I've been doing some mock interviews for friends and I've had a couple realizations. Almost everybody gets nervous at interviews. I get nervous, you get nervous, we all get nervous. However some are able to tamp down the nervousness and not let it show. There's nothing wrong with being nervous, but it is useful to project confidence. Stuff like smiling, speaking up, even providing a light joke can help you seem more personable and get you ready to perform.
When I have an interview, I tap into techniques that I used when I competed. I used to do a very individual based sport. Tournaments would be stressful since your performance solely depended on you. Therefore I learned a bunch of techniques on how to keep your mental game going. Techniques such as listening to music to hype you up, having certain ritual foods or drink, self talk, meditating, etc. One accomplished athlete I knew talked about how he'd tell himself that he'd put in the training to be the best. Therefore he knew that he could do it.
It's a little weird viewing an interview as a competition but it's really about getting through a stressful, high risk/reward situation with the right mental game.
I've conducted close to a thousand interviews as an Interview Engineer at Karat (and hiring people before that). And yet, as a candidate I _always_ get terrified during even mock interviews.
> One accomplished athlete I knew talked about how he'd tell himself that he'd put in the training to be the best. Therefore he knew that he could do it.
In case your individual based sport is not climbing and if you haven't already watched it, I highly recommend "Free Solo" which is a documentary about Alex Honnold and his extraordinary preparation to climb El Capitan. I warn that this is a nerve-wracking film. However, the way that Alex talks about "becoming perfect" is interesting. He practices a part of the route so many times with ropes/harnesses that he becomes perfect at it. In other words, he has no fear because he is perfect at the route.
That has actually started to become a sign for me.
Sometimes I'm not really stressed before the interview, and that's when I realise I don't care that much about the job and probably shouldn't go further.
When I have an interview, I tap into techniques that I used when I competed. I used to do a very individual based sport. Tournaments would be stressful since your performance solely depended on you. Therefore I learned a bunch of techniques on how to keep your mental game going. Techniques such as listening to music to hype you up, having certain ritual foods or drink, self talk, meditating, etc. One accomplished athlete I knew talked about how he'd tell himself that he'd put in the training to be the best. Therefore he knew that he could do it.
It's a little weird viewing an interview as a competition but it's really about getting through a stressful, high risk/reward situation with the right mental game.