Page 48 - You're Hired! Interview Answers

will try to get beyond this so that they are not overly influenced by the ‘spin’ PRePaRing FoR the inteRview
a candidate is putting on their achievements. Nevertheless, understanding
how confident and fluent you typically sound is important. It’s also worth
remembering that for most people nervousness has a dampening effect
on normal levels of confidence and fluency. Sources you can use to assess
this include your friends, feedback from previous interviews and your own
knowledge of whether, for example, people typically see you as thoughtful and
quiet or expressive and extrovert.

Thinking about yourself objectively can be difficult, which is why you need
to give time to this element of your preparation. You may even want to
record yourself giving answers to some of the sample questions in this book.
There is no substitute for actually ‘saying the words out loud’ as part of your
preparation. How does your voice sound? How quickly do you speak? Do the
words you use make you sound confident? (Too many positives risk making
you sound arrogant.) Do the words you use make you sound too modest? (Too
many negatives will make you appear to be self-doubting and uncertain.) A lot
of people find this balance hard to achieve, so do practise out loud.

It is worth visualising the interview situation, as a
way of mentally preparing yourself.

“Are there any mannerisms or verbal ‘ticks’ I need to be aware of?”

Examples of verbal ‘ticks’ include ‘ums’, nervous coughs, nervous laughs,
sighs etc. Other mannerisms may include fidgeting, an unusual posture or
tooth tapping. Introspection can only take you so far with these; you need
feedback from other people who know you well, and you need to ask them to
be really honest and objective. Only worry about mannerisms if people tell you
that they get in the way. Changing deeply ingrained mannerisms is not easy,
and you don’t want to end up looking self-consciously ‘stiff’ or uncomfortable.

If you need to change any of these things, give yourself plenty of time to
work at them and practise. People tend to make the best impact at interview
when they appear authentic and ‘comfortable in their own skins’ – so yes, do
prepare, but don’t change anything that will get in the way of ‘you’ coming
across as a person.

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