The prospect of interviewing for a job and the build-up to it can be nerve-racking. Most people will dedicate 90% to 95% of their interview preparation to devising and revising answers to interview questions.
Very little time is used to prepare psychologically and physically and this is a major mistake. This is because your interview success will also be a result of how you portray yourself.
You can actually prepare your interview answers in a very efficient, effective and structured way. Allowing you to devote more time to not just what you say but how you say it.
You Can Win Or Lose The Room In Minutes
It has often been said that hiring managers will often know if a candidate is suitable or not from less than 5 minutes they are in the room.
A lack of confidence or perceived confidence, even just a marginal amount can be enough to derail an interview. For example, it may cause you to lose your words or trail of thought, stumble to find answers, or maybe just give a lack of credibility to what you are saying.
Therefore it is important to develop confidence and ensure we are in a great mindset prior to the interview. As soon as you enter the room, virtually or otherwise you want to give a positive and confident presence.
Building Your Confidence Prior To The Interview
There are some key actions you can take to ensure that you deliver a great performance the entire way through interviewing for a job. There are 3 main actions you can take prior to your interview that you can take to boost your confidence when interviewing for a job.
Personally, I am not a naturally gifted speaker or an instinctively confident person. Learning how to interview has been an interesting learning curve. The good news is, there are some tricks and shortcuts that I have learned that I want to share with you.
1. Adopt A Power Pose For A Confidence Boost
Do you know that your body posture can trigger the release of confidence related neurochemicals and hormones? That’s right, you can actually trick your body into making you feel more confident by standing in a certain way for just a few minutes.
Superman poses, such as standing with your hands on your hips and your feet shoulder-width apart or standing with your head held high and your back straight can boost your confidence. You can also stand up straight with your arms stretched up to the sky (like you are flying).
The first is better if you are in public, but you could always sneak into a bathroom cubicle if you are feeling especially nervous before an interview. It can take as little as two minutes for there to be an observable physical effect.
The Benefits You Will See When Interviewing For A Job
Ultimately, this may help you to come across as more passionate, enthusiastic, authentic, captivating and comfortable, which are all key social traits that would benefit your potential employer.
This extra confidence will help you understand interview questions quicker and respond with better answers.
The Science Behind Power Poses
Power poses are scientifically proven to increase testosterone and reduce your cortisol levels to enhance your assertiveness and confidence.
These stances are known as ‘power poses in the scientific community’ and initially discovered these in a 2012 Ted Talk by Ammy Cuddy. However, for the purposes of entertainment here’s a short clip where they feature in the medical drama known as Gray’s Anatomy.
2. Create Calm & Clarity Before Your Interview
One of the things I personally find works really well, and is especially easy to implement with the age of video interviewing is meditating.
If you are partially sensitive to stressful situations then you might get to a point where revising is no longer effective and you start to burn out. So starting to meditate for even a half hour or an hour can help put you into a better mental state and conserve energy.
Even if you don’t feel like this then meditating for just 5 minutes will increase your mental clarity and how you express your interview answers. You can either use guided meditation or simple meditation music to focus on your breathing.
3. Practice Your Answers Out Loud
Speaking out loud will also help you to feel more assured in your own voice and in your answers. It may help to find any inconsistencies in your interview answers and help you learn how to explain yourself better.
However, don’t try to practice your answers to the point you are trying to memorise them as this might sound stages come to the interview. Simply become familiar with the framework of your answer and how you are saying it.
Witnessing yourself give interview answers with confidence can help you to create a positive and confident self-image.
Rewrite Your Self Talk & Revisualise Negative Images
What are your low confidence triggers when interviewing? For example, do you feel your voice begin to break or quiver when speaking or do you seem to run out of oxygen before finishing your answer?
Think of these moments and even write down. Once you have done this, revisualise the same moment but in a positive and assertive manner. Build confidence in these potential events when you read or say them.
If you practice thinking and speaking like this, then when the moment comes in the interview your body and mind will relax and default into the assertive and confident self-image you have created. Essentially you will be more practised at creating confidence.
Essentially you need to cross out all of your negative self-talk and rewrite it into positive statements. For example, change “I will never get this job” to “I am a leading candidate for this job”.
5 Tips For When You Are Interviewing For A Job
When you are interviewing for a job and you are sitting opposite your interviewer you need to remember that they are just another human being. Therefore you should always:
1. Make eye contact
Eye contact is a type of body language that is extremely important during communication and conversation.
Keeping eye contact with the person you are talking to shows that you are actively listening and paying attention.
More than this it can help to build a relationship with the person you are speaking to in a way that words cannot.
2. Focus on creating a positive experience
At the end of the day, other human beings crave positive interactions and if all else fails then at least you can walk out having had a great conversation.
If you can make your interviewer feel the same way and they also leave the room feeling relaxed and happy then this may make the difference between you and another candidate.
After all, the interviewer will want to be working with someone that they can get along with.
3. Smile and be positive
Smiling is another signal to the body to feel happy and relaxed and will trigger the release of serotonin and dopamine in your brain. This will also improve your performance when interviewing for a job.
Essentially, you just need to trick yourself into feeling like you are having a good time and this will alleviate some of the stress and nervousness.
4. Use confident body language
Scan down from head to toe and ask what is your posture like? Are you hanging your head? How is your breathing?
If you make yourself physically smaller or hunched over you will feel less confident. If you are hunched over it’s also likely your breathing will be more shallow, which means less oxygen is getting to your brain.
By contrast, if you open your body up and take up more room, you will give a great presence in the room.
The fastest way to being radically more confident is to change your physiology. By making small changes to the way you sit or stand you can easily up your confidence.
5. Try to Be Helpful
The key to confidence when interviewing is coming prepared and staying present. In my opinion, the best way to do this is simply to try and be helpful for your interviewer.
If you approach the interview in this way rather than trying to give “the best answer”, then you will feel more engaged.
The more focused you are on this positive outcome, the less you will be focused on the overall goal of the interview (e.g. to secure the job”. Therefore you will focus less on your insecurities and self-doubt.
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