Nothing summons nerves like walking into a job interview. They start when you’re sitting in the lobby waiting for your interviewer to come out and continue through much of the conversation.
I don’t have a cure for nerves. In my own job interviews I’ve been nervous as hell too! However, I do want to share one small fact that might give you some helpful perspective.
Your interviewer wants you to succeed.
Before you tell me I’m definitely wrong and that they’re trying to trick you and get you to fail, hear me out.
Recruiters and hiring managers are both extremely busy, but for different reasons. Recruiters are generally busy because they have 20 different jobs they’re trying to recruit for at once. Hiring Managers are busy because they’re doing their day jobs (which is not hiring or interviewing, by the way) and are either down a person on their team or desperately need a new type of role on their team.
Either way, I can promise you that they’d rather interview one great candidate and give them the job versus interviewing 30 candidates before giving a job offer.
Another important point is that neither of these people are conducting a “blind interview” — they’ve already read your resume, understood your background and qualifications, and decided to spend a half hour with you.
That means they think you could be the one, and trust me that they’d like you to be!
This simple shift in perspective should give you a big boost of confidence going into your next job interview. Those who are interviewing you have already vetted you and feel like you are a strong fit for the job. It’s your job to prove them right.
You’re both working towards the same goal and you’re on the same side.
Does this mean you’re never going to have a nasty interviewer or are going to get every job you interview for? Of course not. But going into an interview with the attitude of “they’d probably like to move me forward” vs. “they’re going to do everything in their power to turn me down” is a powerful thing.
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