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54 THE FUNDAMENTALS

operational growth, leading start-up and turnaround efforts, maximizing
business opportunities, and ensuring compliance w/ legal and regulatory
requirements. Recognized agent for change with documented ability to
lead reengineering activities that fulfilled strategic objectives. Hold JD
and BA degrees.

Reduce Your Anxiety

Anxiety can place a chokehold on your interview performance. This af-
fliction can be especially deadly during a competency-based interview,
when you need to show clear understanding of the questions being asked
and remain focused while you provide the answers to those questions.
Apprehension usually creeps up when you lack the ability to adapt to the
interview setting: you are being “tested,” your knowledge or ability is be-
ing questioned, you are afraid of failing.

We are all individuals and we have different things that trigger our
feelings of anxiety. It is up to you to recognize your own anxiety triggers
and learn to minimize them before your heart begins to pound, you feel
flushed, or you get tense and start to sweat.

To begin, remind yourself of the preparations you have made to be
ready for the interview. There’s another step you can take, once your ap-
pointment for the interview is set. Many times jobseekers are so excited to
get an interview that they forget to ask who they are interviewing with.
When you know the name of the interviewer, Google her name to find
any information on the Internet regarding interview questions the person
normally asks.

Then, you can control your anxiety to some extent by keeping the
following thoughts in mind:

, Realize that the interviewer wants you to succeed. She wants the
search for a hiree to end just as much as you want a job offer.

, Let go of the dream, and focus on the reality. Don’t want the job so
desperately before the interview that it clouds your perspective. In
truth, you cannot know whether you want the position without dis-
cussing the specifics of the job with the hiring manager. For all you
know, you may not be impressed by what the company has to offer.

American Management Association
www.amanet.org