Remember That You Are Already Partly Over The Line
Yes, thats 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 skillset. Otherwise they wouldnt be wasting their time. And remember, they want you to be successful because that will make their job easier. So its good to remind yourself that the odds are already in your favour before you have even started speaking!
Enter Confidently And Break The Ice
Give the impression of self-confidence and it will give you confidence. Smile and give the interviewer a strong handshake. Before the interview begins, try to break the ice in a natural way. Complimenting the office space is a positive way to do it. Alternatively, you could comment on the weather or your journey.
What Job Interview Anxiety Looks Like
Interview anxiety can manifest itself in lots of noticeable ways, from shortness of breath and blushing to an intense need to use the loo at an inconvenient moment.
The pressure to impress prospective employers often evokes such responses, but mastering nervous urges and turning them to your advantage is not always straightforward.
While a job interview would hardly be classed as a dangerous situation, it is an unfamiliar one and one where we feel the need to be on guard and to give the right answers. As we start to feel nervous or anxious, many changes start to happen in the body almost all of them subconsciously.
- In response to the release of hormones such as adrenaline, your blood pressure increases and breathing speeds up preparing you for muscular effort, i.e. the fight or flight.
- For most people that is as far as it goes and they feel energised and ready.
- For others the feelings can be more intense and they may experience some shakiness and muscles may become tense
- The palms of the hands and feet may become either sweaty or cold and clammy.
What you need to remember is that all of these reactions are perfectly normal and naturalWalking the tightrope of interview nerves requires practice and preparation, and there are some steps you can take to get ahead of the pack.
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You Cannot Be Perfect:
Even if you prepare well and so everything to make this interview perfect, the fact remains that mistakes are bound to happen.
You must remember they are not looking for someone who is perfect instead they are looking for someone who is flexible enough to adjust to any situation and is resilient too.
Once you steer clear of the perfection thought from your mind you will be able to perform much better.
Think Of The Interview As A Conversation Not An Interrogation
Interviews are often as much about finding out whether youre a good fit for the company as they are about skills and experience. So instead of solely focussing on all of the difficult interview questions that might come up, never underestimate the importance of compatibility.
With this in mind, try to act naturally whilst maintaining a good level of professionalism. Avoid reeling off a sequence of memorised interview answers. Instead try to remember at least five skills or areas of experience that make you a right for the role, and weave them into your answers naturally. It is also a good idea to research the company thoroughly before your interview.
After all, its a two-way conversation not an episode of Question Time. And, lets face it, nobody wants to interview a robot.
However, there is also such a thing as too natural. A friendly chat to get to know each other is fine, but you probably shouldnt be sharing intimate details about your soon-to-be ex just yet.
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Accepting Your Anxiety Helps
A 2015 study found that strategies involving reappraisal and acceptance were more effective than suppression to regulate anxiety during a simulated job interview. This indicates that learning to accept you will be anxious, and reframing anxiety in your mind, will be more helpful than trying to ignore your anxiety.
Make An Interview Cheat Sheet
Just as important as preparing for the worst is preparing, period. The more you have set to go, the less you have to worry about. So, start a note on your phone and jot down all the necessitiesthe building address, the hiring managers name, the time, the three main things youd like to get across in the interview, your questions, whatever else you can think of. Then, pull that baby out right before you get called in and youll feel so confident youve got it all covered.
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Smart Tips To Calm Interview Nerves: 2021 Ultimate Guide
So youve got the call or email telling you to come for interview for the job youve always wanted andyou panic!
You break into a sweat, your heart races, you ask yourself, what will they ask, how should I answer, what will I wear.
Our first piece of advice is to stay calm.
We all know that Job interviews can be immensely stressful, whether you are a first timer or a veteran. It is perfectly normal to feel anxious about the experience, but letting your nerves get the better of you and getting into a panic might jeopardise your chances of success.
Know Who You’re Meeting
Finding out how many people youre likely to be meeting and who they are can help reduce your nerves too. Knowing if its a one-to-one meeting or a panel format can affect the way you prepare, for example. And if you find out a bit about the people youre to meet for instance, by looking at their LinkedIn profiles you can get a flavour of the sort of questions theyre likely to ask, as well as develop ideas for interesting small talk to help you build rapport with them.
