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Dealing With Job Interview Anxiety

By Benjamin Cook

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Published: 16Jan2010
Word count: 630
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When you’re sitting, waiting for your interview time to come up does the world suddenly seem more...detailed? You can hear the phone ringing, the clicking of the heater, the tapping of a pen on a desk, the muted sound of voices in another room, sounds outside from the bin lorry that’s picking up the rubbish, the traffic in the street… just about everything.

Do you notice that your clothes, so carefully picked to give a good impression, suddenly feel uncomfortable and that tie (or blouse) seems rather tight and scratchy, and now you’re acutely aware of every thought and feeling that’s going through your head?

You start to feel hot, sick and nervous. Your limbs twitch uncontrollably. You start to feel light-headed or faint - and all you want to do is run away.

We’ve all been there, some more often than others, but if you ALWAYS feel like this in stressful situations… be reassured - THERE IS HELP!

First: the discomfort and the light-headedness and urge to flee is all caused by your stress state. Which means that YOU can fix it. That’s right, you’ve been doing this to yourself (even if you didn’t know it) and now is the time to learn to Let Go. And the easiest way to do that is to imagine the worst.

I know, I know - that's what the problem has been all this time, but think about it: have you ever actively tried to fail? Given the most ridiculous answers? Modelled yourself on Borat and deliberately attempted to upset a potential employer? No. Obviously not. And even if you did - what's the worst that could happen?

Second: if you can trace what past event has caused this anxiety, in your present you have a chance to Let the tension and dread Go.

YOU are putting yourself under extreme pressure; somewhere, somehow you’re getting a strong unconscious response to a job interview. Unless you take the time to rationally examine your fear you will remain at the mercy of your subconscious.

So… how do you make it stop?

In order to Let Go you must analyse the past event, intellectually examining it without having to re-experience the painful feelings. When you disassociate yourself from a memory you can learn to re-pattern your behaviours in a more productive manner.

So when you've figured out what is causing the fear, and considered what it is that you need to Let Go, you can positively picture yourself in an interview where you hope to do well but do not physically fear an unsuccessful application.

Third: remember the following tricks to help you calm yourself down when you begin to feel anxious.

● Touch your fourth (ring) finger to your thumb on both hands and breathe slowly and rhythmically. This is a yoga breathing technique which will help ease your mind and calm your body.

● Smile! It sounds strange, but sometimes looking up and smiling can help pull you out of an unpleasant emotional state - body language and posture play a decisive role in controlling how you feel.

● Nerves are heightened when we continually run an image or scenario in our heads - doing something to ‘break’ this state can help enormously. Standing up rather than sitting down, changing seats or focussing on something out of the window can all help 'break' your anxiety and lessen the dread.

● Picture yourself with a positive outcome - focus on the positive and 'break' any negative.

● Fake it! If you pretend to be calm and relaxed you will appear to be calm and relaxed - and will present better to an interviewing board.

So next time you take an interview, remember these tricks and I wish you luck!

www.benjamincook.co.uk Benjamin Cook is an NLP Practitioner and Hypnotherapist in Glasgow specialising in weight loss, phobia cure, smoking cessation and personal coaching

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