HEADWAY PIONEER IN TRAINING IN APPLIED SYNERGOLOGY

NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION, so important and so little visible.

Written by Victor Carulla, Managing Partner in Headway Executive Search 

Headway is the first and only Headhunting firm in Spain to train its management team and consultants in Synergology® applied by the hand of Eva García Ruiz, Managing Partner of Instituto Español de Sinergología®.

To date, there is no other firm in the human resources consulting environment, especially in the field of executive search and selection, that has obtained such training.

Based on  a study conducted in October 2021 which involved more than 500 managers, reflected the clear need for systems that would help interviewers to get to know the candidates being interviewed better, especially when they are interviewed through a screen. One of the most revealing data from the study was that 79% (making this one of the main conclusions of the study*) highlighted the difficulty in reading non-verbal communication.

Headway has always gone the extra mile to provide excellent service beyond its clients’ expectations. For this reason, in this ever-changing and post-pandemic world, where interviews are mostly conducted through a screen, and where it is more necessary than ever to know better and more thoroughly each candidate that is interviewed, the decision was made to initiate a series of training cycles in order to have all the people who are part of the Headway team with the necessary tools to go further, and to ensure each of the candidates presented to their clients.

Headway is a firm of excellence in the provision of executive search services, and for this reason it has been trained with the best team in Spain (and in the world) in applied Synergology techniques and thus be able to see where others do not see, to reach where others do not reach, and to finish what many others leave half finished.

 

Executive search firms train in nonverbal communication to improve job interviews Online

• In order to see what others do not see in candidates, Executive Search experts are trained in the observation and analysis of body and facial language to better understand their interlocutors, even through screens.

In pre-pandemic times, the mere arrival at a job interview offered a lot of information about a candidate: the way he/she presented him/herself at the reception desk, the way he/she greeted or his/her posture in the chair, gave signs of his/her attitude towards the application.

This information, which was part of the non-verbal communication, was diminished with the irruption of online interviews, which, undoubtedly, are here to stay.

The question then is how to compensate for the information that was lost when face-to-face interviews were left aside? Four firms in Latin America and Spain took on this challenge, training their teams in Applied Synergology.

The body does nothing by chance

Body reading is not as simplistic as some of the advice circulating on the Internet. The objective of this discipline is to identify chains of gestures and see them in context, contrasting them through questions.

In Spain, specifically from Madrid,  Eva García, director of the Institute of Applied Synergology® explains that “we see body signals as a warning, not as an absolute truth. The body reacts before we are conscious, if there is a movement it is for a reason and it is there where it is possible to better read what your body expresses and the coherence or not with your verbal language, which helps the interviewer to better target your questions”.

In the selection interviews we control the questions

This information is especially accessible in a job interview, as the candidate is willing to be asked questions. “We are the first and only firms to train your team in Synergology®” he adds from Barcelona.  Víctor Carulla from Headway, who adds “in 2021 we conducted a study of more than 500 managers, who expressed a clear need for systems that help them to know interviewees better, especially when it is done through a screen. One of the most revealing data from the study was that 79% highlighted the difficulty in reading non-verbal communication, and now our teams have a new way to better analyze and understand candidates, improving interview techniques and taking another step forward in the excellence in the service we provide to our clients, but also to all the people we interact with, whether they are candidates or clients.”

From Panamá, Alyssa Lince from Arden & Price, adds that “learning about the meaning of these non-verbal movements allows us to better connect with candidates, even though the job interview is online, this reading of gestures facilitates a more human and personal approach”.

For its part, Gloria Sotomayor, of the Mexican North Hunters, He emphasizes, “If the way of interviewing has changed, we also have to adapt and keep learning. Synergology allows us to see life as in a movie… with subtitles”.

In Chile Claudia Montedónico from HR Burô explains that “this allows our consultants to have more tools to read the candidate in an online conversation. Identifying, for example, if they are moving closer or further away from the screen, could tell us if they are interested. They can also see whether or not their hand movements are in line with what they are saying to know if they are being spontaneous”.

The training is acquired with practice and allows to enhance active listening in online job interviews, although it applies to all communication situations, whether remote or face-to-face.

You can see the complete interview that the prestigious Human Resources magazine made to IESF partners here.