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How To Stay Calm During A Job Interview
Arming yourself with answers to likely questions and researching your potential employer goes a long way toward calming nerves before a job interview. But even the most prepared candidates can get butterflies when they hit the interview room.
The ability to stay composed, however, may make or break the meeting. Calmness demonstrates poise, instills confidence, and promotes the clear-headedness necessary for thinking on your feet.
Easier said than done? Not when you take to heart these tips to stay calm during a job interview:
Use Your Stress As Adrenaline
Nervousness and adrenaline are highly correlatedthats why studies show that getting pumped up instead of calmed down before public speaking produces better results.
So if youre shaking and your bloods rushinggood. Go with it. As Muse writer and consultant , By reframing your nervous energy as excited energy, you can still feel amped upjust in a way that helps you perform better instead of a way that hinders you.
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How To Relax Before An Interview
Relaxing before an interview is important if you want to do well. You want to use those minutes before your interview to feel confident and focus on what you want to say, so you can come out of the interview knowing that you have done all you can do to get the job. In this article, we provide some tips to help you feel at ease before your interview.
Preparing For An Interview 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 centred. Even if you dont 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.
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How To Stop Shaky Hands
If youve got a nervous shake in your hands, a great tip Robin Kermode suggests clenching your thigh and buttocks muscles. When we focus on squeezing and tensing these muscles, we can regain control and stop our shaky hands.
This will also make you feel and appear more confident and the muscle tensing going unnoticed by the interviewer.
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Could squeezing your buttocks or reciting a nursery rhyme help you beat interview nerves? Here are some more unusual ways to keep calm under pressure
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If you can tell a story or a joke around the kitchen table then you can do it in a job interview. However, often the nerves and pressure of an interview situation can make us act differently. Our body seems to behave in weird ways and the sound coming out of our mouth doesn’t seem to be our usual one. If we don’t feel and sound like our normal selves then we will want the whole uncomfortable experience to end. To stop nerves getting the better of you, here are some tips and exercises to help you nail those interviews:
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If Youve Got An Internet Connection Library Card Or Access To A Bookstore And A Few Minutes To Spare Youre Bound To Find A Host Of Articles And Resources On Common Relaxation Techniques From Yoga To Meditation Even A Few Minutes Spent The Morning Of Your Interview Can Go A Long Way Towards Collecting Your Thoughts And Calming Your Nerves Having A Solid Routine In Place Is A Commonly Suggested Technique For Relaxation Prep And Plan Your Day Beforehand From Your Breakfast To Transportation To What Youll Be Wearing And Watch Your Confidence Soar5 Remember Your Strengths
As we previously mentioned, you wouldnt have been invited in for an interview in the first place if you didnt have strong qualities as a candidate for the position. Spend a few minutes making a list of your positive professional skills and traits and compare them to the job listing for the position. Focus on these qualities and the aspects that you feel help you stand out from the candidate crowd. If you have a mentor or former trusted colleague, feel free to ask them for feedback on what they felt were your strengths. Having someone else recognize youre amazing can go a long way towards quelling nerves from lack of confidence on interview day.
Focus On Your Breathing
Right before the interview, take a mindful moment so you can relax and achieve a clear state of mind. Breathing exercises and meditation are highly effective ways of keeping anxiety at bay. An article from the University of Michigan explains, Deep breathing is one of the best ways to lower stress in the body. This is because when you breathe deeply, it sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax. The brain then sends this message to your body. Those things that happen when you are stressed, such as increased heart rate, fast breathing, and high blood pressure, all decrease as you breathe deeply to relax. A 2011 review article in Health Science Journal compiled some of the top health benefits of deep breathing techniques, these included:
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Relaxation And Confidence Boosting Techniques
Power Posing .VisualizationBreathinganxiety-reducing breathing techniquesPacing YourselfRedirecting Questionsyour strengthsIf you follow our advice and put in your preparation time, we promise that your nerves wont sabotage you during your moment of opportunity. Feel the fear and ace your interview anyway!Google offers their own suggestions for the nervous job candidate:
How To Deal With Job Interview Stress
So, youve finally landed yourself an interview for your dream job.
