What if you could transform your interview anxiety
and use it to your advantage?
Well, I've gone to the Indeed career coaches
and I'm here to share four of their powerful tips
that you can immediately use to feel
more confident in an interview.
Be sure to stick around to the end
where I'll explain how to correct course
if you find yourself straying off and being
nervous in the interview room.
All right, let's get started.
Tip one is to visualize your success.
OK, I know this sounds cheesy to many people,
but it's actually very rational, if you think about it.
Anxiety often floods us with many mental images
of worst case scenarios and the only way
to really combat that if we want to fight off those images
is to show ourselves the opposite.
Imagine yourself winning.
Imagine yourself sitting dressed for success
across from an interviewer feeling confident,
delivering really strong answers.
And the trick here is in visualizing that success,
you have to convince yourself that you really are
the best person for the role.
Explore why that is.
That alone will help you in the interview,
even if you can't do this visualization exercise.
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All right, tip two is to fight the fear of being caught off
guard by preparing thoroughly.
Now, I will say that it's absolutely normal
to feel afraid of being blindsided in an interview
no matter how much you've done to prepare.
This fear often heightens when we
feel like we're walking into an interview room
and we feel like, oh, I could have done more.
So the way to combat this is to give yourself
a leg up by preparing thoroughly on a number of levels,
which I'll get into here.
It's highly recommended to conduct strong research
on the job, the company, and the interviewer
if you have that information.
Now, if you're in a time crunch and you really
feel like you have to prioritize one of those three,
I really recommend focusing on the job description,
because this is the opportunity that an employer takes
to explicitly tell you what they're
looking for from a candidate.
So review the job description, hone in on those keywords
and phrases that talk about the desired
accomplishments, experience and preferred and required
qualifications.
Now feeling prepared is about more than just research,
of course.
I always recommend if it's an in-person interview,
looking at the drive time, potential traffic,
considering where you're going to park
or how you're getting there.
And if it's a video interview or phone
interview, test your connections and make sure
you're in a calm and professional space
for that interview.
And in all cases, it's always useful to bring
at least two copies of any professional materials
that you'd like to have just for easy reference for both you
and the employer.
So the final key component of feeling really prepared
for an interview is to project a professional presence.
What I mean by that is two things.
The first is that we're dressing for the job we
want in clothes that still make us feel like us.
And if you're ever worried about over or under dressing,
check out the company's social feed.
If there's any behind the scenes looks
of what employees are wearing there on the day to day.
That's great, just take that up a notch in formality.
And if you can't find any of that information,
the best case is just to default to business casual.
The second thing I'm referring to here
is cultivating an air of professionally
that you feel strong in.
So if you're wondering what I mean by that,
think about professionals that you admire
or the traits that they're discussing
in the job description.
Things like approachable, calm, adaptable, respectful,
and remind yourself that that's what you are
and that that's the air that you're bringing
into the interview room.
If you're still feeling a bit nervous
after having taken all these steps, that
is perfectly normal, but it's the anxiety talking,
it really is.
So just critically combat that inner voice
by reminding yourself what you've done to prepare and know
that you can walk into the interview room
having given yourself your best shot by doing all you can do.
And more than that, remind yourself
as to why you really deserve this opportunity.
Again, if you have not convinced yourself that you are the best
person for this role, you cannot convince an employer of that.
So remind yourself about the compelling professional
offering that you provide and why you deserve this role.
Now, if you do still find yourself blindsided
or taken back in an interview, our next tip
will really help you.
But first, if you want more advice
on how to thoroughly prepare for an interview and research,
I'd recommend checking out this video about the best
pre-interview strategy.
Tip number three, there is power in taking a pause.
Now, let's face it, and I've been there before,
when an employer asks us a question,
we sometimes feel like we need to respond immediately.
And there's a reason for that.
We want to seem like we've prepared thoroughly
and have every answer to every question.
But our tendency to shy away from silence in an interview
can actually lead us down the wrong path.
First of all, it doesn't give us the time
to formulate a thoughtful answer as well as we
could if we'd taken a beat.
In our effort to seem prepared, we
can actually come across to the interviewer as nervous,
reactive rather than reflective, and even, in some cases,
afraid to take control of the interview room.
So if you're rushing for an interview
or you find yourself taken aback from an unexpected question,
remember the power of the pause.
You can always say, that is a really good question.
Let me think about that for a moment,
and take that moment to think.
This actually communicates thoughtfulness, confidence
and a willingness to control the pace of the dialogue.
And the same holds true for a question
that you don't understand or that you misheard.
You can always say, could you please repeat the question?
Or, can you clarify what you're saying here?
I really want to make sure I understand what you're asking.
These things at first might make us
feel like, oh, I'm being awkward or I'm being weak
by asking this, but in actuality, they communicate
a poise intelligence and a deliberateness
that a rushed response often lacks.
For more advice on what to avoid doing in an interview,
things like rushing, but we go further in depth,
check out this video right here.
Tip four is to remember to breathe.
Now, this might seem like another no-brainer tip,
but in reality, it's really important and pretty impactful.
Part of the symptoms of anxiety, if you're familiar with it,
is shallow, quick breathing.
And sometimes if we're creating that physical state
for ourselves, it can actually heighten and trick ourselves
into feeling even more anxious emotions than we were
feeling in the first place.
So I always recommend before going into an interview,
take a second and check in, breathe calmly.
There's so many great techniques out there.
One of them that I like is called box
breathing where you breathe in for a number of counts,
hold for that same number of counts,
and then exhale for that same number of counts.
But there's many, so just find what works for you.
Or keep it simple, just take some calm, deep breaths.
Remind your body, hey, this is no big deal and I've got this.
Now this also applies to the interview room.
Of course, in the interview room,
you're probably going to be too caught up intellectually
to be really consciously controlling your breathing,
but one of the best ways you can set yourself up
for great breathing in an interview room
is to sit up tall and straight.
Again, if we slump or if we shrink our bodies,
that actually compresses the lungs
and can make it harder to breathe, which again can just
make us more anxious.
So in moments of pause during the interview,
check in with yourself, make sure your shoulders are open,
you're standing tall like there's
a balloon pulling from the top of your head,
and check in with your breath.
If you have a moment every now and then, if there's a lull,
just make sure that you're breathing calmly
and that you feel like you're in control.
Now, as promised at the beginning,
I have a little piece of advice for what
to do if you feel like you've lost focus in your response
and you're sort of rambling in an interview.
What I'd recommend doing is just taking a moment,
take that pause, right?
And then recap what you've just said.
Basically hit restart on what that question was
and keep it concise.
So just press that reset button and know,
it's OK, basically, just to start over and then provide
a quick, short, impactful response.
All right, now let's do a quick recap of the five tips
I provided to help you confidently walk
into any interview room.
Step one is to visualize your success.
Fight those negative self images that anxiety
can provide by showing yourself images of success.
Make sure you've really convinced yourself that you're
the right person for the role.
Two is to fight the fear of being caught off guard
by preparing thoroughly.
Three is to leverage the power of the pause.
If we allow ourselves a second to think,
we can provide better responses and communicate
with a lot more poise.
Four is remember to breathe.
Don't allow yourself to breathe shallowly or hunch
over and restrict your lungs.
Make sure that you have good posture
and that will help you feel your confidence
throughout the interview.
And five, if you find yourself rambling or off track,
don't be afraid to just take a pause,
restart and recap your answer.
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like down below.
You can subscribe to our channel right
here and check out more interviewing tips
in this playlist right here.
And if you'd like some advice on how to answer the 10 trickiest
interview questions, check this video out right here.
Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next time.