Get past the nervous jitters
Everyone gets a little nervous before and during an interview. It is normal, and it is also helpful because it triggers a flow of adrenalin which will heighten your mental clarity. But when a case of nerves gets out of control, and you are actually incapacitated in some way, this can be a serious problem. Some people get so frightened at the thought of meeting new people or talking about themselves that they feel faint or short of breath or their hands shake uncontrollably. This can be embarrassing and can make you appear incompetent. Those people who are severely affected by nervousness often believe they have no control over the situation. But the fact is they do; we all do.
The solution boils down to choice. You have two choices: to be nervous or not to be nervous. If you choose not to be nervous, you will stop dwelling on failure and being overcome by your nerves, which will cause you to be even more upset and nervous. Instead you will be focusing your attention on finding ways to abate your nervousness. Whatever you focus your attention on-whatever you think about constantly-is exactly what will happen. If you focus on using certain techniques to diffuse your nerves and to calm yourself, you will not have time to worry. If you put your energy into what you want to say during an interview and what questions you want to ask, instead of being immobilized by your fear, you will be well prepared and feel confident. We can sabotage ourselves from doing the very thing that we need to do to have a successful interview by focusing on what could happen if our nerves get out of control.
Mental rehearsal is critical
Once you choose not to be nervous, there are techniques you can use to dilute your nervousness down to a manageable level. The first one is mental rehearsal. It has been proven during a series of research experiments that whatever a person visualizes or imagines will be recorded in the mind's memory in exactly the same way that an actual experience is recorded.
High school basketball players were divided into three groups of ten each. For a period of ten days, one of the groups had to spend 30 minutes each day practicing lay-up shots on the court. Another group had to spend 30 minutes visualizing themselves on the court, standing in front of the basket, and throwing lay-up shots. They did this each night before they went to sleep. The third group did nothing for ten days. At the end of this experiment, the group that actually practiced the lay-up shots and the group that visualized them practicing both experienced a 97 percent increase in their ability to make the shot when they returned to the court. The group that did nothing experienced a decrease in their shooting abilities. This same experiment was performed over and over for several years with exactly the same results. The group that visualized did as well as the group that actually went out on the court and practiced each day.
So you can see just how powerful tool visualization can be. That is why people who keep thinking about how nervous they will be during an interview find that prophesy comes true. Their minds have already recorded an image of themselves being nervous. So when the real situation comes about, their bodies perform based on a preconditioned memory-a memory of being nervous.
But you can create a different preconditioned memory. When you have your oral presentation prepared, set aside 30 minutes each day before your interview and go to a quiet place. Sit down, close your eyes, and visualize yourself walking into the agency building and then the main office.
If you are not familiar with the agency's building, take a little trip and have a look. Actually go inside the building and look around. Go into the agency so that you can have a picture in your mind of what the place looks like. Do not hesitate to tell the receptionist that you just came by to be sure you had your directions straight before your interview.
Then when you visualize, see yourself sitting down in the reception area and taking several deep breaths before you are called into your interviewer's office. See yourself walk into the office and envision what you will say at that time. Go through the small talk for the initial part of the interview. Then imagine yourself sitting down and feeling really relaxed and comfortable, as if you were talking with an old friend. Then picture in your mind the remainder of the interview, what the person might ask you, and how you will answer each question. Hear and feel yourself speaking clearly and with complete confidence.
The more detail you can bring to your visualization, the stronger your memory record will be. This memory record will kick into play when you go into the real interview. And just like anything that you have done over and over, being calm, comfortable, and knowing just what you are going to say will become automatic. Your mind and body will move cooperatively together to repeat the same pattern of movements, thoughts, energy, and calm confidence, since that will be a major part of your visualization and memory. If you can do this for a week or ten days, you will be astounded by the results.
Distract yourself
One of the main reasons for preparing small talk questions to ask your interviewer when you first walk into the office is to create a distraction for yourself. You see, nervousness is just like the hiccups-once it starts it is hard to stop it. You have probably noticed that when you try to get rid of the hiccups, it never works. What you are really doing is focusing more attention on them. Remember, what you focus your attention on will keep happening. But when you get distracted and begin doing something else that takes your mind off your hiccups, then they are gone.
Nervousness works in exactly the same way. If you can distract yourself for as little as 30 seconds, doing something that requires you to take your attention away from yourself, your nervousness will disappear. It really works!
When you walk into an interviewer's office, focus all of your attention on that person. Really look at this person. Take in every detail of the office, then start asking a few questions about the agency, or your interviewer's background, or the climate of the ad business right now. Remember, people love to talk about themselves. And when you ask these questions, really listen to the answers and look for an opportunity to formulate another question from the answer. You will get so wrapped up in paying attention to your interviewer that you will totally forget about being nervous. Once you break the nervous pattern, it rarely comes back. If it does, simply ask another question and distract yourself again.
