Interview Nerves

LisaD76

I’ve been called to an interview next week for a senior position.

I always feel crippled with nerves at any interview and rarely get across what I need to, even when I know I’d be great in the role.

Does anyone have any tips to combat nerves? Interview is expected to last one hour so just need to get through that without coming across awful.

Thanks!

cyclocross!

I know it sounds simplistic but the more practice I do the less nervous I am. Remember your STAR technique and focus on painting them a high level picture of who you are aligned with who they want. Have 6 or 7 points you want to get across.

stargazer 68

Listen to what you are actually being asked. Take a breath to compose your answer. Write out your points you want to make and go over them several times this week. Best of luck.

banoffe2

prepare lots of relevant examples to support the topic under discussion, use the buzz words, compliant with policy and procedure etc, see it as a meeting between professionals keep the power from within, like you said yourself you know you would be a great fit for the role, the thinking is the hardest part of it, research the role and plan your vision it etc,
Dont be shy to demonstrate your achievements, qualifications, initiatives taken,track record, commitment, dedication and passion for the role and how you see this as a natural progression to move on the the next level--- the very best of luck, believe in yourself!

ongarboy

I would mock up about a dozen standard competency based interview questions (google online for what you think might be standard such questions related to the industry you work in) such as "Tell me about a time you encountered such a challenging situation and how you handled it?" etc etc.

Recall and write down about 12 actual experiences related to these questions. Do not make anything up, always use real situations as it's easier to remember facts than fiction, and then verbally rehearse them to yourself out loud in private. Sometimes it takes multiple attempts to articulate correctly what you already know. You can improvise the answers somewhat. ie the same situation can be applied to multiple questions (outstanding customer service, demonstration, demonstrate meeting a tight deadline, demonstrate going beyond the call of duty, demonstrate how you motivated, collaborated, initiated a team effort etc etc.

Practice makes perfect.

Remember to ask multiple informed questions about the role being offered, the project you are being asked to join. Often interviewers can be slightly out of their comfort zone in interview situations also as it may not be part of their daily job and they relax, respond, engage and bond more with a candidate when they are asked questions by the candidate that they can proficiently answer because it's about the role, project they are intimately involved in. It also impresses them that you are expressing a genuine interest in securing this job rather than a job. I got friendly with my interviewer months into my current job and she said among the things that impressed them about my interview is that I was the only candidate who showed a genuine interest in the actual role by asking actual subject matter questions about the role, the project, the tasks etc. That swung it my way apparently.

Take lots of deep breaths before hand and engage in some mindfulness techniques beforehand. Remember, your interviewers are only human beings with their own insecurities as well. They really are just like you at the end of the day and they are willing you to be successful as it makes their job easier if you impress them.

Finally, believe in yourself. You already say you are more than capable for the job. Instill, think and be positive. Also, remember, the world will not end if you don't get the job or even if the interview does not work out in your favour. I'm saying that to hopefully take some of the pressure off it for you to enable to perform to the best of your ability during the interview. Best of luck!!

Fakediamond

Start taking rescue remedy every day from now until the interview, it helps to settle nerves naturally.

Mollyb60

ongarboy wrote: »

I would mock up about a dozen standard competency based interview questions (google online for what you think might be standard such questions related to the industry you work in) such as "Tell me about a time you encountered such a challenging situation and how you handled it?" etc etc.

Recall and write down about 12 actual experiences related to these questions. Do not make anything up, always use real situations as it's easier to remember facts than fiction, and then verbally rehearse them to yourself out loud in private. Sometimes it takes multiple attempts to articulate correctly what you already know. You can improvise the answers somewhat. ie the same situation can be applied to multiple questions (outstanding customer service, demonstration, demonstrate meeting a tight deadline, demonstrate going beyond the call of duty, demonstrate how you motivated, collaborated, initiated a team effort etc etc.

Practice makes perfect.

Remember to ask multiple informed questions about the role being offered, the project you are being asked to join. Often interviewers can be slightly out of their comfort zone in interview situations also as it may not be part of their daily job and they relax, respond, engage and bond more with a candidate when they are asked questions by the candidate that they can proficiently answer because it's about the role, project they are intimately involved in. It also impresses them that you are expressing a genuine interest in securing this job rather than a job. I got friendly with my interviewer months into my current job and she said among the things that impressed them about my interview is that I was the only candidate who showed a genuine interest in the actual role by asking actual subject matter questions about the role, the project, the tasks etc. That swung it my way apparently.

