Interviews are stress heavy for most applicants, but they don’t need to be. To start with – pat yourself on the back – they’ve selected you. You’re in with a shout. Next up, take a minute out to focus on:
- Why you’ve applied?
- Why you’d be great at this job and working for this company?
Interview questions are pretty much designed to capture responses to these exact two questions. If you focus on this, you can guarantee a far more stress-free interview. You might even enjoy it.
After all, at a standard one-on-one or panel interview, you’ll get about 30 minutes to talk about yourself and how good you are. What’s not to like about that!
Okay, the introverts out there might not be so comfortable talking about themselves but, if you fall into this camp, you still must have submitted some job application documents to get the interview. You could have filled out an application form, sent in a resume, submitted a cover letter or completed selection criteria.
The point about this kind of writing is – it has a purpose. It’s to get you thinking about yourself – all of the good stuff. Things like your strengths, why you’re good at what you do, what you like and why you’ve chosen a particular career path.
If you get selected for interview, all you have to do is be your very own walking, talking resume. And, smile. A smile will help you to relax.
Remember too, an interview is always a two-way street. You are there to check them out as much as they are checking you out. This can go some way to alleviating any stress. If you feel like you are sizing them up, this can take away some of the nerves, and put you more firmly into an enhanced feeling of cool confidence.
Still not convinced that you can be cool, calm and collected? Curtin students are welcome to attend one of our Careers, Employment & Leadership workshops to test out some of the tricks of the trade! We will be hosting our next interview workshop on Thursday 17 October.
