Interviewing Successfully – The Pscyhology of the Job Interview
Whether a recent graduate or one who has lost a job, many experience anxiety over finding employment. The job interview is especially worrisome for many. Here are some common difficulties and some helpful things to keep in mind when preparing for a face-to-face.
In general, needing a job is emotionally stressful and stress distorts our ability to think clearly. It causes us to have distorted thoughts and to mislabel the significance of events. In other words we lose perspective and problems become amplified beyond their actual size. Under stress everything feels like a crisis. A simple job interview can become an agonizing ordeal unless some basic distortions are identified and corrected.
Some Common Mistalkes: To
- Exaggerate the significance of an interview.
- Misunderstand the meaning of the interview.
- Create unrealistic expectations or a false sense of panic if one doesn’t get the job.
- Overlook important aspects of the experience.
Objectively:
- An interview is just an interview it is not the only interview you will ever have.
- The interview is not an evaluation of your value as a human being but a look to see if your skill are a match for the employer’s needs.
- Every person has skill and value, it is unrealistic to think that you can be all things to all situations. Not getting the job is not failure.
Tips to remember if you or a friend is facing an important job interview:
1.The interview is just one job opportunity it’s not your last chance. There will be others.
2.The real objective of the interview is to discover if there is a good match between your skills and experience and what the job requires.
3.A job you’re not right for or a from a company that is not enthusiastic about you is a disaster waiting to happen.
4.Each person has special talents. The process is to find the right opportunity, not to be hired no matter what.
5. There are two interviews ( not just one)taking place simultaneously.
a) The employer evaluating your for his/her needs and
b) You evaluating the employer to see is the job and company fits you.
6. You can learn a lot about yourself from any interview expereince, even if you don’t get the job, which can be valuable in the next opportunity from interviews that don’t result in getting the job.