REASON: Eye contact is a commonly used social queue when interviewing candidates for a job. Steady eye contact is often seen as a sign of confidence, engagement, and respect. It is also far more difficult for some people than for others to maintain eye contact, and it has nothing to do with their confidence, engagement or respect. For example, those with autism, anxiety disorders or seeing impairments may have a harder time maintaining eye contact (if they can do it at all). There are also cultures for which eye contact can be a sign of disrespect. Therefore, for jobs that do not require eye contact, rather than using eye contact as a proxy for traits such as confidence, engagement, and respect, focus on evaluating the traits needed to do the job. Â
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