Guys...Help Me! Fear of Interview

yellowpad

Okay, ya'll. I don't have any problem with work. In fact, I have been doing my job so well for my current employer that I often get bored. When it comes to sitting in an interview session, I suck bad.....I couldn't even remember what a damn DNS or even recall what a Virus is. GrRRR Suggestions?

Z0sickx

Ill try my best to give you an idea to prep for interviews..

Take the job posting in look at the overall points they are looking for, then look at the first 4-5 points. those skillsets they are looking for will be in their. most of the IT job interviews i have been on are quite informal but at the very least be able to talk about yourself (you previous work experience) and how it will help them in the current position. remember if they selected you for a phone or in person interview its safe to assume they like your potential to be part of the team, its now just giving them the warm fuzzy to actually get on board( this is where your confidence comes in)

be sure to sit upright, hands in front of you, you want to project confidence, and speak loud and clear, if you don't know the answer just say you don't know, if you try to bullshit your way through it they will know

Nightflier101BL

Make sure to research the company and ask plenty of questions. I usually try to incorporate most of my questions into the whole interview, saving a few for the end. They will ask you if you have any questions. Take notes during the interview. The best interviews I've had worked more like a back and forth conversation. This is why I try to ask my questions during the interview to promote this. Things like "What kind of hardware do you guys use for this or that?" "Did you have any obstacles when you tried out this or put together that?" "Oh, I saw this when I worked with XYZ in the past, this is what I found..." Bring any portfolio, extra copies of your resume, copies of certs.

Also, wear a suit. Trust me. Better to be overdressed than under. You want to show them that you are taking this opportunity very seriously and want to present yourself as a complete professional. Eye contact, firm handshakes.

Hope this helps.

636-555-3226

+1 to what everyone above said. I'll add - interview yourself a few times ahead of time. You have the job description and should already know some stuff about the material. Assume you had to interview someone for the position and write up a bunch of questions on the topics. Sit down (not in front of a mirror, that's just weird and makes you feel awkward) and ask yourself the questions then answer them. Over and over again over a couple of days. This way you'll hopefully be prepared for at least a few of the questions and not freeze up since the answer should (hopefully) be like muscle-memory, it just happens on its own.

FillAwful

Sounds like a case of major anxiety, freezing up when you clearly know what you're doing.

Do you do the same thing I do? Where you play and replay how the conversation will go over and over again in your head and rehearse your answers over and over but then when you get there it never goes how you had rehearsed it and now your stuck without a plan? If this is you, like it is me, I have to make myself not do this. Stop myself when I start thinking, don't overthink. I tend to do as much as I can to relax before the interview. Listen to loud blasting music on the way there, workout the night before, convince myself that I'm just going to hang out with friends and they actually want to hear my talk about my nerdy passion.

Clearly, researching the Company is important, but don't overdo it if it is a part of your anxiety. I think the best thing one can do in an interview is be relaxed and be yourself. Let your passion show through.

Good luck!!

gespenstern

Just do practice. Ask a colleague to play a role of an employer and conduct an interview. Also, land as many interviews as possible for practice purposes. After each interview write down how it went and note any inconsistencies and work on them. Eventually you'll get used to it.

scaredoftests

Relax, and prepare. Give a strong handshake and smile. Bring a notebook filled with your questions and what you found out when you researched them.

Dojiscalper

Ive have the same problem, couldn't remember crap about dns even and I know that stuff inside out. I have a technical interview in a few hours and am hoping it goes better than my last ones.

tmtex

yellowpad wrote: »

Okay, ya'll. I don't have any problem with work. In fact, I have been doing my job so well for my current employer that I often get bored. When it comes to sitting in an interview session, I suck bad.....I couldn't even remember what a damn DNS or even recall what a Virus is. GrRRR Suggestions?

OMG you sound like me. I do the same thing. What is a IP address ? IDK. My brain locks up

networker050184

I used to get pretty bad anxiety before interviews. Over time as I grew confidence in my skill set and ability to communicate it I'm much less anxious. Everyone is nervous during an interview though. Those interviewing know this as well. Just try to relax and be confident in what you do know and candid about what you don't. Easier said than done I know, but practice makes perfect!

Basic85

Interviewing is a 2 way street so they are interviewing you just as much as you are interviewing them. As some have said above, do some research on the company and look for glassdoor,yelp,indeed, etc reviews. It's ok to practice a little bit but I wouldn't dwell on it too much. Just keep applying to other jobs as well. Best of luck.

yellowpad

Thanks guys...easy to say. I have interviewed many people in the past. Once the role is reverse, my jaw seems to lock...and all my mouth can spit out is um Un um um..

Anywho, maybe I need to see a hypnosis specialist or something.

volfkhat

i agree with everyone here, but...
AT THE END OF THE DAY.... Who Cares.

