How To Pump Yourself Up Before Your Interview Photo Source: www.freedigitalphotos.net
September 21 2012

How To Pump Yourself Up Before Your Interview

While we have all these tips on how to best prepare for the actual interview, like defining your strengths and weaknesses and best questions to ask your interviewer, I couldn’t find anything on how to get a job candidate pumped up before the interview.   Whenever it came time for me to break out the briefcase or twiddle my thumbs before that nerve-wracking phone call, I always found that I wanted a mental boost to get me psyched up and I’m assuming others do too!

I would go through my motions, watch some inspirational Youtube videos and listen to Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” until I was bouncing off the walls with energy and excitement.  Let’s be honest, who likes going into an interview with an energy level of zero?  As a job candidate, you want to go into an interview excited, but sometimes you need a little help getting there.

So, I took to trusty Youtube and prodded my friends for their super secret interview warm up tips and here is what I came up with:

1.  Sports movies provide the best inspirational speeches.  From Hoosiers, to Rudy, to Any Given Sunday, half time speeches are gold.  Forget having to buy the movie, just go to Youtube and type in whatever you’re looking for.

2.  If it’s a phone interview, try a quick work out but just make sure it’s making you work.  Lots of people have nerves and pent up energy before the interview so going for a short run or lifting weights before the call will help put your mind at ease and work off those butterflies.

3.  Music works in wonderful ways.  Whether it’s listening to classical music to help you study, or rocking out while working out at the gym, having a jam session before your interview could be helpful.  While I prefer Queen, others prefer more calming sounds.  Figure out what works for you.

4.  Stay away from caffeine.  I realize some people can’t function without their cup of coffee in the morning but cutting back before an interview might do some good.  One person found he relaxed more when he traded his usual late for green tea.  The last thing you want is to start talking a mile a minute while you’re interviewer tries to play catch up.

5.  Call your friend.  Nothing beats having a friend tell you how amazing you are, how you’ve “got this” and how you’re going to kick ass during your interview.

6.  Then there is this gem I stumbled across. If you’re running late and you don’t have enough time for any of the suggestions above, this is the perfect substitution and I hear it works every time.  Give it a try and tell me what you think.



Share with us what pre-interview boosting tips work for you in the comments!

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