How to drive away your nervousness during interview |
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It is common that you all will be nervous at the time of interview though you have probably spent a great deal of time preparing. However, you should let your practice and preparation become a disadvantage. Once
the interview begins, we must focus on interacting effectively with the interviewer. If we have prepared adequately for the interview, our conduct and responses should effortlessly convey to the interviewer the image we want to
project. It's important for us to know that the interviewer's decision about whether or not we will be invited back for an additional interview which will probably be influenced by your attitude and personality as much
as by your qualifications. So although preparation is important, our performance during an interview can make things even better. We should always maintain a smile during the time of interview. Get ready: Collect some information about the company through its website or through its brochure. Obviously. If you have a
presentation then study your notes and what you are about to say carefully before stepping up on stage. up in meeting. If you have a job interview, think about what they may ask you and figure out some good answers. Doing
this carefully and meticulously can remove a lot of nervousness. It may not always be fun. But being well prepared can be helpful not only to remove nervousness but also to face the presentation or get the job.
Question yourself: What is the worst that could happen? What is really the worst that could happen? How will it affect you in the actual scene? In many cases you will find that the answer boils downhill, not really
that much. It's easy to get excessively wrapped up in what is about to happen and blow up the event and possible consequences in your mind until it seems like it's a matter of life and death. It seldom is. Asking a few simple
questions can put things into a healthier perspective and calm you down. Take 15 abdomen breaths. Stomach breathing is a wonderful way to defeat negative feelings and visualizations and return to the present
moment. Just taking a few dozen abdomen breaths can change nervous and shallow breathing into a calm and strong alternative. It's quite remarkable how quickly this can change how you feel. Here's how you go about it:
* Sit straight in a peaceful position with your legs away from each other *
Put your hands on your stomach. Using your stomach inhale slowly through your nose. If you are doing it right your stomach will expand and you'll feel it with your hands. *
Exhale slowly through your nose and do it with some force so you feel your stomach pull slightly inwards towards your spine. * Breathe in and out 30 times. Take slow and deep breaths. *
After you have taken 30 breaths and focused on counting them you should not only feel more relaxed and centred. Your body will also be able to continue breathing in this manner without you focusing on it. And that's it. Continue with your normal day.
Yoga practice: Here is another yoga practice to bring down your nervousness during the interview. Here's how you go about it. Close the left nose with left thumb inhale and then exhale.
Close the right nose with right thumb inhale and then exhale. Do it for 20 times, if possible Continue with your normal day. Arrive Early
Arrive 20-30 minutes before your meeting is expected to begin.
This will help give you a chance to get a small sense of the company's environment before your interview begins and will also allow you some time to become better adapt with your new surroundings, which hopefully will promote more of a relaxed feeling.
Begin With a Smile A smile relaxes both you and the audience. It helps to chase away nervousness. Showing a smile in your face hides your nervousness. When you smile, you look more relaxed and
confident, and when you are confident, people are more inclined to believe what you say. Dress professionally: Appropriate dressing is very important. A well dressed and groomed appearance can do
wonders for that first impression. Keep yourself fit in your dressing. Now is not exactly the time to make a fashion statement so a tastefully chosen professional outfit, with suitable accessories like a hand-bag or brief case
should be fine. Make yourself comfortable in the dressing. Create in your mind: Much of our time is spent habitually visualizing what may go wrong in a future situation. This may increase your
nervousness.. It can also give you the results you imagined – or feared – through self-fulfilling prediction If you think you will fail, then you are making it a whole lot harder for yourself to succeed. Imagining in an
optimistic way is definitely a more useful and pleasant way to spend some time with your imagination. Now, you may think that visualizing this way is just improbable but seeing in a pessimistic way is just as improbable Either way,
you are imagining what may happen in a possible future scenario. Doing it in a negative way may just feel more realistic because that's what people around you are doing or because It's what you've been doing every day for the last
few years. Here are some handy instructions for when you, for instance, have an upcoming meeting:
The above solutions are the easier ones. The suggestions below are the ones you need more time to incorporate. It may take weeks, months or even years. Over time you can gradually make these ideas stronger parts of
your life. And they can make you feel less and less nervous in any situation. Comprehend that people don't care that much about what you do. One big source of nervousness is focusing too much on what people
will think of you. And thinking that their criticism is always about you. But people don't think that much about what you do. You keep much of your attention from day to day on your problems, challenges and triumphs. And that's
exactly what the next guy/girl is doing too. In general, people keep much of their attention on their own challenges and problems. And their criticism is often about something negative in their life rather than about something
you did. So don't worry too much about it. Now, it's very easy to fall back into a behaviour where you feel needy and wonder what people may think about you and what you do. But by working on this you can, step by step and over
time, become less and less worried or bothered by what people might think. This allows you more inner freedom to do and try what you want since you're not feeling trapped in box of other people's opinions.
