Nothing can quite compare to the stress of unemployment, except maybe the stress of finding a new job and getting through that first interview. Because an interview is such an intense process – you must put your best foot forward to win an offer – job candidates understandably get nervous.
But, you can make the interview process much easier if you know how to prepare yourself mentally. A job interview is all about you as a salesperson. You have to sell your skills, your experience, and yourself as the best candidate for the job.
The job interview is all about you, right? Well, not really, and if you think of it that way, you’re going to lessen your chances of getting an offer. The job interview is about the company and how you can help fill a void or a need within that company. Sure, it might be impressive that you speak five languages, but how is that going to benefit the company at which you are interviewing? That’s all the prospective employer really cares about.
Go into an interview fully prepared – research the company as thoroughly as you can first – so you can focus on how your skills and your experience make you the perfect candidate to help the company grow or solve a current problem. Ask questions about the company to show you are interested.
You’re going to be asked quite a few questions, and while you’re answering those questions, you want to illustrate why you are an excellent candidate. Let’s say the interviewer asks you what your biggest strength is. You answer one of two ways.
“I’m detailed-oriented.”
“I’m detailed-oriented, which played a huge role in my last job. We had a catastrophic computer crash, but fortunately I had kept backup copies of everything on the computer. As a result, we didn’t lose a lot of valuable employee hours.”
Which answer do you think is more powerful? Try to provide an example in your answer, but make sure you don’t go on and on. Keep it short enough so you don’t lose the employer’s attention.
Be confident during your interview, and try not to look for clues from the interviewer as to how you are doing. The interviewer may be stoic and not smile much, but you don’t know whether that’s because that’s just how he is or you’re not doing well in the interview. What if he thinks you’re great but you think his stoic demeanor says he doesn’t like you? Trying to read into what he’s thinking isn’t going to do anything but stress you out.
In fact, try not to think at all about how you’re doing during the interview (there’s plenty of time for that later). Thinking you’ve aced the interview and have a job offering coming is going to trip you up (you might appear overly confident and cocky) as much as thinking you’ve got no chance at all (you don’t want to appear as though you have low confidence).
Preparing mentally for an interview is just as important as making sure you dress sharply and do your research ahead of time. In fact, if you want to appear poised and confident, your most important task before the interview is to prepare mentally. Think about what questions you might ask the interviewer and how you would answer questions you might be asked (think of examples). Then, when the day of the interview comes, just be yourself.
Frankie Eybsen is a career and job search blogger. He is also the marketing manager at ResumeBucket, helping companies find free job postings.