Take lots of deep breaths before hand and engage in some mindfulness techniques beforehand. Remember, your interviewers are only human beings with their own insecurities as well. They really are just like you at the end of the day and they are willing you to be successful as it makes their job easier if you impress them.

Finally, believe in yourself. You already say you are more than capable for the job. Instill, think and be positive. Also, remember, the world will not end if you don't get the job or even if the interview does not work out in your favour. I'm saying that to hopefully take some of the pressure off it for you to enable to perform to the best of your ability during the interview. Best of luck!!

This is an excellent post and I agree with it 100%. Being well prepared for an interview really calms my nerves a lot. Especially with competency based interviews. You can do a lot of prep work beforehand for these type of interviews but even if it's not competency based, it's still good to be able to critically think of your experience and come up with answers to why you're a good teamworker, how you deal with stress and deadlines, how you deal with conflict and difficult situations etc. Demonstrating your talents is very difficult to do on the fly. And I cannot stress enough how important it is to practice speaking your answers out loud. You can have them written down and learnt off but often when you speak them aloud you can change your answer slightly to be less formal so that it flows better or can remember things you wanted to say.

I would also generally not bring notes with me to study outside an interview room. At that point I do what others have mentioned here and try some meditation techniques (wanky way of saying I take deep breaths and try to focus on those rather than my nerves).

When you're in there make eye contact as much as possible (often the interviewers are just taking notes), take a breath or a drink of water before you answer any question to give you time to prepare the answer in your head. Don't fidget. Sit on your hands if necessary of clamp them together in your lap. I'm an expressive talker so I use my hands a lot in interviews, it stops me fidgeting and looking nervous.

Best of luck and remember that you know you can do this job already, you just have to convince these guys of that.

Stacksofwacks

Just think of it as a friendly chat rather than an interview, the people interviewing you probably dont enjoy the process either so if you are relaxed and friendly then you'd be surprised, the other people will be too. Good luck

joeguevara

Totally agree about research and practice. Go through your CV and come up with explicit examples for each role that you have done and how you can transfer it to the current role. Use the key words from the job spec in interview and tailor them for yourself. Have specific examples of how you overcame problems in previous roles and how it would be valuable for current role. Make sure you have completely researched the company and mention any relevant items such as expansion, new products etc as it demonstrates research and an interest in the role. When they ask do you have any questions make sure you do. Don’t ask about salary or perks as that can be negotiated after. Ask what you have to do to be in the interviewers role within years. Ask is there any courses you could do that could benefit the firm.

Make sure you have a good firm handshake. As a person who interviews people regularly I can tell within 5 seconds of a person will be unsuccessful based on their handshake.

They will expect nerves so embrace it. Don’t learn your answers off.

I love this quip.

So tell me what is your biggest weakness.

Honesty.

I wouldn’t think that’s a weakness.

I don’t give a fcuk what u think.

antodeco

This is bad advice, but it worked for me. I recently went through alot of interviews for a senior role (eg: I had 5 interviews alone for Facebook, 4 for Glassdoor, to name a few). I prepared so much for these. Hyper ready. Learnt everything. Crammed before going in. I wanted the job. I didn't get them. Went for another role, didn't prepare as much as was deflated from not getting the other roles. I got that job. Not stressing about it, and almost being flippant allowed me to just be me.

Faze11

Talk to your doctor about proprananol. It's a life saver in these scenarios or for public speaking.

Twenty Grand

It's only an hour.

Learn your CV off.

Have a story ready about every item on your CV. The more time you spend talking about your stuff the better.

AndrewJRenko

ongarboy wrote: »

Practice makes perfect.

Practice your responses to questions about the key competencies in the job spec on video. Play them back and tune your performance. Then repeat the video recording as often as required.

Or better still, do formal interview training. Let me know where you are based if you need details of providers of this.

Get a couple of senior peers together for an hour to do a mock interview. Record it on camera and review your performance and their feedback.

Think of it like a theatrical performance. You need to be able to interpret their questions quickly, to work out which competencies they are are talking about.