Are you feeling the nerves suddenly before your big day?
The days leading up to an interview can be nerve-wracking, but it’s important to not let it overwhelm you!
In this post, we go over our top 10 tips to relax before a job interview.
1. Take a break
If you’ve been preparing hard for your upcoming job interview, then take a night off the day before. You need to let yourself relax so you don’t overwork and tire yourself out. By taking a break you’ll save precious energy and enthusiasm for the interview.
Whether you take a bath, go for a nice meal or watch a movie, be sure to get yourself to bed early so you have a full night's rest.
2. Plan something to look forward to after the interview
You’ve put hours and hours of work into this all important moment. For all your hard work you should plan something exciting and schedule it after your interview.
This will help calm and distract you for moments when you feel your stress rising during the interview.
3. Call an uplifting friend
Do you have someone in your life who always makes you smile? Maybe this is a friend or family member. Whenever you feel your nerves settling in, give this person a call and let them cheer you up and relax you. Laughing produces feel-good hormones that relax and make us happy.
4. Do something that feels good
Turn up your music, exercise, dance, sing- whatever it is that makes you get into a confident and positive mood. You should do it whenever you feel anxious before your big interview.
5. Try some mindfulness
If you feel your nerves taking over, take a moment to pause and focus on your breath. A great calming breathing technique is to breathe in for a count of 4 and out for a count of 8.
Slow and controlled breathing like this makes you focus on the moment while decreasing your heart rate.
You should also do this right before you enter the interview room as it will slow down your nerves and ensure you don’t speak too fast.
6. Work on your voice
When driving to the interview or even in your bedroom before you leave your house, you should warm up your vocal chords.
This is to have a confident voice without any shakiness or sounding different from normal during the interview.
To do this, stick your tongue out as far as it can go and sing out loud the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty.
This technique opens up your throat and gives you more control over your voice.
7. Go for a walk
Get in some fresh air and go for a walk. Exercise increases endorphins clears your head and ensures you become more alert.
8. Look in the mirror
When you arrive at your interview (early!) head to the bathroom and just check your face, hair and clothes are looking perfect. Check for food in your teeth, smudged lipstick and clean fingernails.
9. Wait standing up
When you stand up tall, you naturally build self-confidence.
If you greet the interviewer standing up at their level, instead of taking a seat in the waiting room you won’t be caught off guard.
10. Make friendly conversation with staff as you wait
By chatting and being friendly to the existing staff while you wait for your interview will calm you greatly.
This can be a fantastic way to leave an impression with the receptionist or even another colleague if you get the role.