You recently applied to an opening at your favorite organization and you nailed it, by getting screened for an interview process. The primary thoughts that come into our minds are, Will I be able to make it? or Will they ask tough questions?. The answers to these questions can probably found after actually appearing in an interview process. The inability to get answers to all your potential negative thoughts and questions makes you nervous and anxious.
Ten Best Ways To Relieve Your Stress
Experiencing interview stress is quite common and has been observed in almost 90% of the candidates appearing for that particular interview process. The stress levels may vary considerably and this entirely depends upon the:
- Level of preparation
- Confidence level and
- Ability to handle pressure
- Ability to hold your nerves
There are several ways that will immensely help you in maintaining an optimum level of confidence and allow you to handle pressure in an impressive way. The ten best methods are illustrated below:
1) Do A Thorough Interview Preparation
Interviews consist of several questions. Most of those questions are designed in a way to test your personality, behavioral aspects, and most importantly your grasp on your core profile. Preparing thoroughly for these questions beforehand would boost your confidence level immensely and this would help you to deliver perfect and confident replies to all the questions asked by your interviewer. Proper preparation changes your thought process completely, and you shift from a negative mindset to the bright side of life.
2) Positive Prep Talk
Repeatedly saying positive things to yourself, chanting confidence-boosting mantras, and staying positive, would completely change your mindset from feeling like a defeatist to a winner. The level of faith and confidence generated would give you an edge over other candidates and would thoroughly impress your interviewer, improving your chances of selection considerably.
3) Practice Mock Interviews
Attending interviews are like going into a different territory for a war of words. The thoughts of interview setup, the way of asking questions and your fear of spoiling the replies contributes greatly to your nervousness and anxiety. All of these could be overcome, by regularly practicing and attending a few mock interviews. These would enable you to get familiar with entire interview process.
4) Make Sure You Have Used A Toilet
There is ample time before appearing for an interview process. Use this time to clear your bowels and all your urges. Listening to nature’s call is pivotal as this will help you to become comfortable and you would feel a relaxed state of mind. Such a relaxed attitude would help you to deliver an exceptional and flawless performance, thereby boosting your selection chances.
5) Revise Your Notes
It is always advisable to prepare short notes of your interview preparation which can be revised in around 10 to 15 minutes. Revising your interview relevant notes would allow you to create a fresh memory for all the expected questions and their answers, allowing you to answer in a crisp and to the point manner. Such answers are admired by almost all the interviewers and would certainly impress them a lot.
6) You Are Not The First Person
Always remember that you are not the first person in this world to appear for an interview process. There have been a thousand candidates already interviewed and there will be millions in the years to come by. Hence, becoming extensively nervous and anxious would not come in handy.
7) Practice Deep Breathing and Meditation
Deep breathing has been long used to destress individuals. Using this technique during your interview processes can help you to hold your nerves and rein your anxiety levels. On the other hand, coupling it up with regular 15 minutes of meditation would improve your concentration levels and focus, allowing you to look and focus only on positive thoughts, thereby giving you positive energy.
8) Have Interview Friendly Foods
Foods that you consume before appearing for the interview process also play a major role in your performance. There are several items that must be consumed as well as a few strictly prohibited items, whose intake must be avoided as far as possible before appearing for an interview process.
Interview Friendly Foods
| Name of food | Reason |
| Omega 3 rich foods such as Fish, Walnut, Chia Seeds, Flex seeds, etc | They help in the development of new brain cells, helping you to retain memory for a longer period of time. |
| Vitamin B rich foods such as Milk, Cheese, Eggs, Green leafy vegetables, etc | These foods help you to feel less anxious and nervous. They also improve the sleep-wake cycle and concentration levels. |
| Coffee (only in moderate quantity) | Caffeine when taken in moderate quantities has the ability to detox your body and make you feel more energetic, active, and fresh. We are strictly against its overuse. |
Non-Interview Friendly Foods
| Name of food | Reason |
| Foods rich in carbohydrates like Bananas, Oats, Potatoes, Wheat, etc | These foods are hard to digest and would make you feel lazy and sleepy. |
| Onion and garlic | These must be avoided as far as possible, at least a day before the interview. They cause bad odour not only in the mouth but also in sweat. |
| Too much water | Drinking too much water would give you unnecessary toilet urges and can hamper your concentration levels by diverting your attention. |
9) Using A Chewing Gum
In some studies, it has been found that chewing gum before an interview process can help you to decrease your anxiety and relieve your stress levels. But every individual is different and responds differently to different hacks. Hence, it is recommended that you try and practice this technique first at your mock interviews and analyze the results. If it helps you in a better way, the same can replicated during a real interview process.
10) Focus On The Solution
Focusing and giving all your attention to the interview questions can help you to divert your mind from thinking negatively. This will also enable you to deliver well thought, crisp and structured answers to the interview questions.
Conclusion
Nervousness during an interview process is common. But this, by no means, gives you the right to become complacent. You must try and adopt several stress-busting ways in order to relieve your levels of stress. With proper preparation, you can ace your interview process and secure your dream job. If you like our articles then don’t forget to share them with your family and friends. Also, do let us know through the comments section below, how much you like our articles.
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Sandeep Bhandari is the founder of PrepMyCareer.com website.
I am a full-time professional blogger, a digital marketer, and a trainer. I love anything related to the Web, and I try to learn new technologies every day.
All the team management, content creation, and monetization tasks are handled by me. Together with the team at PrepMyCareer, the aim is to provide useful and engaging content to our readers.