De-stress before an interview and pave the way for a confident and successful performance with these proven strategies and tips.

Let me ask you a question.

What differentiates great speakers from not-so-great ones?

Wait, let me complete my point before you blurt out your answer.

Let’s say there are two gentlemen, named X and Y. Assume that both are great in their subject knowledge, their skills, in their articulation, in their thought process, in the way they speak, and present themselves. In short, both are mirror images of each other, as far as the phenotypical qualities are concern.

Now, go back to my question and think about the answer.
It’s hard, right?

Let me share a quote I had read somewhere.
It is about the two most outstanding Cricketers in the history of Cricket – Sunil Gavaskar and Sir Viv Richards.

“The greater the occasion, the better their performances.”

Let’s stay with this quote for a minute because it reflects something very important. It talks about Mental Strength. It talks about resiliency; it talks about how important it is to focus on inner engineering or in biological terms it is called as “Genotypical” skills.

Are you with me? I am sure by now you would have got to the point that I am trying to make here. The differentiating factor between two great personalities is how they deal with tough situation, how they react when they are facing the music or the grind of life.

Do you consider yourself as a mentally tough person?

While you think about it, let me tell you, it doesn’t comes naturally. We are not born with it. Mental strength is a function of flexing mental muscles. And it needs a lot of patience and practice.
With this perspective in mind, let me return to the subject of our discussion.

Interview preparations can be very stressful and mental strength plays a very important role in the process. Let’s say, you have gone through all the possible questions and practiced your answers so many times. You have done all your research about the organization and have got your reference fact sheet ready in your mind. You have brushed up your experience, your knowledge and gone through the job description in detail. You perhaps have done every possible thing you could do on the road to prepare for the upcoming interview. But as the moment or the D-day begins to inch closer, you are slowly getting engulfed in a cloud of anxiety.

Sounds familiar?

You have been waiting for this moment for a long time and now that it is here, you are not sure about your preparations. You start doubting everything unable to control your thoughts.
Well, it is fairly normal to be stressed out in such situations, since you get only one shot and if you fail, you may have to wait for a long time to get back to the same place. Or there could be a lot on stake for you with this interview. I don’t mean to say that you will not have more opportunities coming your way, I meant, once you fail an interview for a specific organization, there is a minimum cooling period of a year or two before you can apply again.

But not to really think negative here, because, believe it or not, disqualification in a recruitment process is also a function of job-profile-experience mismatch or due to fitment issues at the organization level, without any fault of the candidate.

And it’s a journey, got rejected in one, move ahead and focus on the next one. Keep on applying, something will click, wait for your time and keep on progressing in life. If disqualification or the fear of disqualification brings bouts of anxiety to you, then hang on, keep on reading, I am getting there. I am going to suggest a few simple easy to do stuff that can help you relax and calm your nerves. Before you get to the list below, be practical, there are no rules, what may work for you may not work for others. These are some guiding principles that may help you along the way, along your journey. But you are free to find out your own ways, there could be so many. Let’s now look at what I have got here.

A. De-Stress – Adopt a Tangential Mindset:

Consider you are 90 years old right now and you are reflecting back at your life and its highs and lows and its ups and down. Will it matter then that you have failed or cracked this interview? Certainly Not. This perspective is known as Fast Forward Mindset. This is a beautiful exercise to trick your mind to relax and calm your nerves. It may sound silly, but come to think of it more seriously, it works so well, and with practice it can do wonders.

B. De-Stress – Practice STOP Method:

According to executive coach Chris Charyk, this is the ultimate mental trick to tackle any stressful situation. It has four steps to it and it goes like this:

a. Stop what you are doing and focus on thoughts
b. Take a few deep breaths
c. Observe what’s going on in your body, emotions, and mind, and why you’re feeling them
d. Proceed with an intention to incorporate what you observed in your actions

This mental trick slows down deliberately the things you are doing, and to a large extent it also stops the feeling of anxiety that takes you over in those moments. It reminds you that you have the power to banish your own fears, doubts, and nerves. And so, do it, this is something you should practice often. It is not just before the interview, but often so that your mental muscles are nicely flexed.

C. De-Stress – Prepare for the Worst:

It is another great mental trick, pretty well known, and I guess we all have heard from our parents, isn’t it?

“What worst can happen? Get over it.”

Remember? I am sure you do.
Remember, your biggest fear too has an answer. With this kind of awareness seeping into your consciousness, you will be better prepared to handle any outcome coming out of the interview round. Think ahead and by doing that you start to re-prepare yourself for the interview.

And lastly, remind yourself that it is just a conversation. You are not jumping out of a moving train or drowning in the middle of the sea with no help. Muse writer Richard Moy, in his article “How to Keep Your Cool When You Interview With Your Dream Company,” put it perfectly: “As much as you want to work for them, they’re also really hoping you’re the one.”So, not all the pressure’s on you.
It is all about changing mindset. Happy Job Hunting!