What Can You Do to Have a Smoother Job Interview?
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Looking for a new job can be fun and exciting but, for some, this process may cause a great deal of anxiety. So, what can you do to cope?
Remind Yourself This is a Process
Finding a new job won’t happen in just one day. If you’re not called for an interview for your first application, don’t worry about it. See if you can view this as just another opportunity to review your application again, seeing what works and what doesn’t. It’s normal to feel nervous in the face of the uncertainty of the job hunt, so be understanding toward yourself. A little self-compassion can go a long way.
Make Sure You’re Properly Prepared
When applying for a job, it’s very important to have a CV prepared in the right format. If you’re called for an interview after preparing your CV and applying for a job, try to embrace your emotions like anxiety and excitement as it’s very normal to feel that way. These emotions can help clarify your purpose, but if you let them consume you, you’re more likely to stress yourself out even more. You have a higher chance of success if you go into the interview with a calm state of mind. Before the interview, make sure to gather information about the company and the position you’ve applied for as well as a list of what you’re bringing to the table. Know your worth!
Consider Each Interview as an Experience
It’s very important to remember that each job interview is an experience you can learn something from. So, consider both your own conclusion and the feedback given to you by the interviewers as you prepare for future interviews. That way, you can review and tweak things to be better prepared next time. Growth is important and being able to take in constructive feedback and apply it to your advantage is a skill that takes time. Don’t let it damage your self-confidence, because when you know your worth the other people around you feel that and you’ll be able to communicate more easily and clearly.
Embrace the Fear of Rejection
Considering a job interview as a learning experience, whether the outcome is positive or negative, will only serve you in the future. When it comes to work, the rule of “right time, right place” applies. Of course, there’s a suitable job for everyone. Maybe you need more time… You may be rejected several times until the right time comes around. But, how can you be sure that it’s not going to open a door to a better job in the future? Not giving up despite the rejections you get can be challenging sometimes, but this process can open up space for improvement and guide you toward positive growth.
Every step we’ve taken in our professional lives, no matter how different one is from the next, contributes to our overall work experience. Maybe we’ve worked jobs that were unrelated to our field of study or maybe we’ve pursued non-traditional routes of professional growth. We can mention the contributions of these jobs instead of ignoring those experiences we. For example, someone who studied psychology might have also lead dance classes and this might show interviewers something about their discipline and communication skills. Listing internships, volunteer work, and hobbies also allows you to have a more comprehensive CV and market yourself as a well-rounded candidate. You can use the job searching process to gain new experiences and to explore areas you hadn’t thought to before as well.
Applying for a new job is a challenging process that may require us to be both mentally and physically ready. This process starts with preparing a CV and continues with interviews, which can be quite stressful. A need for acceptance and fear of rejection can definitely contribute to our stress as well. The thought of being rejected can be so challenging that it can even prevent us from applying for a job in the first place. Just think of the things people never started because they believed they column’t do things like make ceramics, dance, play the piano, make a calculation, and on and on. In fact, these people didn’t even give themselves the chance to fail, did they?
Who knows? Maybe Van Gogh or Freddie Mercury succeeded first and foremost because they were courageous enough to try. There’s no one in this world who can achieve everything they set out to do. Everyone’s talents and abilities are unique, but most importantly: They’re limited. To identify our talents, we sometimes we need to fail. Sometimes we get rejected for a job because we aren’t qualified for the position and sometimes because we’ll be more successful in another position. In such cases, our inner critic may be hard to silence, telling us we’re inadequate and a failure. But failing is something we do, not who we are. We all need to develop different strategies to cope with this process.
Sometimes we may not have the courage to apply for a job and sometimes we may try to find another spot for ourselves in another field. We may feel angry, rejected, or sad. These are very natural reactions. However, what’s important here is not the reason for rejection but the meaning we attribute to it. So, this rejection doesn’t have to mean that we failed. Can success be measured by a single authority in a single decision? No. We contain multitudes and have different strengths in different areas of life.
There are many parameters considered when evaluating an application and every company has different expectations and understandings of competency. So, being rejected by company A doesn’t mean that you won’t be a great fit for company B. Shifting your perspective toward one of growth through learning what each job application has to offer you can have a major impact on your mood throughout the process.