Nervous about an upcoming job interview? – Let’s tackle this!

First, ask yourself what the reason for your anxiety is. Is it…

1.      Lack of preparation?

2.      Lack of confidence in your qualifications or skills?

3.      Lack of confidence around who you are and what you deserve?

4.      Impostor syndrome?

5.      Lack of negotiation skills or confidence?

6.      Fear of not coming across as competent as you really are?

7.      Fear of questions you may find challenging to answer?

8.      Insufficient communication skills?

9.      Fear of making the wrong decision?

Now, let’s address these factors, one by one:

1.      Lack of preparation

Preparation can have many faces. These are some of the many areas you will want to cover:

·        If in person: how to walk into the room

·        If online: set up your video background, lighting, sound, etc.

·        Potential questions and your answers

·        Questions you will want to ask and get answers to

·        How you show up (your presence): outfit, body language, energy

·        Due diligence on interviewer(s), organization, and role

·        What makes you the ideal candidate for the role? (positioning)

·        Etc.

2.      Lack of confidence in your qualifications or skills

Some simple ways of addressing this are:

• Stop fretting about not having all the qualifications listed in the job requirements. If you were not qualified enough for the role, you would not have been invited. Focus on what you do have instead. ->

• Make a list of all your qualifications, skills, talents, competencies accomplishments, etc. Then circle all the items in your list that are most relevant to the job you’re applying for. ->

• Write down examples of how these “assets” in your list could apply to the work you expect yourself doing in the new role.

You may not be prompted to talk about what you wrote down (or you may). What’s critical here is that you recognize and own your brilliance, which will raise your confidence.

3.      Lack of confidence around who you are and what you deserve

This is related to your self-image and your success mindset (and your income mindset for the negotiation piece).

Could it be that you have been playing smaller than you really are? Could you have been downplaying your own competencies and potential, even if just in your mind, while talking to yourself?

Do you sometimes feel undeserving? The roots of this are often largely subconscious but maybe you remember an experience that somehow caused you to believe that you don’t deserve success. It could be something your parents or teacher said to you long ago, or something more recent.

Three things you can do here are:

• Research techniques and tools to upgrade your self-image

• Go on a self-discovery journey to uncover some of those root causes and make a decision to detach from them

• Work with an expert to eliminate the subconscious underlying limiting beliefs about your self-worth and what you deserve.

Take a few minutes to reflect on these questions. Would it be ok to transform the limiting aspects you may uncover? And would it be ok to do that now?

4.      Impostor syndrome

Again, the question to ask yourself is: Do you know and own your brilliance? For you to show your value (even to yourself), you need to first know and own it.

If not, consider the following questions:

• Did someone belittle you or your capabilities in the past, and did this lead you to believe that you were somehow “not enough?”

• Have you repeatedly had a feeling of “not being ready” although theoretically you know you are?

• Is it hard for you to see your own potential? Why? How can you change this?

5.      Lack of negotiation skills or confidence

Your negotiation confidence is at least partly dependent on your negotiation skills. Acquiring the right skills is essential… not just for the negotiation of your compensation and terms, but for the entire job interview. Every single piece of it is a negotiation, even the moments when you’re simply listening. (You are “negotiating” the impression you are making on the other party.)

Negotiation skills include

• Language: choice of the best words, Conversational Intelligence (C-IQ)®

• Positioning: making your case in a way that makes sense for the negotiation partner. (What’s in it for them/their organization/their team?) <-> value proposition

• Asking the right questions

• Active listening

• Body language, mirroring as appropriate

• Etc.

Which skills do you need to improve or practice? What are other ways to elevate your level of confidence?

6.      Fear of not coming across as competent as you really are?

This has everything to do with how you show up to the interview. Reflect on the following:

• How can you enhance your presence? – For example, you could use some of the simple, yet powerful techniques in my book Speak up, Stand out and Shine.

• Can you have a proactive part in the conversation rather than just answer questions?

• Anticipate concerns or objections the interviewers may have and prepare your replies. (You may find that these are your own objections and concerns, and you just need to get them out of your way in your mind.)

7.      Fear of questions you may find challenging to answer?

Make a list of all the questions you anticipate, including:

• Questions that felt challenging in past interviews: What could you have said if you had prepared for them?

• Questions you dread the most.

Then come up with answers for them. Let me give you an example for the latter case: Let’s say you get a question about a technical topic that you don’t know the answer to, you could say: “I realize I have an opportunity for growth in this area, and I have great curiosity to learn more about it. I think I could easily catch up on this before I even start this job.

8.      Insufficient communication skills

Communication skills – huge topic! But if you zoom in on the most critical ones that allow you to navigate smoothly through a conversation and flow with it, you’re already off to a great start.

In general terms, I’d recommend to…

• Prepare meaningful questions.

• Calmly observe and identify opportunities as you are listening to your conversation partner: Making a mental note of things to get back to or expand on if necessary/beneficial for the outcome of the meeting.

• Refrain from over-talking and over-sharing. Instead, focus on the question and answer it concisely and clearly. When your meeting partners want additional details, they will usually request it.

• Use unapologetic language (unless there is a real reason for an apology, of course). For example, if you have a gap in your resume, be prepared to briefly state the reason (could be family leave/caretaking, sickness, adding on education or a different experience, etc.) and how you used it for your advancement (self-development, brushing up on skills, made you a better [fill in the gap], etc.).

9.      Fear of making the wrong decision

The truth is, before we make a decision, we rarely even know what exactly the result of it will look like. There is really no right or wrong decision. That’s why we sometimes say: Make a decision, and then make your decision right.

However, this doesn’t mean that you are now bound with your decision for the rest of your life. If it turns out to not be right for you (and the emphasis is on “for you”), then you can always make a different choice in the future.

So, if you get an offer you like and the decision feels right, my advice is to go for it. Of course, it’s really up to you.

But for now, while you don’t have the offer, just let this last fear go because it has no foundation.

Hope this helps you get to a better place when it comes to feeling more secure and positively excited about your upcoming job interview.

If you need any additional support, reach out for a special session or two, and we’ll get you there.