December 9, 2016    |    By

There’s no doubt about it, heading into an interview is an intimidating process.

Luckily, there are things you can do to make your next Shasta County interview just a bit less nerve-wracking. From deep breathing to speaking slowly, these five tips can help you mask your nerves and land the job of your dreams.

 

How to Seem Less Nervous in an Interview: 5 Tips

Whether you’re interviewing for an entry-level position or a managerial role, these five tips can help reduce your nerves and ensure you land the job.


1. Speak more slowly

When we get nervous, our natural tendency is to rush through our speech, stumbling over words, stammering, mispronouncing thing, and talking in a long, drawn-out rush of words, instead of a coherent blend of simple sentences.

Unfortunately, this looks terrible in an interview. To prevent yourself from coming off poorly in your upcoming interview, be sure to mask your nerves beforehand. Spend some time before you go into the interview talking yourself through the potential questions and answers.

As you speak to your interviewer, take deep breaths and note the pace of your speech. If it’s getting a little too quick, stop and take a deep breath between every statement. This forces you to slow down and think about what you’re saying rather than rushing right through it.

2. Act assertive, within reason

While you don’t want to go into an interview and pop your feet up onto your would-be boss’ desk, it’s important to act assertively throughout the course of your interview. Depending on the context of the interview, this could mean reaching out to shake the manager’s hand, taking an assertive approach to answering questions, and not meandering with your speech.

While you certainly want to be respectful of your interviewer, taking an assertive approach to questions can help you come off as confident and informed. Developing these skills will increase the confidence you need, and may assist the manager to see you as the perfect candidate for the job.

3. Avoid being too cold

While most people go into an interview with the intention of acting professional, some take this too far and act cold. Professionalism is critical in an interview setting but it can’t come at the cost of warmth, and interviewees who come off as cold, rigid, or stiff aren’t likely to get the job. With this in mind, smile during the interview, keep your body language open and respond in full sentences to your interviewer’s questions.

These small tweaks make it seem less like you’ve shut down on your interviewer and more like you’re open, accepting, and ready to have a good conversation about the job at hand.

4. Avoid nervous ticks

Nervous ticks, like picking at your fingernails, playing with your hair, or clearing your throat can be a dead giveaway and can quickly ruin an interview for you. If you’ve noticed that you’re suffering from nervous ticks in a meeting, or that you have in the past, you’ll need to be especially mindful of them to avoid coming off as excessively nervous.

In addition to damaging your performance in an interview, nervous ticks also make you seem less confident, which can have an enormous negative impact on your likelihood of getting the job.

5. Be honest

Being honest is one of the most powerful things you can do to decrease nerves in an interview. If you’re trying to “remember your lines,” of course you’re going to be nervous! Luckily, being honest can help you stay cool, calm, and collected, and be genuinely yourself throughout the process of the interview. This will allow you to seem more authentic and less nervous all at once.

Shasta County Interviews Made Simple

If you’re coming up on a big Interview and you’re feeling nervous, these simple tips can help you cope. From taking a breath between each statement to avoiding nervous ticks and keeping your interview honest and authentic, there are many ways to decrease nerves and ensure that you’re acing your interviews from beginning to end.

While it’s okay to be nervous in a new interview, nerves can hurt your chance of getting the job. Luckily, these skills can help you banish nerves once and for all. In addition to helping you get the job, these simple steps are also ideal for enhancing your interviewing skills across the board.

 

Make a great first impression at your next job interview.

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This blog post is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created between the author and reader of this blog post, and its content should not be relied upon as legal advice. Readers are urged to consult legal counsel when seeking legal advice.