As soon as you walk into an interview you are making an impression. The main part of that impression comes from your non-verbal communication. Only 7% of your communication is the words that you use. The rest is the unconscious impression you make according to how to speak and what you look like.
When you are nervous you give off nervous signals in our body language. You appear less confident and therefore less authoritative. All this adds up to a poor impression and a reduced chance of landing the job. So how do you increase your interview self-confidence?
The three top ways to increase your interview self-confidence
Learn 3 tricks from Neuro-Linguistic Programming: the study of how to get results.
1. Mental rehearsal
If you focus on positive pictures you will create an endorphin effect in your body in other words Think positive and Feel better. If you focus on all the things that could go wrong in your interview you will feel bad. The pictures we run in our brains control how we feel from moment to moment. To increase a feeling of self-confidence, sit quietly before the interview and run through your interview in advance as if you are watching a film. See yourself being successful. If at anytime you see a negative picture, change it and deliberately replace it with a positive picture. Make sure the film ends with you getting the job you want.
2. Anchor
Anchoring is a technical term that refers to the process of automatically attaching yourself to an emotion. To anchor yourself, think back to a time in the past when you felt very confident. Imagine that you are back in this situation right now. Feel what you felt, see what you saw and hear what you heard. As you imagine yourself there, you will feel positive feelings coming through your body. At the peak of these feelings press your index finger and thumb together and say ‘GO FOR IT. Repeat this process several times. Just before your interview, press your index finger and thumb together and say GO FOR IT. The positive feelings will come back.
3. Act as if
Have you ever pretended to feel sad and felt sad? Have you ever pretended to feel happy and felt happy? If you pretend to be - or act as if you are - self-confident you will be. Practise in the mirror. How do you stand or sit when you feel confident? How do you breathe? What is the speed of your voice? Is it deep or high? Are your arms or legs open or closed? When you walk into the interview room, simply get back into the same state and you WILL feel confident.
CAROLYN BOYES IS THE AUTHOR OF NEED TO KNOW? NLP (NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING) PUBLISHED BY HARPER COLLINS.
SHE CAN BE CONTACTED ON CAROLYNPBOYES@AOL.COM
