Interviewers Lockerroom

As you straighten your jacket and try to keep your stomach from lurching, you leaf through the company’s brochure. You’ve been in this position many times and each time you get more nervous. After all, you keep getting rejected. This job search stuff sucks. You’ve had to tell yourself not to give up and keep going. “Yes, I will be hired.” You keep repeating over in your mind to solidify the affirmations you learned earlier. If you haven’t armed yourself with that ammunition, try a few chapters of “Think and Grow Rich”  by Napoleon Hill. If you want to win with your job search, you must have a self-improvement strategy.
 
Be Positive
 
NEVER BE NEGATIVE ABOUT PREVIOUS EMPLOYERS. Many prospective employees lose the job when they answer the question, “Why did you leave your previous employer.” Regardless of the reason, dress it up. Use terms like “limited potential for advancement” and “desire to use all my creative talent”. When you spew negative comments, you come off sounding like a jerk or crybaby with excusitis. Sometimes the interviewer wants to investigate further after you open Pandora’s Box, and you don’t want it to go in that direction.
 
Believe In Yourself And Your Abilities
 
You know your work better than the person that’s interviewing you. Feel good about that. Instead of feeling as though you’re being grilled, remember, they’re interested in you. If your qualifications weren’t so good, they wouldn’t have called you for an interview. Feel good when you they ask a question. It means they want to know more. A job interview is similar to getting to know someone before you ask them out. Both parties want to find similar interests, experiences and commonalities.
 
It’s A Process
 
If at first you don’t succeed, at least you’ve gotten more experience. Some times the interview process needs more work. Consider each interview as experience for the next. Watch the face of the interviewer and reaction to answers. If the job’s not a fit, that’s not a problem. Use it as a training session for the perfect position. You just gotta be persistence with your job search.
 
Smile And Look Them In The Eyes
 
Eye contact is important. Don’t stare but make eye contact in a friendly manner. Understand that a smile and eye contact create bonds. Practice at home in front of a mirror, so you don’t look foolish or like you’re trying to make a pass at the interviewer. Above all, don’t stare too long like you’re in a trance or the interviewer might ask if you’re on medication. Start with eye contact, add small smile, and build until it’s the largest smile you have. When you use the eye contact before you smile, it indicates that the other person is the recipient. A smile with the mouth slightly open and eyes slightly narrowed says honesty and friendliness. A shorter smile is more appropriate for a same sex interviewer.
 
Spiffy Up
 
Make sure you shine your shoes, and that they’re not run over. Ladies make sure the tap on the heel isn’t off, so you walk with a click on one shoe. Yikes! Press your clothes and keep your hygiene in perfect order. Don’t walk in stinking by wearing too much smell good. An interview can end abruptly when the interviewer gags from to much ode’ cologne. If you look good, you feel good. When you feel good, you have a better chance of acing that interview.
 
Practice these few items at home as part of your self-improvement strategy. Work with one or two at a time and try them out at the next interview. Pay attention to the response you get and tweak your performance each time. The job doesn’t always go to the best person; it goes to the person that makes the interviewer believe they’re the best. Believe in yourself and display it for the world to see. It’s not like bragging, it’s just letting your actions state the truth.