A candidate can be both highly competent, but also hyper-shy. In a job interview, this shyness can generate stress that will prevent them from presenting the best version of themselves to the recruiter. Here are four tips for managing interview stress.
1) Limit the amount of strangers
Among the four universally recognized stressors are “diminished sense of control”, “unpredictability” and “newness”. In essence, a job interview can greatly exacerbate these stressors, since you don’t know who you’re interviewing, you don’t know their exact questions, and you don’t control how the interview will go.
Knowing this, candidates can deploy strategies to limit these unknowns and regain some control over the situation. First, they can prepare by learning about the company, the interviewers, and the most common interview questions. Then by preparing your own questions, in order to bring the interview to a discussion.
It’s normal to be stressed in an interview,” acknowledges headhunter Ludvic Laperle in a LinkedIn post. The first thing to do is to come prepared with questions. An interview is two-way,” he explains. Being interested in your employer is healthy and necessary if you want to make sure you are in a good process and understand what you are getting into.”
2) De-dramatize
Another major stressor is “threatened ego”; this is the fear of looking bad or being ridiculed. Because of a quavering voice, for example. The first thing to do here is to put the situation into perspective. On the one hand, our own stress is probably more apparent to us than to the other person.
Most likely, the person you’re talking to isn’t scrutinizing your every social behavior, because they’re thinking about what to say,” says psychologist Dawn Potter, on the Cleveland Clinic website. Social anxiety tends to magnify the negative and minimize the positive. You are hyper-aware of your behaviors while others may not pick up on them.”
3) Name the elephant in the room
Next, naming your state of mind can help overcome it.
One way to manage this fear is to be transparent about your anxiety in interviews, while acknowledging that you’re not the only one, suggests the Steinbright Career Development Center website. If you stumble over a word or your voice breaks, rather than pretending it didn’t happen, frame it in a positive way.”
Few recruiters will hold this against us, the article’s authors remind us. For proof, just look at the many surveys on the most common interview faux pas; “nervousness” is not one of them.
In fact, many recruiters will appreciate and respect your honesty and may even be able to see themselves in you. In any case, most recruiters will appreciate that you present the true version of yourself in an interview.”
4) Forget yourself a little, open up to the other person
During the interview, another good way to defuse the stress that is building up inside us is to get out of our heads and take an interest in the person in front of us.
Instead of thinking of the interview as an exam, think of it as an opportunity to find out more about the position, suggests the Welcome to the Jungle website. Check that your profile, your expectations and those of the company match. This will take a lot of pressure off you and will rebalance the relationship between you and the person you are interviewing.
With that advice, take a deep breath… and go for it with confidence!
