Six powerful ways to be confident and calm your nerves before a job interview.
- Boost yourself
Identify the top skills, strengths and overall value that you can bring to a company. Rather than focusing only on the particular company that you are interviewing for, It is a good idea to also remind yourself of your value as a person and a professional in your relevant job market. That way you have a better picture of what you can offer companies in general. Focusing on yourself and your value just before an interview is a great way to boost your confidence.
Also look at your achievements and what your last jobs or experiences have taught you. Think about how you have grown and the challenges that you have overcome to get you where you are. Even if you don’t have a much working experience, think about your personality traits which make you a valuable employee or extra-curricular activities, sports, courses and anything else that you have accomplishments or character building experiences. You should also be thinking about this even if you are a senior manager.
It’s amazing how many people I have met in an interview that didn’t realise their self-worth in a job interview. For example, I met many customer service candidates who didn’t realise how ideal they would be to employers based purely on their personalities. Don’t underestimate the importance of personality in a job interview! They were excellent and they didn’t even know it. Start by making a list of all your qualities and see how you feel about yourself by the end.
- Listen to positivity success affirmations
There is a lot of research that shows how affirmations can have a huge impact on your success in all aspects of life, including job interviews. By listening to affirmations you subconsciously embed positive and motivating thoughts into your brain which make you really feel that you can achieve whatever you want. It’s something I do on a regular basis to boost my confidence and get me feeling inspired. There are plenty of videos that you can find on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFNL_xoCFTg&t=1717s (I like this one)
You can also try visualisations whereby you visualise that you have already got the job you want and are doing the job. This works through the law of attraction whereby you attract what you see to be true. Similarly, motivational speakers and talks can be really inspiring. There are many on Tedtalks. Here is one for example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vl6wCiUZYc. Give them a try!
- Meditate
Meditation offers a huge array of benefits and it is one thing that you can do before a job interview to help you to calm your nerves, feel relaxed and more centered. Even if you don’t believe in the spiritual side of meditation, the act of just taking the time to breathe in and out profoundly will help to relax you in the interview. This should be done the night before or on the morning of the interview.
- Remember that you are already partly over the line!
Yes, that’s right! The company has invited to see you for an interview because they liked your resume and therefore already have a general understanding of your skill set. Otherwise they wouldn’t be wasting their time. And remember, they want you to be successful because that will make their job easier. So it’s good to remind yourself that the odds are already in your favour before you have even started speaking!
- If it doesn’t work out, it isn’t meant to be
This is a really important point to know in anything you do in life, including job interviews. As long as you do your best, then that is all you can expect of yourself. If you’re best isn’t enough then it’s not that you have done anything wrong but that it just isn’t the right match. Having this kind of mindset can also really help you in a job interview because it stops you from coming across as desperate or overly eager. You need to have a certain level of confidence and self-assurance that says, “I know my worth and no matter what, I will be successful”.
- Turn your anxiety into excitement
If you are someone who gets really anxious before job interviews, and are perhaps prone to getting panic attacks, a great trick I learned was that you could turn that anxious feeling into excitement by telling your mind that you are excited rather than fearful. If you think about it, anxiousness and excitement are very similar in the way they react within your body. So when you feel yourself start to feel anxious before an interview, start talking to yourself. Tell yourself, “This is going to be great, I can’t wait to get in there and show them what I’ve got”.
Daniela Prochnik is an English Teacher and Expert Interview Coach and with over 4 years of experience as a Recruitment Consultant at one of the largest international recruitment agencies in the world. For personalised coaching for an upcomming interview you can book an interview preparation class her.
January 31, 2017
