4 Simple Gestures That Make Someone Appear High Status, According To A Career Coach
How to look poised, confident, powerful and competent, even if you feel the opposite.
Moose Photos | Pexels | dragana991 | Getty Images | Canva Pro You only get one chance to make a first impression, as the saying goes, and what that first impression says about you can be a make-or-break prospect in situations like business meetings or job interviews.
But what if you're a giant ball of nerves and anxiety? Can you "fake it till you make it" and still project poise and power even if you're anxious inside? Science says yes.
A career coach shared four gestures that make people appear high status in a job interview:
Grace McCarrick, a career coach and workplace expert, is an authority on the concept of "soft skills," the parts of our working lives that involve everything from human interaction and problem-solving to psychology and emotional intelligence. Basically, the non-technical, non-nuts-and-bolts part of work.
Even if we aren't necessarily adept at these particular skills, we are all always interacting with and assessing them, especially in job interview situations. One of the key ways they come into play is through status assessments. The status we project is a major part of the first impression a person forms of us.
Monkey Business Images | Canva Pro
"Whether you like it or not, status rules a lot of how we behave," McCarrick explained in a TikTok video on the subject. "Our brains are literally status detection machines." It's innately built into our brains to suss out whether the person we're interacting with is high or low status — where they're perceived to fall on the continuum of power, influence, and credibility.
"Status is what psychologists call an ultimate motivation, meaning it's a deep evolutionary cause of a lot of our beliefs and behaviors," McCarrick went on to say. It is even part of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, the famous (and somewhat controversial) theory of what every human being needs in order to achieve one's full potential and self-actualize.
And because status is such an intrinsic part of who we are, we not only give it major weight in a situation like a job interview, but we measure status almost immediately. A 2006 Princeton study found that it takes just one-tenth of a second to form a first impression, which includes a perception of our status.
So, how can you project high status even if you aren't the most powerful, influential person in the world? McCarrick said research has shown there are "certain actions and gestures that make people think someone else is high status." She shared four of them to add to your arsenal so that you can mold people's perceptions of you in your favor.
1. Being facially expressive
A 2024 study at Nottingham Trent University in Nottingham, U.K., for example, found that people who were more facially expressive were perceived to be more agreeable, easier to read and understand, and were more well-liked overall. They were also found to be better negotiators.
Thicha Satapitanon | Canva Pro
2. Not fidgeting
"People who touch themselves, fiddle with their hair, their clothes less, are seen as more high status," McCarrick explained. This is because fidgeting looks like nervous energy to those observing us and conveys anxiety and a lack of self-assuredness.
Psychologists say the overall message given off by fidgeting is "I'm not threatening" — definitely not an impression you want to give in a job interview.
3. Having a relaxed, open posture
Similar to fidgeting, relaxed and open body language conveys confidence and competence. Folding your arms across yourself, for example, conveys that you're closed off and perhaps defensive. Keeping your posture open and casual shows that you're relaxed and comfortable in your surroundings, which is perceived as not only confidence but also trustworthiness, according to psychologists.
mentatdgt | Canva Pro
4. Using a steady vocal tone
Obviously, speaking quickly and frenetically conveys anxiety and a lack of confidence, but scientific research has also found humans change the pitch of their voice depending on the perceived status of the person to whom they're speaking.
Raising the pitch conveys that you think the person is of higher status than you, whereas lowering your pitch conveys the opposite. Keeping the rhythm and tone of your voice in a steady, maybe even lower tone, will be a tell to an interviewer that you are a high-status person.
McCarrick used herself as an example of how she pulls this all together when she's in an interview or a meeting — coat off, hair pulled to the side or pulled back so there's no need to touch, a loose, casual posture with one arm up on the chair beside her, an even, modulated voice and plenty of expression in her face.
Roll it all together, and you're conveying that you're a person who's confident, isn't intimidated, and knows what they're talking about. And that's an image that just might have a job interviewer thinking they need you more than you need them.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.