My magnificent voice teacher Winifred used to say “It’s very hard to NOT do something. It’s much easier to DO something that you planned in advance to do.”
When you have a plan, you feel more in control. Yet so much traditional guidance regarding job interviews says “Don’t do this! Don’t do that. Don’t laugh nervously. Don’t slouch in your chair. Don’t go blank.” All those Don’ts are very stressful!
Here is a simple interview plan. Make a list of questions that you want to ask the interviewer and keep them on a notepad in a leather or vegan leather padfolio you will bring with you, together with a pen that you like to write with.
An interview is a recon mission. You are probably not going to dive into your list of questions off the bat unless the interviewer wants to handle things that way, but you still have a mission. You came to learn more. That should help with some of the nerves.
Your recon is not restricted to getting answers to your list of questions. You will also scope out the work environment. You will notice EVERYTHING. How long does it take them to greet you in the lobby?
Did they remember you were coming? Are they flustered and disorganized at your arrival, or gracious and chill? Are the people at work happily chatting and joking together or are they harried and stressed? You are inside the perimeter. Let nothing escape your notice!
In the interview, your focus is on the dynamics of the conversation. Is it friendly and collegial, or stiff and bureaucratic? If you take this job, you will spend countless hours of your life here (or at least, connected to this place somehow). The energy in the place matters.
Right now you might be thinking Liz, are you kidding? I have to take the first job I get.
The truth is that if you go to an interview with a submissive-dog posture you will be more attractive to the worst possible people to work for, and less attractive to the right people
The truth is that if you go to an interview with a submissive-dog posture you will be more attractive to the worst possible people to work for, and less attractive to the right people
That is why I talk so much about your confidence and self-esteem. It is extremely important to find ways to refill your fuel tank when you’re job hunting, so you can be in recon mode (and not submissive-dog mode) on a job interview.
We are trained to go to an interview to please and impress the people we meet, so much so that we can fail to ask ourselves whether we even want to work for or alongside these people. Keep this in mind: only the people who get you, deserve you
