My first response is usually  ‘Guess what, you’re not alone!’ Unless you’re a narcissist, no-one feels they’re good at selling themselves, and guaranteed, the last person who got offered a job following the interview went in with some feelings of anxiety and self-doubt. Unfortunately these beliefs are often a classic example of self-fulfilling prophecy – believing you’re terrible at job interviews can become consuming and distract you from doing the preparation you need or get in the way of you performing well at the time it counts.

So how do we manage these ingrained thought patterns so we can perform at our best and maximise our chances of success? This often forms a really key part of a coaching program, when a client is looking for support to advance their career, take a sideways move into a new role, or where they have found themselves involuntarily in the position of having to apply for new roles.  I try to frame my job interview coaching around six Ps, spending more time on those Ps most significant for that client.

Performance is the fifth of the six Ps, and is often the most challenging for clients. Performance is the term I use in recognition of the fact that a job interview has many of the elements of other performance tasks such as a musical recital or sporting performance, that require not only aptitude, but management of one’s emotional, physiological and mental processes in order to do well.

The feelings, thoughts and sensations that come up for people in the context of job interviews, including anxiety, self-doubt, unworthiness, and comparison to others, can be at best highly intrusive and at worst overwhelming and completely debilitating for the interviewee. The key is identifying how and when these sensations show up and learning techniques to minimise their negative impact on your performance. Here’s some suggestions:

• Accept that most people feel nervous, you’re no different to other candidates in that respect (in fact, you might even have a competitive advantage since you’ve learnt some techniques for managing nerves!)
• A degree of nervous energy is productive – it stimulates your system into a state of arousal which can keep you sharp and focused
• Practice a relaxation technique in the lead up to, and just prior to the interview, for example a deep breathing exercise, a progressive muscle relaxation, mediation or visualisation
• Notice and challenge your negative self talk – if you find your inner critic constantly reminding you you’re hopeless at interviews, what could challenge that belief? For example, you might say to yourself I used to be bad at interviews but the last few I’ve done I’ve felt better and better about how I did
• And a corollary to this one – it could be helpful to remind yourself that just because you didn’t get the last job it doesn’t mean you did badly at interview – you may have done well but missed out to an applicant with more skills; now might be a good time to check in with your own or the panel’s perspective on what went well in your last interview
• You don’t have to sell yourself – you need to be able to clearly and accurately describe the best evidence you have of your knowledge, experience, skills and attributes, and how these will add value to the potential employer
• Run your own race – you’ve done the preparation and you have the ability to do the job, your focus now has to be on yourself, and conveying evidence of your suitability to the panel – mentally comparing yourself to other applicants (either actual or perceived) is not helpful once you get to interview, as it can exacerbate feelings of self- doubt
• If you do nothing else, before stepping in to the interview strike your best power pose (preferably somewhere private!) then take 10 slow deep breaths to calm the nervous system and ground yourself in the present
• Don’t forget to reflect after the interview on what went well – wait a couple of days and take some time to notice what you were happy with, what you improved on, and what you want to keep doing at your next interview.

Remember, not too many people wake up in the morning relishing the idea of a job interview. But you don’t actually have to love them to do well and be successful in getting the job of your dreams. Apart from working on your Performance, there’s five other P’s that will also make a difference:

• Panel perspective – put yourself in their shoes
• Preparation – learn as much as you can about the company and the role
• Product – that’s you! What features and benefits can you offer?
• Presentation – what impression do you want to create and leave?
• Persistence – how do you sustain your resilience to keep putting yourself out there?

Please get in touch if you’d like to know more about managing nerves and negative self-talk, or how the other five Ps can enhance your interview performance.

Jo Saies

pbperformance.com.au

So it’s a sad fact that many of us, at some point in our lives, will find ourselves in a job we hate. And worse, although we feel unhappy, unfulfilled, dissatisfied or disengaged, we stay in jobs that don’t provide us with the sense of challenge, meaning and fulfilment that we crave because we feel hopelessly stuck in our circumstances.

We believe we don’t have the skills to do anything else, we feel too exhausted to apply for other jobs, or we think the current labour market is against us.

So is it possible to take charge of your job satisfaction without changing jobs?

People who find their job inherently meaningful, regardless of the tasks they are doing, are generally more satisfied and happier at work. Job crafting is increasingly being recognised as a legitimate career development tool that helps people change their jobs in small but tangible ways, enabling them to derive more meaning and fullfilment from their work.

You might think that your job description is set in concrete, and that from where you sit in the hierarchy you’re in no position to influence anything or anyone around you, let-alone change your role to enhance your personal job satisfaction. But by viewing your job as a flexible set of tasks and interpersonal relationships within your broader job description, rather than a rigid set of duties, job crafting encourages you to look at how you might customise your job to better fit your motives, strengths and passions.  Finding opportunities to pro-actively change the boundaries of tasks and relationships within a job has been shown to enhance personal meaning, engagement and job satisfaction.

Here are three job crafting techniques to consider:

Task crafting – taking on more tasks, expanding or diminishing the scope of tasks, or changing how you go about a task.

Relationship crafting – changing aspects of your relationships at work by altering the nature or extent of interactions with others.

Perception crafting – altering how you perceive certain tasks, or the job as a whole, so you can connect what you’re doing to something personally meaningful.

For example, a project officer with little responsibility and no connection with the project clients, might offer to buddy a new staff member. This is an additional task that provides challenge and development, expands the scope of her personal interactions and enables her to perceive her role as supporting the learning and contribution of others.

The first step is to define your own personal motives, strengths and passions, then look for opportunities to modify aspects of your job to better align with these. The changes don’t have to be big, and can often be made subtly without anyone else even being aware. You’re still meeting the requirements of the job, but you’re also taking responsibility for crafting a role that increases your job satisfaction. People who have undertaken job crafting report being happier, more engaged, and less likely to leave their current job.

Need help crafting your job? Call or email me  to discuss how career development coaching can help you increase your satisfaction at work.

Jo Saies

pbperformance.com.au