Finding a job in this economy is growing harder and harder for a lot of people out there. After so many people have been laid off from their jobs, there is more competition than ever for the limited number of job offers that are available to those who need work. Nowadays, you have to write and rewrite your resume and cover letter to tailor them to the employer you are giving them to. Generic resumes don’t get looked at closely too often, and it is worth it to job seekers to put the extra work into their first impression.
With all of the competition out there and the limited number of jobs available, when you do get called in for a job interview, it puts the pressure on that much more to make a good impression and be able to answer all of the questions with ease. Interviews are nerve racking enough without having to worry about not being able to feed your family or pay your rent if you don’t get the job! If you are a nervous interviewer, there are a few things that you can do to help prepare yourself for the interview and set your mind at ease before you go in for the interview.
The first thing you need to remind yourself of, is that your interviewer is only a person, just like you, who is perhaps a little nervous at the thought of meeting and talking to a new person as well. We all share the same types of fears and insecurities, and we can all relate to one another’s feelings.
The next thing you can do to prepare yourself for the upcoming interview is to research popular interview questions and start preparing your answers. Be careful not to sound like everyone else and only give the routine, standard answers when you are doing this. Interviewers can tell when someone is being honest with them and when their answers are genuine. You could give a bunch of great answers, and tell your interviewer everything that they want to hear, but most of the time, one honest answer can catch their attention and get you the job a lot faster than a few standard answers. For example, when asked why you want the job, instead of giving them the routine, “I have always wanted to do this job,” answer, talk about the position like you know what it entails (it helps if you do your research!) and the challenges and rewards that you expect it to bring into your life. Tell them how you will overcome the challenges and enjoy the rewards, and make sure they hear you talk about how these things will help the company; businesses love to hear that their employees want their company to grow!
The final thing you can do to prepare for an interview is to get a couple of friends together and host some mock interviews. Have them confer with one another over what questions they will ask you, and have them take turns interviewing you. It might be a good idea to have one friend interview 2 or 3 of you at the same time in case your real interview is a group one. You can also conduct a couple of interviews yourself to get the feel for what it is like to sit on the other side of the desk.