Candidate compliments before job interviews boost performance

Complimenting your candidates could have a positive impact on their future chances of success, according to new research.

Researchers at Harvard Business School mock interviewed 123 participants to analyse the effect of compliments at work. They found that those who had been given positive feedback by friends prior to the job interview, performed better than those who hadn’t.  

The study stated: “Conceptually, this feedback serves as an appreciation jolt – a surprising event that disrupts expectations for the future, induces positive emotion, and also may engage physiological changes.”

The positive feedback “may [also] offer recipients a different narrative about themselves by helping them see the impact they are capable of making on others".