Dear Job Hunter,
If you find that you are nervous at interviews, it’s because you lack confidence in yourself. An interview is where you go and pitch yourself to companies. It’s where you sell yourself.
Chances are, you feel this way for two reasons:
1. You lack experience with interviewing.
2. You are worried you won’t get the job.
Let’s address both of these.
1. You lack experience.
Something I recommend to many of my clients is that they take interviews with companies even if they don’t have the desire to actually work there. You need practice. There is no other way you will build more confidence without practice.
For example, when I first started giving sales pitches to major Fortune 500 companies, I was awful. But over time with practice, I got better and better until one day I mastered it.
Now I can walk into any situation and command the room. However, it took me at least thirty or forty pitches before I built enough confidence. I was fortunate in that I was giving at least six to ten presentations a week so it sped up my progress.
I remember the day I walked into the MasterCard headquarters in NY. It was very intimidating to say the least. It’s a huge building and they put you through a screening system like the ones at the airport. I walked into a huge conference room to sixteen people all looking at me. These were VPs and high level directors.
Yikes!
And some of these people were not the friendliest bunch.
But luckily I had mastered my pitch and completely owned the room. When I finished my presentation I looked at one of the VPs and asked, “Any questions?”
He looked at me and said, “None. That was one of the most thorough presentations I have ever been given.”
Why was it a success?
Two reasons:
1. I had done it so many times that I felt completely confident.
2. I put myself in their shoes.
Because I understood what they wanted, I presented the information from their perspective. All too often, people get caught up with what they want to talk about and fail to realize that the person they are pitching wants to hear specific information.
So I just give them EXACTLY what they want and I don’t waste their time.
2. You are worried.
I can understand your fear of not getting the job. This really comes down to a couple of ideas:
1. Your lack of confidence
2. Trusting the process
If you are afraid of not getting the job, it’s because you lack confidence that you will be able to get a job somewhere. You need to know that no matter what happens, you will fit somewhere.
If that company doesn’t hire you, then no problem, on to the next. You need to trust the process of life and know that you will fit where you need to fit.
However, if you have gone to over twenty interviews and still can’t land a job, then you need to take an honest look at yourself. I know that might hurt, but you need to come to terms with the fact that you need to work on improving yourself in some way.
- Maybe it’s your confidence.
- Maybe it’s your personality.
- Maybe it’s the quality of work you provide.
One way or another, if after more than twenty interviews you are still not getting the job, then you need to look at yourself or your career strategy.