No matter how talented/knowledgeable/experienced you are, a single mistake during the course of an interview can topple your chances of selection. The interviewer, almost always looks for reasons not to select a candidate at the first place. Many a time, the interviewer draws (wrong) conclusions based on the candidate’s body language that the candidate is incompetent for the job posting.
The biggest challenge that fresh graduates face at job interviews is nervousness. They fail to show confidence and unknowingly show up a pattern of gestures that an experienced recruiter can easily read.
Nervousness is a very common complaint and is completely solvable. The bigger problem than nervousness is that people don’t admit to themselves at the first place that they get nervous at interviews. Sometimes, they don’t even know that they showed signs of nervousness in an interview.
Here are few symptoms of nervousness:
- Your heart beats fast and you can hear your heartbeat while speaking.
- Your palm and forehead sweat.
- You shake your leg / clasp your hands unconsciously.
- You get a feeling of butterflies in your stomach.
- You stammer while speaking or repeat a sentence twice.
- You suddenly loose concentration while listening to a question shot by the recruiter, ask him/her to repeat the question.
It would be easier to find a solution to this challenge, if you first admit it to yourself that you get nervous. After that identify the reason why you get nervous and then work on that weakness.
Few possibilities why you get nervous:
- You have not attended any interviews in the recent past.
- You subconsciously think that you are not competent for this job / that you don’t deserve the pay that they offer.
- You are not comfortable with yourself – your dressing or your oral skills.
- You are not confident with the preparation on topics to be interviewed.
- You fear losing this job interview to a worthier candidate.
The Solution:
- Do a lot of mock interview practice. Mock interviews help you to get adjusted to the interview environment, you can get to know of the common errors that you unknowingly commit in interviews. Make use of the free mock interview services.
- Look your best. Wear a brand new dress, get a special and decent haircut done for the event of interview. Use a mild antiperspirant, shine your shoes, wear a tie, look corporate. Looking good from outside helps you feel good from inside. Good attire is a confidence booster.
- Avoid unpleasant surprises in the last minute. Go through this checklist on things to do before an interview. Last minute surprises may disturb you and increase your anxiety.
- Get a grip of your emotions. If you feel your heart beating faster than normal, take a quick deep breath, hold your breath for 5 seconds and exhale slowly in the next 10 seconds. Repeat this breathing exercise until your heart slows down to its normal speed.
- Control your body language. Keep your shoulders stiff and back straight, do not slouch in the seat. Walk with heavy steps confidently like an elephant. While you are doing the interview, don’t clasp your hands, don’t shake your legs, use a handkerchief to wipe sweat from your palms.
- Condition your mind. Tell yourself that you are the best candidate and you more than deserve this job. Recollect your latest achievement at work. Think about a similar situation when you were nervous about outcome of an event and you succeeded. This exercise busts your diffidence and boosts confidence.
- Become a narcissist for a while, love yourself. Become supercilious, fill yourself with pride of being you. Tell yourself that you’d not join this company even though you get selected. This exercise helps you to lose the fear of losing this job to a worthier candidate.
- Imagine yourself giving an interview for the best company in the world. Tell yourself that if you can’t face an easy interview with this easy company today, you can’t face a tough interview with a better company in future. This trick works for me really well.
Hope these tricks work for you. Do comment below if you have any tricks or tips to beat nervousness.
About the Author: Sridhar Jammalamadaka is the Editor of Interview Mantra. He's a typically non-typical Software Engineer from Pune, India. He likes entrepreneurship, web technologies and Micro Controller programming. He enjoys playing cricket and piano (but rarely does these activities). Through this website, he wishes to gather a large community of aspiring engineers, entrepreneurs and professionals from all parts of the globe. You can connect with him on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/sridhar.j