I have heard many alarming, but also funny, stories about people sitting interviews.  The funniest story being when the candidate’s mam sat the telephone interview on her daughters behalf!

After running a poll on Instagram an unsurprising theme arose; people are daunted by interviews or indeed fear them so much that they will not put themselves forward for jobs or promotions. 

This is as common with young graduates as it is with older applicants. The unemployed or returning to work parents have mentioned huge anxiety about the interview process. 

I feel in many cases the candidate has in some way convinced himself/herself that they are not worthy of the role available or if you like they have a sense of “imposter syndrome”.

Derval O’ Rourke speaks about this regularly when referring to her sporting accomplishments, and look at her success story! So perhaps having ‘imposter syndrome’ is not a bad starting point for interview preparation. 

I have helped many people through the interview process and indeed the fear of putting themselves forward for the interview. Here are some tips that my clients have reported ashelpful to prepare themselves mentally for the interview process.

• Analysis your skill set; write down what tasks you do every day in your professional and private life; attach a skill to the task you do.  You will be very surprised the amount of skills you have to offer.  If you can’t do this on your own engage the help of a trusted friend or colleague. 

• Use reviews/feedback from your work place to help you complete this list. If you are new to the world of work or returning to work reflect on feedback received through your engagement with education, hobbies, interests and voluntary work.

• Record your skill set on your phone – listen back to the recording. Get comfortable that this skill set is describing you. This helps you to get use to the sound / tone / volume of your own voice particularly helpful when attending the actual interview. 

• I suggest self-talk out loud looking at your reflection in the mirror.  Mentioning each skill and owning it. It does help to build an inner confidence. It also helps you to assess your body language, facial expression again very helpful when attending the actual interview. It also helps you to breathe deeply allowing you to compose yourself and focus the mind. 

• Once you have a comprehensive list of your skills and you are comfortable owning these skills it is now time to compare these skills to various job postings.  Use websites such as Monster, LinkedIn, Indeed etc. to complete this task.  

• Take note of what common skills are required in the job postings and see where your skill set coincides with these.  (Not only will this step help you with your mental block about attending interviews it will help you to build a Curriculum Vitae or Application form tailored to a specific role). 

• Building answers to common interview questions is a good idea.  However, I feel learning these answers off can causesome challenges at interviews.  I sometimes see that the candidate is thinking more about the paragraph of learnt text rather than focusing on the question that is being asked by the interview panel.  

• Please understand that most interviewers are genuine and they really want to put you at ease during the process.  They are not there to catch you out.  They simply are trying to evaluate if they give you a chance will you be able to do the job confidently with competency and commitment while fitting in seamlessly to their organisation. 

I hope you find the above helpful in clearing the mind of any negative thoughts around attending a job interview. Once you get into this positive mind set – don’t delay in making your job application.    

When it comes to attending the actual interview know that if you are prepared and are simply yourself, you have just as much chance as anybody else.  It is a good idea to get in some practice prior to the interview particularly when it comes to answering Competency Based Questions.  

If you want further information on how I can help you please do not hesitate to make contact.