The Psychological preparation before an interview

Most of the things written about an interview give us insight about an interview with tips about various sides of a good self-presentation. There are books about the types of questions and answers in General knowledge, written and viva-voce tests. Experts tell us how the self presentation must be conducted with the help of audio-visual aids. One can see candidates practicing before the mirror or video camera to get the perfect body language.

Facing an interview basically requires confidence. Confidence is the key element for each and every job interview. Confidence is born out of very good psychological preparation.

What does psychological preparation mean?

Long back, Sri Aurobindo, the famous saint of India said- “A prepared mind can face most of the challenge”. One has to perceive that an interview is a challenge. One selection for a good job can transform the lives in an entire family.

There are many instances of candidates who fail despite a very good knowledge and efficiency to perform in the interview and other related tests based on job knowledge and grasp over their subjects of studies.

But confidence level in an applicant does not remain same when he is either asked very tricky questions or put through other stiff tests. Even the experienced individuals falter and make aberrations while appearing at interviews.

There are candidates, who complain of burning in their throats and fast palpitations of heart resulting in trembling of voice while stepping inside the alien atmosphere of a new place of work for an interview. There are over-confident persons, who are ultimately disliked and rejected by the interviewers.

The aim here is to create a balanced mentality with presentable features of a good personality.

Many applicants complain of nervousness while they step inside the interview room and make slip-ups while they speak the points necessary for the presentation.

How does this happen to the best prepared guys and girls for the interview?

The reason is we make our preparation in the natural atmosphere at our home.Our natural self is best-off inside a familiar ambiance.

But what is an interview venue? There we are unfamiliar with the people and situations.  For us it is a new atmosphere where we have to interact and convince some strangers about our efficiency and knowledge for the job.

When one applicant steps inside the place of interview he finds the natural atmosphere of the home is gone. Most of the places where an interview is held have a created or artificial atmosphere. The beautifully arranged costly sofas, glass partitioned cabins and serious faces of the people working there can make the natural-self of a new comer nervous.

What is natural self? It is the condition and frame-up of mind, in which one’s body and mind are most comfortable without any reaction. One does not feel the impact of any imposed rules and restrictions. One is within his natural self when he is not feeling the tension of unfamiliarity of a situation.

Every human has his natural-self adjusted to an easy ambiance of either his office or home. But one’s natural self reacts with unease inside a new unknown place supposed to be a place for interview. The result is tension. The symptoms in the body are a burning sensation in the throat, fast heart-beats and perspiration.

How to practice to be calm before an interview?

There are a few practices which can keep the person normal during an interview without the loss of confidence.

• Observe silence before attending the interview – Silence has two distinct advantages. The first one is it helps one to focus by keeping the body and mind integrated. The second benefit is silence is always procreative. On the day of the interview, every thing has to be meticulously planned including the timing to reach the venue of the interview. One need not talk and avoid unnecessary company of others; particularly friends, who might be among the hopefuls for the same job. By talking with them, one unnecessarily creates distractions for himself. The consequences will be loss of concentration.
• One should go alone to the venue of interview – It is always good to be single, while going to the place of interview. It creates a consciousness helpful in remaining within the focus of concentration regarding the questions; which might be asked. For instance there is always one typical tricky question in every interview that why one person is interested in seeking a position at that particular place .Usually the tricky questions puzzle the aspirants and make them nervous. If one is alone then he remains prepared psychologically with the answers for those awkward questions. Answers should be well-thought out ones, which would not invite further complicated queries.
• After checking into the interview venue  the need for silence becomes more – The venue of an interview may be a quiet and cool place or a place having a lot of activities, but the one should keep the reticence. After informing about his presence at the reception, he should spend time in the tranquility of mind till he is called to the interview room. Usually candidates gossip at the places of interview. Gossiping and sharing of information in the eleventh hour of interview can not help for selection. It only distracts minds.
• While sitting with  a reserved mind, practice the yogic breathing – As the popular proverb in English goes, silence is always golden. Here one should do a small breathing exercise, which will multiply the folds of silence. It is very simple. While being in the wings of people to get the call for his turn to get interviewed, one can rehearse this again and again. The practice is to simply feel the incoming and outgoing breathing. While one breathes in, he feels the tiny touch of cool air at the entrance if nostril and at the time of exhaling, one feels slight warmth at the same place. The observation of incoming and outgoing breathing increases concentration tremendously. This can even be practiced by the children suffering from lack of concentration in their studies. This improves the psychological frame-up essential for the interview.

What to do when one steps inside the interview room?

The nervous palpitations of the heart and sensation in the throat, causing trembling of the voice become intense when one is called to the interview room. But this shall be largely arrested if one goes to the interview room with a small practice of this breathing observation for some amount of time before the interview. Here three things are very important; the first thing is listening and the second is eye contact and last one is keeping on smiling while answering. These three have different applications to help one psychologically.

• Listening is first step towards one’s success in the interview -A lot of things have been written about listening. When one listens to the words of the human-being perfectly, he gets to know the kind of human-being behind the words. Technically speaking one finds the life building material in a human-being by listening. Life building material means the knowledge that he gets about the place of work and human-beings and whether he would make the right choice to join there. From the type of questions asked in the interview one can evaluate the human-beings associated with the organization. While listening, one should be very careful and seek clarification if he is unable to understand any part of the question. First concentration is required to thoroughly understand the question and then comes the answering.
• Listening and proper eye-contact create the correct focus in the questions asked in the interview – Eye contact is again a matter of importance. By keeping the right eye contact with the interviewers one can avoid loss of concentration. Here eye-contact gives psychological boost-up for the facing the people in the interview. If eye contact with the interviewers is not there it means serious short-fall of concentration in the candidate. While listening with proper eye contact, one should nod from time to time to show appreciation towards the questions asked there and people present in the interview board. This creates a perfect symmetry of body language necessary for giving a good impression towards things asked by the interviewers.
• Keep smiling while answering – Smiling is a psychological aid in decreasing tension from the vocal chords in the body. It increases one’s worth of presence in the interview. It relaxes the entire body and makes one participative. Smiling always acts as an enhancer of confidence.