Removal of Fear and Stress before Job Interviews

Are you scared of being interviewed? Did you ever miss out on a great opportunity because your job interview anxiety kept you from showcasing your skills in a convincing manner to a prospective employer? Psychologists report that fear of job interviews is one of the most common causes for heavy emotional stress.

The Difference Between Being Nervous and Feeling Anxious

Yet, to a certain extend being nervous about a job interview is perfectly normal. In fact, it’s very similar to stage fright. Even professional actors experience stage fright. But both professional actors and good job hunters are able to manage their fear in a way that energizes them, and actually helps them to present themselves in a convincing manner.

The problem is when the fear spins out of control and mentally paralyzes you. Remember that fear is actually an important survival mechanism evolution installed in us: it mobilized our energy resources and strength when our distant ancestors needed to escape a menacing sable-tooth tiger or fight another kind of predator. Unfortunately, our physiology hasn’t yet adapted to 21st century modern living challenges, and thus we respond with inappropriate fight-or-flight patterns in non-life-threatening situations too.

Why Sometimes Preparing Yourself For The Job Interview Isn’t Enough

It doesn’t matter how much you prepare yourself for a job interview, how much you data you research about the prospective employer, how often you practiced possible interview questions – if you don’t have the nerves when it’s showtime, if you falter when the money is on, you won’t land that job.

Job interviews are not the perfect way to find the right prospects. In fact, they are unfair and inadequate in many ways. Because it takes a different set of skills to get a job than it takes to do a job. There are people who are excellent job hunters, but lousy at doing a job once they got it. And there are people who are excellent at getting the job done, but they are incapable of landing the job.

Reasons and Symptoms of Job Interview Anxiety

Maybe it’s because they feel uncomfortable showcasing their talents and achievements. Maybe because they are so afraid that a tough question might “knock them out” during the interview. Whatever the reason, there are many ways in which job interview anxiety manifests itself. Your voice may shake when you speak. You might have cold and sweaty palms, a pounding heartbeat in your chest, irrational and racing thoughts and difficulty to concentrate and respond to questions in a coherent and convincing manner.

Many people suggest visualization exercises – to picture yourself in your mind successfully doing an interview, talking confident and persuasive, connecting with the interviewer. But there’s a lot more to “the mental game” than that, and if you don’t visualize the right way, it can actually do more harm than good.

With the use of hypnosis, you can quickly and easily become a confident job interviewee. Because by involving the help of your subconscious mind you will form now behavior patterns that replace the old “panic routine” you went through when faced with a job interview.

Best Job Interview Tips

All new job seekers have plenty of questions about the job interview. Almost intuitively they know their success or lack of it in the interview can make the difference in them getting the job. Sadly, this fear of success keeps many job seekers from doing their best. Here, are a few job interview tips to help make sure this does not happen to you:

1. Research the company. Spending some time to learn some basic facts about the company will do wonders for your confidence level. It provides you with some information you can share with your interviewer and will help to get you to start focusing on the company than rather your “fear”. This is a good proactive step in helping you look forward to further interview preparation.

2. Practice and refine your answers to interview questions. Simply thinking about and practicing interviews before the event will make the real thing much easier. As you practice answering interview questions, you will start to see where you can improve your answers and will gradually come to a point where your scripted answers will become natural. This will be a great tipping point because you will begin to actually look forward to the interview to be able to show off all you have learned and done. This will be similar to the feeling you had when you took a test where you were way over-prepared for it.

3. Dress for success and have a backup plan. This means make sure you have a good conservative suit or pants suit that will not detract from your candidacy. If you do not have a suit, go ahead and buy one as you will end up needing it for other purposes and most business professionals should have at least 2 to 3 suits anyway. Also, bring along an extra suit and clothes just in case and leave it in your car. This will give you some additional peace of mind knowing that you have a backup suit just in case your coat rips or you spill some coffee on your shirt.

4. Follow-up with the company after the interview. Send those thank you cards and follow-up with the company every 4 or 5 business days after the interview. The thank you cards can be used as an opportunity to showcase your talents one last time or help address any concerns they may have about your candidacy. Do not neglect this step as it could mean the difference in you getting to the next round or getting the boot.