When you lack confidence in yourself, hiring managers pick up on that quickly, and it can greatly hurt your chances of receiving a job offer. Here are three tips that will help you stay confident in a job interview:
1. Write Down All Your Answers (And Read Them Out Loud!)
Interviewing, like everything else in our lives, becomes easier once it feels like a habit—something that we do all the time without overthinking it. The best way to make an interview feel natural and conversational is to practice.
Write down your answers to as many interview questions as you can. Then, read them out loud. Read them until you can say them in your sleep (that's when you know you're prepared!).
This will not only help you feel confident answering difficult interview questions, but it will also help you identify which answers you need to work on.
2. Visualize Your Interview Success
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If you can visualize yourself succeeding in a job interview, your actions will follow. It's not really "faking it until you make it." It's more like conditioning your body to think of a job interview as a positive experience, rather than a negative one. Turn that nervousness into excitement!
Visualization is one of the keys to being more confident in your job interviews. When it comes time to shake the hand of the hiring manager, it'll feel like you've done the interview a thousand times because, in your head, you have!
3. Do A Mock Interview With A Friend
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Practicing the interview beforehand is a great way to gain confidence. By doing a mock interview with a friend or colleague, you'll get the feedback you need to ensure you're going into the job interview polished and well-prepared. Your friend can offer constructive criticism and some much-needed words of encouragement.
Never do a mock interview with a family member. Your family is very biased. When you do a mock interview with a family member, they are often either overly critical or complimentary, both of which won't do anything to help your confidence and performance when you get to the actual job interview.
Friends and colleagues, on the other hand, will give you honest feedback. They'll challenge you to perform better. Some professionals have a hard time taking feedback without taking it personally, and that's okay. Just think of the feedback from your mock interview as feedback that will help you feel more confident when the big day comes—feedback that will, ultimately, help you land a job.
Everyone is more confident when they're comfortable. These three tips will help you stay confident in your next job interview and feel comfortable answering any questions the hiring manager decides to throw at you.
Acing an interview is easy when it feels like second nature!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
