How to Mentally Prepare for a Job Interview

How you show up in an interview, and in any other situation, largely depends on your state of mind. If you’ve watched a tennis match, the Olympics, or any other sports event, you’ll have noticed that professional players always take the time to prep themselves mentally before the big game.

Going into an interview with the right mindset not only makes you feel and appear more confident, but it also makes your brain work better. Your thoughts are sharper, and your answers are more creative.

Here’s how to make sure you have the right mindset when meeting your interviewer:

Before the interview

Avoid scrolling through your social media feed right before the interview. You want your brain to be sharp and focused, not scattered. Instead, visualize yourself as a confident and successful candidate. Picture your hiring manager nodding with approval to your answers and congratulating you on how well you did.

As psychologist Daniel Gilbert explains in Stumbling on Happiness, when you imagine an event in your mind, “the areas of your brain that respond emotionally to real events respond emotionally to imaginary events as well.”

For example, Gilbert explains that if you try to imagine finding your partner in bed with the postman, you feel something. It’s likely that your pupils will dilate and that your blood pressure will rise. And the whole thing occurred only in your head.

Now, if you apply this to your upcoming interview, guess what will happen if you go there thinking: “Omg, what if I screw up?” Your body will react with stress and anxiety, and that’s not the impression you want to make.

If you can’t stop your mind from going through the worst scenarios, take five to ten deep breaths. Think about situations in life when you’ve performed at your best and when others praised you. Or think about people you love and things you enjoy doing. A good way to do this is to prepare some photos / written flashcards of these situations and people in advance.

During the interview

• Look at your interview as a conversation, not an interrogation. Because that’s what it is. You’re not going to interview for this role just because you want to convince your interviewer that you’re the best candidate. You also want to check out if the company is the right fit for you.
• Don’t be afraid to be yourself. You don’t want to say things just because you think that’s what the recruiter wants to hear. If work-life balance is important to you, don’t pretend that you don’t care about working long hours. If you’re an introvert, don’t pretend you can’t wait to be the star of the next party. If you’re a creative person, don’t try to hide that because the job requirement is to think analytically. You’re amazing just as you are, and in the right job, you’ll be appreciated for it.
• Dance with the interviewer. In other words, put yourself on their energy level. When you view your interviewer as extremely superior to you (“Omg, I better impress her”), she can sense that. If you look down on her, she gets that, too.
• Make sure your interviewer feels good about asking the questions they’ve asked. For example, let’s say you’ve mentioned that you were under a lot of pressure during your last project and your hiring manager says: “Does that mean you prefer working in a quiet environment?” Instead of saying, “No, that’s not what I meant. What I meant is …,” you can say, “That’s a great point you’re making, that would be the logical conclusion. However, what this experience has taught me about myself is that I’m actually made for a dynamic, fast-paced environment because…”

And now go out there and nail that interview.