Jim Bright offers tips to help set the stage for a successful interview.
David from Bella Vista writes: "My manager told me I could not be promoted because my interview was so bad. She said I appeared to be very nervous and was not me. I get so wound up by interviews that sometimes I am physically sick before them. They often seem a blur. Help!"
David, you are not alone. In fact, your reaction would be recognised by many applicants. When I run job-application workshops, 90 per cent of attendees say the interview is their personal nightmare.
The good news is there are several straightforward steps you can take to improve.
Firstly, no matter what people tell you about being yourself, the interview situation is unnatural. As veteran television interviewer Michael Parkinson once said: "It is an unnatural act done by two or more consenting adults in public."
In some ways, the interview is a performance, so why not take some tips from performers who have to overcome their own stage fright? All performers have some idea about what they are going to say or do when they go on.
So in your case, you might want to work out a few key stories you want to convey to the interviewers about your work achievements.
If you have a bit of a script, you will have something to focus on and a bit more control over things. Identify three such stories that are relevant to the job you are applying for (preferably stories that directly relate to the selection criteria).
The stories should be about a time when you demonstrated the required knowledge, skill or ability.
Structure the stories using the sound-bite formula combined with the popular STAR formula: point, reason, situation, task, action, result, point.
So an example would be: "I am great at customer service [point] because I listen carefully to my customers [reason]. For instance, last month, a key client wanted to change their payment schedules [situation].
I knew this involved creating a new account in the system and checked whether the client was happy with this solution [task].
She said she was, so I created the new account the same day [action]. The client's request was fulfilled promptly and they were happy [result]. This exemplifies my customer service skills [repeated point]."
The other thing you can learn from performers is they rehearse until they know their lines and they even do dress rehearsals so they are comfortable in their outfits and in the performance environment.
For you, this means practising interviews with as many people as you can find and getting comfortable in your interview attire.
Even consider applying for some positions simply to get interview practice.
Take your time in the interview and think about it simply as a chat between adults about a topic of mutual interest; they are interested in filling a position and you are interested in filling it, too.
Listen carefully to the questions and don't hesitate to ask an interviewer to repeat it if you forget it halfway through or didn't hear it. Always have a question to ask at the end of the interview because it is likely they will ask you if you have any.
If they have answered your question during the interview, simply ask them to expand on their answers by saying: "Could you tell me a little more about ..."
Finally, put it in perspective. How much will this one-off interaction matter in 10, 20 or 30 years' time?
The more practice you have, the better you will become, so at the very least, treat the interview as an opportunity to improve your skills rather than worrying about your performance or the outcome. Good luck.
Jim Bright is professor of career education and development at ACU National and a partner at Bright and Associates, a career management consultancy. He has written several best-selling books about job hunting.
Email yourproblems to Jim at brightside@jimbright.com.