A firm handshake: Give a firm handshake to the interviewer the moment you enter the hall. This indicates your confidence level and personality in total. The handshakes will push off your nervousness. When shaking
hands, match the pressure of their handshake. Do not be shamble or unusual with the way you shake hands. Wait a moment and smile at the interviewer after meeting them. Good eye contact:
Maintain a good eye contact with the interviewer. It is a form of nonverbal communication known as oculesics and has a large influence on social behavior. It shows the personal involvement and creates an
intimate bond between the interviewer and interviewee. Keeping too much eye-contact might crawl people out. Giving no eye-contact might make you seem insecure. If you are not used to keeping eye-contact it might feel a little hard
or scary in the beginning but keep working on it and you'll get used to it. Don't touch your face Avoid touching your face. Don't shake your shoulders and hands. It might makes you seem nervous and
can be disturbing for the listeners or the people in the conversation. Stay in the present moment. This one ties into the one about belly breathing. When you take those deep, powerful breaths and
focus on doing that your mind seems to silence. Your projections of what may happen at the meeting or job interview die out. Nervousness comes from these negative projections of what may happen sometime in the future. Or from what
happened in the past, perhaps from the last time you had a meeting or an interview. When you instead focus your attention on what's happening now, now and… now the nervousness dies out too. Another way to stay in - or return to -
the present moment is to just pay attention to what is happening right now. Just focus on the scene and the sounds right in front of you. Don't think about the reports you have finish before 5 o'clock, the meeting tomorrow or what
you want for dinner. Just pay attention to the present moment and nothing else for a few moments. Make it a habit and try to expand the time you can spend in the present moment before your thoughts drift away again.
Don't swallow the answer: While giving the answer for the questions don't swallow the last word of your sentence. This brings down the confidence level and indicates that you are not confident about your answer. Accept: Many people freeze, stammer, or panic when they are asked a question that they don't know the answer to. If you don't know the answer, the best course of action to take is to admit it! Tell
the host you can try to find out the answer later. Lying or attempting to make up an answer only serves to make you and the host uncomfortable.Accept your innocence. Don't give wrong answer and get caught. Don't nod your head too
much which indicates that you are hiding your tension through your body language. Validity: Give valid answer for the questions asked by the interviewer and there may be some stressful questions (a
series of harsh, rapid fire questions intended to upset the applicants)and that questions are to check your emotions ,during that time don't be very emotional and answer with a cool mind. Avoid beverages: On the morning of your interview, try to avoid caffeine as much as possible. Most of the people believe that it helps them to relax, but a lot of caffeine researchers claim that it can increase tension
levels. Also, when attempting to bar caffeine from your diet on the morning of your interview make sure to keep in mind that coffee isn't the only culprit behind increasing nervousness or agitation but chocolate, tea and
cola can also play a significant role because they also contain caffeine. Practise, practise, practise. Practice will also help alleviate nervousness. Obviously it's best to work on mock interviews
with a media coach who will offer subjective, professional feedback.The more you practise, take action and put yourself in situations that may make you nervous the more confident you become. You have been there before; you know
pretty much what will happen. So you feel more and more comfortable and less nervous. Conclusion To make it happen as expected in an interview each individual must make a sincere self-assessment and
find out one's areas of both strength and weakness. Knowledge of one's own deficiencies is useful in overcoming weaknesses and unconscious bad habits of posture or speech can be improved by effort. Shortcomings which cannot be
overcome can be accepted and acknowledged so that they do not lead to depression and embarrassment when others notice them. Therefore, coming to terms with oneself and knowing how to deal with one's faults, and how to make the best
use of one's knowledge and skills, is another vital element in preparing for an interview. .So following these practices will definitely eliminate the unnecessary nervousness and I assure that cen percentage you
can move through your interview and come off with flying colours. |
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Source: E-mail December 18, 2007 |
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