Regardless of level, education, field, industry, experience or age, the overwhelming majority of American job seekers are apprehensive about interviewing. It’s part of a human being’s DNA to want acceptance from others.
Nobody likes to be rejected or judged, though it’s a necessary part of interviewing. However, the ones that dislike it the most use that disdain as a driver and it forces them work harder.
Without a doubt, successful interviewing takes place well before meeting the hiring manager. Our recruiters hope the following tips will assist.
1. Throw out the idiom, “practice makes perfect.” Practice makes nervousness and kills confidence. In reality, job seekers who frequently interview do so because they encounter excessive rejection. This hurts confidence and optimism which erodes interviewing performance.
The phrase is meant to be optimistic and spur resiliency. Both are traits which our recruitment professionals encourage a job seeker to obtain. However, part of becoming resilient and optimistic is taking yourself out of situations that can potentially erode the aforementioned two traits.
Meeting with a hiring manager or recruiter without a clearly defined goal is asking for trouble. It’s more effective to stay home and hone your skills through studying relevant business theories. Interviewing is not a “learn on the job” type of education.
Among other flaws with practicing live is that all employers have very unique hiring criteria, personalities, biases, questions and HR processes. Past interviewing experiences do teach to an extent, but they also can mislead.
Begin to adapt the phrase, “preparation makes perfect.”
2. Get along then and only then will you go a long way. Deliver during the interview and, when the time comes you’ll get everything you want. In the end, it’s the most high maintenance job seekers who end up losing. These individuals are already negotiating salary before the interview process begins.
Often, these are the people who let setbacks such as a cancelled interview stop their momentum. Due to lack of discipline, their mind becomes impulsive, restless, emotional and irregular in its action.
Instead, it’s the patient, yet ambitious people who are favored by employers. These are the interviewees who perceive minor setbacks such as the aforementioned as mere incidents that need to be overcome before a goal can be reached.
3. Learn how to focus. Through concentration a person is able to collect his mental and physical energies into the interview. This is as opposed to the individual who lets his or her brain wander from topic to topic.
Concentration will mitigate nervousness and clear any negative thoughts during interviewing. Moreover, it will foster creative thinking and will enable an interviewee to regulate bodily movements that promote nervousness. Among other things, strong posture conveys strength, competency and confidence – all of which are factors that are enticing to hiring managers or recruitment professionals.
Concentration can be improved through restraining impulsive and emotional state of minds such as anger, passion, excitement, fretfulness, etc. It also helps to associate with those persons that are steady, calm, controlled and contrastive.
In the End
Regardless of past experiences, it is always possible to turn around one’s ability to impress hiring managers and recruiters. Along with the above strategies, set firm goals, relentlessly improve upon your knowledge, stay positive, yet realistic and learn to enjoy interviewing. When you seek out the positives in anything, you benefit tremendously.
