In an effort to impress hiring managers, many job seekers neglect to master body language — one of the most important hot buttons for employers, The Wall Street Journal reports.

People rely on nonverbal cues such as posture and eye contact to evaluate others very quickly after an initial meeting, forming a first impression within 15 to 20 seconds, says Noah Zandan, president of Quantified Impressions, an Austin, Texas, communications-analytics firm. No matter how hard a person tries to perfect a presentation or job-interview answers, 90% of listeners’ first impressions of a speaker remain unchanged after hearing the content of his or her message, Zandan says.