Confidence is a much-needed asset to have when interviewing for a new position, but confidence alone is not enough unless you are fully prepared. Although people can understand their industry inside and out, the lack of preparation is what can hurt someone in an interview the most.
A survey done in America shows that 65% of the population believes that they are above average in intelligence in comparison to others (Heck, Simons, Chabris. 2018.). With that perception in mind, many may falter in their thinking, believing that with some understanding of a concept there is a belief that they would be able to pick up a new skill quickly. But a person being an expert in a skill or topic can make it look seemingly flawless and easy, which may give others the false confidence to believe that they can reach that level within a short period of time.
For example, take a professional basketball player that can shoot very well. After watching them take a few shots, one may feel like they can just pick up a basketball and emulate that same type of success without realizing the effort and time spent on perfecting the motor skills by the professional. From the many nuances such as proper positioning of feet, arms, hands, wrist, along with the strength in each shot, and the timing of releasing the ball, all of which are the key to flawlessness which took many hours, days, weeks, months, and years of consistent practice to achieve.
If we take that same idea to interviewing, one may know and have read online the basic interview questions, tips, and “ideal answers”. But simply seeing and knowing what is being asked and what the response to those questions should be is just not enough. The lack of practice to perfect little nuances such as not saying filler words like “uh”, “um” come naturally to many people without them even realizing until it is pointed out. Other nuances like tapping your feet, stroking your hair, rubbing your hands or arms, and many others happen during an interview that we do not recognize immediately. You must implement tips or tricks with reminders for during the interviews such that you are aware and mindful of the way you are in an interview.
Unfortunately, the interview jitters may never go away no matter how many interviews you’ve done, so the key to acing your next interview is to practice so that you will have the confidence to answer any questions that may be thrown at you. Some tips for practicing include:
- Doing a mock interview and practicing your family or friend. Be as thorough and as detailed in your responses as you would in an actual interview, because how you perform in the actual interview will be a good reflect of what effort you put into your mock ones.
- Ensure that you can talk about your role and all the responsibilities with ease highlighting the critical functions and achievements you’ve had.
- Doing research on the company you are interviewing with so that you can confidently tell them what you know about them and have meaningful questions or points of clarification that can lead to further discussion points.
- Be familiar with what you have put on your resume and be ready to explain/expand further on those as that is what caught your interviewers’ attention in the first place, and they want to learn more.
Practice can help with all these factors when interviewing as the more you practice the more comfortable you are talking about your current role or yourself. By delving deeper into yourself you will learn more about what type of growth and roles you enjoy, and how you’d like to progress further. It can also help you in your search for your next opportunity and with that type of certainty, you’ll be able to gain confidence in your ability to answer questions to get the jobs you want and even adapt to unexpected questions impeccably.
Contact us today to speak with one of our Recruitment Specialists and let us help you find new opportunities for the next step in your career!
References
Heck PR, Simons DJ, Chabris CF. 65% of Americans believe they are above average in intelligence: Results of two nationally representative surveys. PLoS One. 2018 Jul 3;13(7):e0200103. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200103. PMID: 29969480; PMCID: PMC6029792.
Ahn, W.-K. (2022). Thinking 101: Lessons on how to transform your thinking and your life. Macmillan.
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