefer to call interviews "meetings and conversations"), but at the end - a limp rag. And then it seems, damnit, why did I even extend my hand in greeting. I would have been better off without such indirect supplementary information. But then how else would one say goodbye and thank them for the conversation?!
I relish large, strong and vital handshakes (but not a vice grip - don't misunderstand). It seems like any moment now he'll take off his jacket, roll up his sleeves and start digging. There's a doer!
In the business world there are many such full handshakes. For the most part they are superficial and formal, and not with women (for some reason there is such a prejudice in Latvia). Mostly it is I who first extends a hand before or after a one-on-one business meeting. If there is a public event, then I don't push myself forward - we stick to a polite nod of the head and a verbal greeting.
Interesting - how much information can one consciously read in a brief handshake?
N.B. All stories are based on real events. The names of the characters in the stories are not mentioned or have been changed to preserve anonymity.
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