Making a good first impression is always important in any meeting, no matter if we’re talking about business or casual encounters. What many men don’t realize is the fact that the first impression is made in the first seconds of a meeting. The handshake you put out can also say many things about you and your personality. In the following paragraphs we will offer some of the personal traces that can be given away by a handshake. Knowing them will help you both improve your own handshake and read the person you’re shaking hands with. Confidence One of the most obvious things that can be figured out from a handshake is confidence. A confident man will always look the other person in the eyes during a handshake. He will have a firm grip, without going too strong and he will show off a mild smile. Regardless what other sources might tell you, the handshake won’t give out the fact that you are an introvert. You can be introvert and confident at the same time and it won’t affect your first impression in any way. Honesty Like it or not, you can’t be the ultimate liar, even if you have to. Features of your body language, like your handshake, will quickly give you away. It’s all about the movement of the hand during a handshake. People who have something to hide will usually look away during a handshake. Those who look straight into the other’s man eyes are concentrating too much on the eye contact in an attempt to avoid any doubts of dishonesty. They will be focused so much on the eye contact that they’ll forget about the handshake and their hand will just stay there, not moving at all. Superiority or inferiority Have you ever heard the saying: “he has the upper hand”? It’s a 2000 year old saying and it has its roots in the Roman version of a handshake. If a person twists your palm upwards during the handshake, he wants to be the superior one. This trick is very easy to reproduce. However, if the man you’re shaking hands with knows about it, he will figure out what you’re up to and that’s not helpful in a good first impression- especially to an employer. Are you faking it? It’s easy to judge a man by his handshake, but at the same time, it’s very easy to fake it. Usually, people who fake their handshake will pull out their hand fast after a handshake, closing it and sometimes even hiding it in their pocket. Always be the last one to let go during a handshake. If you ever watched politicians shaking hands, you probably saw that they take forever to do it. That’s because neither of them wants to be the one to let go first, since it’s perceived as a sign of weakness. Maybe at the moment it happens, you don’t pay so much attention to your handshake; but when you start working on improving it, you will notice how bad you are at it. Pay attention to these little details every time you shake hands, practice on your peers without telling them, and in short time you will be able to shake hands like an alpha male.