Ever feel like you’re at the whim of your interviewers? Like, if they’re in a bad mood or distracted, you’ll feel deflated, or worse, get passed over for the job? It sucks to focus on an outcome you can’t control. Here’s how to shift your approach so you won’t be a job interview victim.
Nobody smiled the whole interview.
An acquaintance reported a terrible interview. It was a 1/2 day panel interview including a presentation she was asked to prepare. As she remembered it, no one smiled at her the whole time. No one nodded even once when she spoke. And they didn’t ask a single follow up question.
She wasn’t a client, but I wanted to help her so badly, especially after she told me the interview was so nerve-wracking that she had decided to stay in her current job forever, rather than risk another interview.
The interviewers’ lack of warmth troubled her and it affected her career decisions. She was a job interview victim.
Don’t let their clouds darken your skies.
Maybe you haven’t experienced an interview quite that brutal.
I hope not.
But if you’re anything like my other clients, you do feel sensitive to the mood, reactions, and body language of your interviewers. Most of us are prone to mirroring the moods of others, especially those in authority, so you might feel your confidence fading away, get flustered, and freeze up or ramble, if it appears your interviewers aren’t receptive.
I get it.
But there’s a better way.
Don’t be a job interview victim. Bring your own sunshine.
Spread it around.
Shine it on your interviewers, even if they’re cloudy.
Prepare yourself beforehand so that you’re confident in how to speak about your work, what they’re really asking in their questions, in your interview skills.
But also, practice the mindset to be centered, of being willing to shoot for a job and want a job offer, without falling into the mentality that those interviewers decide your worth.
They make the job offer decisions.
You can’t control that.
You’re not a victim to their decision.
You don’t even need at the effect of their moods or behaviors.
Be your own center, your own North, your own sunshine.
Don’t rely on them to warm your face. Shine, my friend. Warm theirs. Focus on your interview skills and mindset, on being the sun in the room. Rather than white-knuckling on to an outcome you can’t control, focus on your actions and the elements of the interview you can.
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