Even the Brad Pitts and Angelina Jolies of the world can’t get everything they want on looks alone. Sure, some of that physical attractiveness counts, but what counts even more is your subliminal body language. Even if people don’t realize it, body language is what creates the vibes people love. These five moves will get a potential employer hooked on you in one sitting.

1. Maintain Good Eye Contact
Eye contact is huge. Imagine talking to someone who never looked at you, not even once. Rather, he scanned the room with his eyes—the walls, the floor, the ceiling—anything but you. Would you feel like he was listening? Even an unusually long look in the other direction would throw the whole conversation off.

Good eye contact establishes rapport. The listener should be giving more eye contact than the person speaking, as if receiving the information not simply by listening, but through sight as well, which is what the body language should convey.

Be careful, though; being too intense can have the opposite effect. Try to maintain good contact throughout about 70 percent of the conversation. Gentleman, the ladies are a lot better about making eye contact when listening, so if you’re having issues, watch the way they do it. Many have it down to an art.

2. Posture: Not the Time to Practice Your Gangster Lean
A confident, able individual has good posture, and a slouch creates the impression that you are unorganized, unambitious, and undisciplined. Good posture says a lot about someone, so this is something you should work on long before you walk into an interview. Use posture exercises to learn how to master this skill.

Also, a good listener leans towards the speaker, as if trying to get closer. This is a temporary submissive gesture to ease the exchange of ideas. Don’t get so far up in your interviewer’s grill that she can diagnose your halitosis; just lean forward a bit as if making a conscious effort to hear her words.

When it’s your turn to speak, remain in a more neutral position. Don’t lean back as if you own the place or you might seem unnecessarily arrogant. Sit up straight and save the leaning for when you’re listening.

3. Nod Your Head
Keeping your chin up and your head level is a good way to convey inner confidence. When you’re listening, tilt your head slightly, and as long as you agree with what your interviewer is saying, give an occasional nod to show that you’re following along. If you don’t agree with something, be careful about nodding to show you’re listening, because it’s generally regarded as a signal of consensus.

This is another area where women do better than men. It really does pay to watch a woman’s body language at work, fellas. They’re much better at expressing themselves physically than we are. And they’re fabulous listeners.

Watch a female social butterfly at work. Great eye contact, the nodding head, and leaning in toward the speaker—they seem to have it down to an art, but it simply comes naturally to them.

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