Applying 3 lessons from a successful political campaign to your job interviews

1. Make Eye (Contact). Nonverbal communication counts. What you say is impacted by how you say it. Whenever you present, look the people in your audiences straight in the eye. American Airlines is currently running a magazine ad that reads, “Eye contact. Your most underrated skill set. Sometimes, the more business you do face-to-face, the more business actually gets done.”

2. Speak Affirmatively. Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative in all your verbal formations. Take the high road. Avoid the bashing. Heed the old saying, “You get more bees with honey than with vinegar.”

3. Answer Succinctly. This will be the subject of a future blog, but for now, let us turn for advice to the investment sector, an area as competitive as politics. David Bellet, the Founder of Crown Advisors International, one of Wall Street’s most successful investment firms, often made challenging questions a standard part of his due diligence of new companies. “When I ask questions,” said David, “I don’t really have to have the full answer because I can’t know the subject as well as the presenter. What I look for is whether the presenter has thought about the question, been candid, thorough, and direct and how the presenter handles himself or herself under stress.”