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Nervous during Interviews- Any Tips? (Discussion)

oLahav said – Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:31:40 -0000 ( Edit Link )

I’ve seen talks about how important it is to display confidence during job interviews. But a lot of people just get dead nervous when faced with this sort of pressure, so where can they get their confidence from?

Share your tips please!

Here’s my tip: While everybody knows the 3p rule (practice, practice, and puppets… no, wait, it’s practice), I find practicing too much can make you feel even more nervous because you’re trying to memorize rehearsed lines. Practice a question once, max twice and that’s it.
What helps me most is blanking out before the interview. I just completely clear my mind, don’t think about it, and so I’m not nervous when I get in and I can just act natural from then on.

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chelseaFC said – Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:20:50 -0000 ( Flag Edit Mark / Unmark Best Link )

I recommend bringing a positive, fun, and enthusiastic attitude. Smile and care like no tomorrow. I don’t suggest rehearsing anything, either you know what you will say or you don’t. Trying to have it planned will only backfire when you get stuck and we all have been there.
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hcraig said – Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:22:45 -0000 ( Flag Edit Mark / Unmark Best Link )

I’m always nervous in interviews, and when I get nervous, I forget things. Big important things like the fact that I held up to 3 jobs while maintaining an A- average in school, or the fact that I completely rewrote the training manual in my last job since the position had been completely revamped since its inception 4 years ago. Those points show my ability to multi-task effectively, and recognize changes that need to be made and correct them. Employers like those kinda skills, and if I’m going for an interview, I should be talking about them!

So I’m actually a pretty big fan of rehearsing a few things…but I do it in a different way. I wrote down bullet point answers to questions like Tell me about yourself, What’s your biggest weakness, and Your degree is in Contemporary Studies – I’ve never heard of that. What is it?

Then I gave the pages to my parents, friends, whoever wanted to listen to be babble on and have them ask me each question. I’d give an answer, and after all the questions/answers were done we went back over the list and I was reminded of what points of forgot to mention. This style of rehearsing worked really well for me because I practiced including all the important bits, but without actually sounding rehearsed and robotic.
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acrosstheuniverse said – Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:38:24 -0000 ( Flag Edit Mark / Unmark Best Link )

Heather, I really like that approach. Not only does it helps you realize the things you’re accomplished but the friends and family watching you rehearse can let you know of other things to highlight that you might not have picked up on about yourself.
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1. oLahav said – Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:43:37 -0000 ( Flag Edit Link )
  
  It’s great if this works for you.
  
  Personally, I’m more embarrassed to practice with people I know than with complete strangers I’ve just met… so I don’t think this method would work for me.
  
  You can always just tape yourself speak though and learn from that! You can be your own most harsh critic, definitely more harsh than friends and family who love you.
  
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acrosstheuniverse said – Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:49:21 -0000 ( Flag Edit Mark / Unmark Best Link )

haha, well Oren, I’d hope it would be more “constructive criticism” from the family and friends. Taping does work, it’s just a bit different than the real interview type situation. However hearing yourself talk about the things you’d like to come across would helps a lot I think.
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Poshmonkey said – Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:45:28 -0000 ( Flag Edit Mark / Unmark Best Link )

Get a free Self-Confidence eCourse with 48 tips from my website www.poshmonkey.com. I’m sure it will help you. (In general I would say practice autosuggestion on a daily basis (by saying for example “I’m damn good because …..”) and imagine yourself succeeding at the interview.
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BillElliott said – Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:46:08 -0000 ( Flag Edit Mark / Unmark Best Link )

AS mentioned several times above, thinking about potential questions and how you’ll respond is a great strategy. In addition, you might consider doing a practice interview with friends, and taping it for review. Many people use “Um” and “Uh” or other verbal tics quite often, and don’t realize it. it makes you sound sort of, uh, unprofessional.

Another idea would be to take some time to research the company and be able to talk about things like their corporate credo, mission statement, and other policies. When you are in the interview it helps when you can show a knowledge of how your potential role with the company matches their goals, and how you plan to add to the overall success.
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1. supersonicsaxophone said – Tue, 14 Apr 2009 03:18:19 -0000 ( Flag Edit Link )
  
  Good points, but taping wouldn’t work for me at all – I hate the sound of my own voice, so it would only make me even more nervous about the interview after listening to the many flaws in my speech!
  
  I personally think the best way is just to keep practicing – don’t rehearse it word for word because they might ask you a different question that you have not prepared for, so just have a good idea about what you want to say, and then practice lots with your friends and family. Practice makes perfect, and (hopefully) you should be able to trust them to give you constructive criticism.
  
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