After you prepare to answer and ask questions at the interview, you should feel ready and excited to show off your skills to a potential employer! But, what if you still have feelings of anxiety or worry about it? Don’t worry! There are ways to fight these negative feelings and build your confidence before the actual interview. The best way to do this is to mentally prepare.
Getting your mind ready for the interview will help you to relax and be confident that you will have a successful interview. Mentally preparing may be easier said than done, but you can help yourself by using the following four steps:
- Repeat affirmation statements
- Review your past successes
- Visualize the interview going well
- Practice, practice, practice!
Repeat affirmation statements
Affirmation statements, or short, positive phrases, can help you to build your confidence before an interview. For example, repeat the phrase, “I am capable and likable” over and over out loud or in your mind. This will help to remind you that you really are capable of doing the job and likable to others. Other affirmation statements or phrases you may use are:
I am:
- the best one for this job.
- the best candidate for the position.
- extremely qualified for the job.
- personable and friendly.
- a hard-worker.
Review your past successes
Reviewing your past successes will help remind you that you have been successful in previous jobs and experiences, and you can be just as successful in this one. For example, if you are applying for a teaching position, you may remind yourself that you have tutored students before and had much success with them. There is no reason why you would not have success in this job.
You may want to write a list of your past successes and refer to these when you feel nervous or anxious about the job interview. Review your list to remind you that you are capable and a hard-worker. This will remind you of the great things you have done and will continue to do.
Visualize the interview going well
Another tool you can use to mentally prepare is to visualize the interview going well. Instead of picturing yourself not knowing answers to questions or stumbling over your words, take time to imagine answering each question perfectly. Imagine that you are not nervous and your confidence shines to the interviewer. Imagine getting along with the interviewer and having a wonderful experience. Finally, imagine getting a phone call that offers you the job you’ve been waiting for!
Imagining the interview in a positive way will help to ease your nerves. It will also act as a “rehearsal” for the real job interview. If you practice things going well in your mind, chances are, it will go well at the real interview, too!
Practice, practice, practice!
The best way to increase your chances of interview success is to practice interviewing. Use all your resources to practice answering interview questions. Ask family members of friends to practice with you. Look up mock interviews in your area. Contact a local college and ask about its career services. Even practicing in front of the mirror can help you work on your speaking skills.
The more you practice answering questions, the easier the interview will be. Your answers will be concise, yet informative. They will be on the tip of your tongue and you will be ready to explain your skills. You will be excited to show off your qualifications rather than nervous to speak. For all these reasons—practice, practice, practice!
We hope you learned some valuable knowledge about interviewing from this post on mentally preparing. If you’d like to learn more about teaching workplace readiness skills, click the free trial link below.
