6 Ways to Be More Confident in Job Interviews

6 Ways to Be More Confident in Job Interviews6 Ways to Be More Confident in Job Interviews28How do you appear to be more confident in job interviews? We all want to channel our intern Don Draper and walk into a room and take control of a situation, but job interviews can be nerve-racking. How do you know if you have crossed the line from self-assured to arrogant or pushy? The tips below will help you strike the right tone.When you consider that job interviews are like first dates, its no wonder that people can find their inner coward really quickly. People are naturally attracted to and swayed by people who appear (or appear to have) confidence. In your skill set for job hunting, working on your confidence will make you more attractive to a potential employer.Here are six ways to be more confident in job interviews.Stop Slouching. If you envision someone with power and control over their body, they are not going to have posture like Eeyore. By standing up straight, you will decrease back pain and look more authoritative. Think of a military parade- those cadets are not hunched over with their eyes averted to the ground. Pull your shoulders back, put your chin up, and look straight ahead. Even just practicing this posture will get you feeling more comfortable with your confidence. This applies to both in-person and phone interviews.Dont Rush. When people are in an uncomfortable situation they will try anything to relieve the stress and get away from it. You dont want to appear to be rushing through a job interview, answering questions quickly without thinking through them. By slowing your mind and your speech patterns down, your voice will stay lower and you wont get winded or lose what youre saying. It is perfectly acceptable to pause a moment after a question to gather your thoughts, calm down, and then respond.Smile. It is amazing how powerful those little muscles around our mouths are. People can discern over phone conversations when the other person is smil ing. Smiling means that you are at ease and relaxed and that comes through as confidence in an interview. If you are on a phone interview, find a mirror and smile at yourself (even if it is just because you feel silly) and it will convey confidence and assurance from your voice.Look People in the Eye. Averting your eyes, when making eye contact with someone is admitting submission or lack of confidence. Now, Im not advocating having a staring contest until the other person gets visibly uncomfortable, but try looking at someone until they naturally look away. To do this, make sure that you are blinking and smiling (see above) so that you dont appear creepy. This shows that you are comfortable and not shifty when conducting a face-to-face interview. A great practice for this is to start doing it in your everyday life. You will quickly learn the amount of time you can engage someones eye contact before it becomes uncomfortable or you make the other person nervous.Know Your Strength and Weaknesses. Since confidence comes from inside, it is important to tap into your inner knowledge of what makes you shine and what makes you cringe. It is never a good idea to walk into a job interview with no information about the position or the company. If you know how to play up your strengths for the position and the company, you can show what a great tailored fit you would be for the organization. Self-deprecating humor needs to be left at the door. You need to believe in yourself for the interviewer to agree with you.Practice. We know that you cannot become a virtuoso overnight, but we often forget how important practicing new skills can be. By practicing being confident, you will feel more and more comfortable shaking a strangers hand and talking about yourself without sweating bullets and uncomfortable posture. Take some time each day to give yourself affirmation and to push out of your comfort zone and you will find that each interaction becomes more and more natural with practice.While you may never have the devil-may-care confidence of Lady Gaga wearing a meat dress, you can enter a job interview with the self-assurance that you are who they are looking for to hire. You are a unique and stellar person with great skills that would drive the company to the topbut only if you believe that, will they.Readers, what are your best tips to be more confident in job interviews? Do you have any tried-and-true techniques? Leave your ideas in the comments below