Chances are youre feeling slightly apprehensive about the big day, as every potential interview nightmare plays out in your head.
What if I forget everything Ive ever learned when Im asked a question? What if I trip up on the way in? What if I get lost on the way there, I forget my umbrella, get soaked and somehow lose a shoe? OK, these may be unlikely scenarios. But that doesnt stop you from worrying.
Weve already covered how to deal with stress during your job search. But here are some of the best ways to battle interview nerves and make sure you stay confident, calm and collected on the big day
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Use Your Stress To Your Advantage
Remember we mentioned channelling your nerves for positivity? Many public speakers will acknowledge their feelings of nerves and stress before going on stage. While stress and adrenaline are highly correlated, you can tell yourself Im excited instead of Im calm, just like those public speakers to channel the extra nerves into being pumped and energetic for the interview.
Reframe your nervous energy into excited energy- make a negative feeling positive one. This will help you perform much better.
Give Yourself A Reality Check
When youre so focused on your interview performance, it can be easy to forget the reality of the situation. Take a step back and evaluate the meeting for what it is: two or three professionals sitting down together to discuss whether or not this job is a good fit for you. The people who are interviewing you are not inherently better than you, and while they may be evaluating you, you should also assess them. It is a two-way street and you have more power than you realize.
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Remember Interviews Are Just Conversations
At the end of the day, a job interview is simply a conversation between you and the recruiter. Shifting your mindset to this way of thinking may help downplay your nerves. “Visualize the interviewer as a multidimensional person, who is connecting to you not just as a potential job candidate but as a parent, friend, colleague, peer,” said Romanoff.
You’re not only being evaluated on your qualifications for the position but also whether you will be a fit for their team and company culture. There’s no better way to do this than by being yourself. “To make a connection you cannot be too timid or box yourself into a one-dimensional relationship of just viewing the interviewer as your boss,” she says. “Instead, try to connect with the interviewer on a human level.”
Keep Your Body Healthy
Keeping your body healthy and energized can help you stay focused, which may calm your nerves. Try to eat a healthy dinner the night before and make yourself a nutritional breakfast the morning of your interview.
Go to bed early and try to get at least eight to nine hours of sleep so you wake up feeling refreshed. This helps you look and feel prepared for the interview. Bring a bottle of water with you to stay hydrated while answering numerous interview questions. 
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Arrive At The Interview Early
Arriving at the interview on time can be a critical factor in looking professional to a potential supervisor. Get there approximately 15 minutes before it begins so you can relax and rehearse your talking points in your mind. If you leave early enough, you will have plenty of time for unexpected occurrences to happen on your way to the interview like accidentally traveling to the wrong location or running into traffic delays. An early arrival may also impress employers and prove your dedication to the role.
Smile Like You Mean It
Want to be cheerful on the big day? Force yourself to smile. Cant do it on your own? Put a pencil between your teeth. Like power poses, smiling tricks your brainthe physical act, even if its forced, will prompt you to actually feel happier. Its a neat little pick-me-up from your brain for when youre feeling a bit down.
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Have A List Of Questions Prepared For After The Interview
After the interview, the employer may ask if you have any questions about the role or company. It’s possible that your nerves could cause your brain to have trouble thinking of questions. To handle this, have a list of questions ready to ask your interviewer. These can be questions about the company culture, supervisors you may work with or what the daily responsibilities of the role entail.
You’ve Got This How To Feel At Ease Before A Job Interview
If a recruiter has invited you in for a job interview, congratulations! This is a big win in the job-hunting process that you should be proud of. While an interview does bring you one step closer to landing a job, it’s also something that can have you feeling nervous and on edge. The good news is this is completely normal, and you’re not alone. “Anxiety is a normal response to a new opportunity,” said licensed clinical psychologist Jennifer B. Rhodes, PsyD. She says learning how to trigger the body’s natural relaxation response aka turning off our fight or flight response is an invaluable skill in this situation.
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