INTERVIEWS – PREPARE YOURSELF

Congratulations! You have been invited to interview.

How does this make you think or feel? Most invitations to attend a job interview evoke an emotional response of some kind: positive, negative, but usually a bit (or a lot) of both. For most people, it’s good news: Their CV has proved to be successful in convincing the employer/research group leader/funder that they have the right level of qualifications, experience, skills and capabilities to be a short-listed candidate. Perhaps they’ve been networking as well and have impressed people about their potential to be successful in this role, or maybe someone has recommended or even head-hunted them directly.

Even so, despite the fact that their application has made a good impression, many people still feel a sense of trepidation towards the interview itself. This is perfectly normal, however your mindset can let you down if you allow your mental and psychological demons to take a hold. This is why, during my interview training workshops, I encourage and teach participants to prepare and practice as much as they can to offset and overcome these negative messages.

For example, researching the organisation and role further, examining your application and reminding yourself of evidence you can use to support your answers, as well as predicting questions and practising your responses should help you to feel more relaxed, much as it would if you were revising for an exam or PhD defense. On top of this, it’s useful to find out details about the interview venue and set-up, who will be interviewing you, and what additional activities you may have to do, such as making a presentation or meeting other team members. There is a lot to be done.

However, for one reason or another, many interview candidates let themselves down, not because they have not prepared, but because of their mindset: They don’t believe in themselves enough or they convince themselves they are not ‘up to the job’. PhD and postdoctoral researchers who are aiming to enter the non-academic job market, for which they have little or no direct experience, may also feel this kind of negativity, which can be an arch enemy when it comes to moving on and out of academia. Even though they have been invited for interview, they are still plagued by ‘imposter syndrome’, which interferes with their interview performance.

The ‘Interview Performance Matrix‘ ignores skills, experience and other elements that influence your likely success at interview. Instead, it concentrates on two key personal influencers that are absolutely fundamental to creating a good impression – your preparedness and your own mindset. The Matrix comprises 4 quadrants that represent:

NEGATIVE – This quadrant represents those who are unprepared and have a negative mindset which means they self-limit their performance. The prospect of a positive outcome is unlikely, even if the candidate has a good set of skills and experience to offer.

HOPEFUL – With little or no preparation, but coupled with a highly positive attitude, some interviewees are able to create a very positive initial impression with their confident body language. However, following further questioning, their lack of preparedness usually shows through leaving the interviewers unimpressed. A lax attitude during the interview may also raise concern to a potential employer, who envisages this type of behaviour transferring itself into the workplace.

DEFEATIST – Here, the candidate is prepared for the interview, but is negative in terms of their belief in themselves, which makes the employer question their ability and unwilling to take the risk of offering them the job. This is such a shame for an interviewee who has invested their time and energy to prepare and practice for the interview, only to be marked down due to their under-performance and nervousness.

CONVINCING – This is the ideal quadrant to be in for the best chance of a good interview result. Combined with knowledge of themselves, the job and the organisation, and coupled with visible and audible positive self-assurance, the candidate is best placed to make the most positive impression. In this situation, the candidate not only answers the interview questions accurately and with plenty of examples, they reassure the employer of their competence by demonstrating body language that shows they have confidence in themselves and their ability.

So, I’ve suggested ways to prepare for the interview (and you can visit my blog archive to find out more information on this subject), but how can you work on your mindset?

Unfortunately, there is no magic formula to help you with this, but let me suggest a few potential tactics:
1) Imagine you’re your best friend who’s been invited to this interview. In your role, you would try to support them as much as you could to prepare for their interview, whilst encouraging them with positive compliments, such as pointing out their amazing talents, skills and experiences and telling them how they are bound to succeed. Taking this objective stance, can sometimes help you to overcome imposter syndrome, as you step outside of your subjective self and view yourself more kindly and realistically.
2) Try to relax and reduce your over-thinking tendencies; it’s well known that people are offered jobs that they are not overly excited about, as they are more relaxed and less anxious during the interview, so they tend to perform better than for those interviews that they really care about. Re-framing your thoughts can help you to break the cycle of negativity and minimise some of the symptoms of anxiety and nervousness.
3) Finally, visualise a successful interview and outcome, imagine yourself being offered the job and try to shut out the demons.

I hope these few thoughts have helped you to reflect on the interview process and how you can get through the process – even enjoy it – so that you can transition to your next career adventure. Attending an interview workshop and getting mock interview practice can help you further, as well as having a supportive mentor and/or coach.

Wishing you confidence and success!

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