Reader Question: With the tight market every interview seems to have higher stakes. I practice and then I invariably forget one of my key points during the interview. Or I get a question and can’t think of what I had prepared. How do I relax in these interviews?
Reader Question: With the tight market every interview seems to have higher stakes. I practice and then I invariably forget one of my key points during the interview. Or I get a question and can’t think of what I had prepared. How do I relax in these interviews?
Several years ago when I had taken a break from my corporate career to focus on acting, I auditioned for a laxatives commercial. (For an actor, the audition is the job interview.) Thankfully, I’ve never had to use laxatives, but I needed to convey that laxatives were great. How did I do it? Whenever I needed to say the product name, I substituted my baby’s name in my mind, so I cracked a smile, my body relaxed, and I got a twinkle in my eye at just the right moment. Behold the power of substitution.
Substitution is a useful technique for situations that might make you freeze and not do your best (e.g., a job interview). You substitute something that gives you the desired effect for the actual thing that makes you freeze. For example, one client was interviewing at a consulting firm. She was prepared but would completely fall apart at the start of the case interview. A case interview is a business problem the interviewee needs to solve. These cases are similar to research projects, with which this client was experienced after two years of graduate study. Therefore, I coached her to substitute a professor for the interviewer and a research topic for the case. She still needs to prepare for cases specifically (you can’t use substitution to fake it), but the substitution gets her relaxed enough so that the preparation she has done has a chance to show. If thinking of the interview as a class assignment doesn’t work, try thinking of the interviewer as a friend of a friend and that you are making conversation at a social gathering while waiting for your mutual friend to reappear.
If you are in an interview, or other important event which might get you rattled, remember substitution. You won’t forget where you are. You will still be able to harness the adrenaline and the energy of the moment. You will still need to prepare. However, you will have one technique to keep you grounded if you feel the need. At the very least, you’ll now know how to sell laxatives.
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As a recruiter, I’ve seen lack of flexibility on the recruiting side with employers clinging to every last detail in their ideal spec while perfectly good candidates get overlooked. As a career coach, I see jobseekers prematurely dismissing possible targets waiting for that perfect job. It’s true that you want to be focused in your job search (otherwise you dilute your efforts and come across as scattered and possibly desperate).5 Questions to Test If Your Resume Is Recruiter-Proof
After recruiting in search and in-house for over ten years, I have read thousands of resumes. Due to sheer volume of resumes received and all the other things that vie for the recruiter’s attention in the hiring process – scheduling, interviewing, networking, reference checks, client debriefs, and more – the resume review process is ruthlessly quick.Why Conventional Wisdom On Work Flexibility Is Always Wrong
In a previous post, I wrote about why employment statistics are always wrong. In a similar way, conventional wisdom on work flexibility is always wrong. It is impossible to generalize something that is inherently case-by-individual case. Therefore, any boilerplate advice or conventional wisdom is bound to omit a key consideration, underweight or overemphasize other considerations, or take too long-term or short-term of a view.