Tips to be Confident in Interview!

Being interviewed for a potential job can make you scared, nervous, and doubtful about your own abilities and intelligence. And you need to come across as cool, calm, and confident during the interview. Confidence during an interview is of critical importance. In fact, your confidence level may mean the difference between getting a job offer and returning to the help wanted ads. Excited, confident, optimistic, stressed out, anxious, terrified… How you feel going into your job interview greatly depends on your preparation. Put yourself in the best position possible with the following tips culled from my experience with both Skype and in-person interviews, as well as advice I gathered during my own preparation.

Here are some tips to be really confident during interview:

1. Maintaining Eye Contact :

   Practice keeping good eye contact while listening, and equally important- while speaking! (Most people find this harder to do when speaking). There’s nothing more important than eye contact when it comes to showing confidence, and it’s extremely noticeable if you’re staring down or to the side when you talk.

   2. Body Language and Body Position:

   Once you’ve made a habit of maintaining eye contact, it’s time to think about your body positions. You want to stand and sit in open positions – arms by your sides, not crossed. Make your body take up a lot of space, rather than making yourself smaller. This is how to seem confident.

   3. Don’t fidget and Smile :

   Be still, and make controlled, calculated movements. Don’t hold a pen or paper and fidget constantly. Be careful not to tap your hands or feet either. It’s okay to be animated and talk with your hands. It’s probably even a good thing in most interviews to show enthusiasm. But don’t move your hands around when you should be listening! Confident people smile. Nervous people grimace or wrinkle their face up and look super serious or distracted. So along with making eye contact like we discussed earlier… smile and try to hold relaxed, calm facial expressions. It’s okay to show you’re thinking about an interview answer, or deciding what to say, but you shouldn’t constantly look like you’re strained and having a miserable time.

   4.  Know the job and Read about relevant industry literature: 

   Know the job inside and out and be able to describe the position you’re applying for without referencing it. I was asked during the course of a day-long interview to describe the responsibilities of the job and what was missing from the job announcement. While preparing about interview read everything possible about the job, field of job and industry in detail. This will help you be more confident in the interview.

       5.  Prepare for common interview questions: 

Write out your answers and practice with someone so that your answers roll off your tongue naturally without              sounding rehearsed. Here are two of the most helpful lists of generic interview questions I found:

– How to Answer the 23 Most Common Interview Questions

– The 50 Most Common Interview Questions

       6.  Know how you will deal with the anxious butterflies: 

Know how you will deal with the anxious butterflies the day of the interview. I set aside some time                     just before each interview to meditate, reflect on my strengths, and take some deep breaths. You may find a                  session of yoga, exercise, or repeating positive affirmations useful.