Life is too short to stress about inconsequential things.
Instead, focus on all the POSITIVES that you have going in your life.

Whether you DAZZLE or BOMB an interview.... whatever.
Life moves on.

(hmmm... this doesnt seem particulary helpful)

Well, i will say this:
i used to get nervous too.
But nowadays, i just tell myself that im probably NOT gonna get the job!
They are interviewing lots of people.. so the Odds are really tough.
It's probably Not gonna work out for me.

Hence, NO expectations.

This mindset actually allows me to Relax and "be myself" in the interview.
If they ask a bunch of questions that i don't know..... WHO CARES!
i wasn't going to get the position anyway :]

i realize it sounds counter-intuitive... but give it some thought.
Sometimes, all you need to do is Change your Perspective :]

Techytach

My mindset is that I am not really interviewing for the job. I am just getting experience in interviewing. In other words I am not thinking ahead about having a job or not having it. I am just going to talk to someone about a me and what I'd like to be doing professionally. What's easier to do than that? (Ok, it's still hard but this helps!)

NetworkNewb

I kind of go into interviews like volfkhat... but just a little different. I go in thinking, who cares if I get the job or not. I understand that won't work if you are out of work and desperately need a job. But if you have a job currently, what is the worst that they can do, not hire and you apply to another job? Plenty of jobs out there. Another one will come along. If you mesh well with the manager and like the company, then it was meant to be, if not move onto to the next!

Like Vokfkhat said, life is too short to worry about inconsequential things

Dojiscalper

Blah, another interview fail for me. Just finished interviewing and my brain took a break again, LOL. I'm terrible at interviews, I take a little while to warm up to people so I go in terrified every time. In all the jobs I've gotten the managers have always came to me months/years later and told me they weren't sure about me in the interview, but they found out I'm very good at what I do. Very quickly after taking a new position I always become the "goto" guy, but its just getting through those damn interviews.

I just wanna crawl under the desk and hide, I bet that would go great.

scaredoftests

Don't be so hard on yourself, relax (I know that is hard, but let all that go). Like I said, bring a notebook..write some of the things you know and if you get asked a question, you can just look down at the page and that will make you refocus...

NorrisMcWherter

Don't worry so much if you can find a way to deal with your nerves.

If it makes you feel any better, I often get dizzy in meetings and the few interviews I've had as I really want the position and get very nervous, and generally struggle with people I don't know in pressured situations, no matter how I try and chill beforehand.

The last interview I had, I got so dizzy 10 minutes in I had to ask them to stop and "can I have a drink of water". I was honest and just said I was dizzy but absolutely fine, and apologised. The dizziness then went away as I thought I'd blown it, and we then had a great conversation. I got the job! lol. And given a position, I always do well. Some of us are just a bit too sensitive I guess.

I'd just be honest if you're nervous, they'll be expecting it, but if you can ether deal with them, or say something if you're struggling, but then go on to relax and enjoy the experience, you'll be ok. For me, any employer who doesn't take nerves into account wouldn't be worth working for. Just be good at your job to your own standards and try and know your stuff so you can have that conversation. I'd say interview experience also helps more than anything, as they're all the same in the end, just different people/rooms. Closing in on you lol...

The notebook tips a great one btw, if I saw someone who'd bothered to prepare like that, I'd be very happy.

volfkhat

Last summer, i had no job (looking for 6 months).
But I did have a vacation planned (Kauai, 1st time!)

Guess what happened?
I finally get an interview.... but they schedule it for the DAY i fly out (on a Friday).

i begged my recruiter to get it moved up to any other Day.
No Go.
The client had scheduled All the interviews for the same day.
All they could do was move me to 9am (my flight was at 2pm).

So, i agree to do it.

Unfortunately, thanks to poor planning, i was up all nite packing. i didnt go to bed until 6am.

I still made the 9am interview; but "mentally" i had already checked out.
lol

I got the Job.
Which counter-intuitively makes sense; I was too tired to Worry/Panic/Give-a-Damn During the interview.

So OF COURSE i beat out all the other candidates.

Moral of the Story: Go to Hawaii :]

Dojiscalper wrote: »

Blah, another interview fail for me. Just finished interviewing and my brain took a break again, LOL. I'm terrible at interviews, I take a little while to warm up to people so I go in terrified every time.

Sorry to hear that.... but it will be okay.
Just keep Interviewing... and keep BOMBING!

Turn it into a Game;
Create a List of all the crazy, different ways a person can Bomb an interview.
Take it with you on your interviews!

And As you are BOMBING an interview,
PULL OUT the list, and Check it off (yes, DURING the inteview
Proudly show your friends afterwards. Have a good Laugh.

At some point, you will BOMB so many interviews... that you Stop becoming "Terrified" of them.
Seriously.

In fact, you might actually start becoming annoyed by interviews.
(I know i am

fmitawaps

Don't go into the interview all meek and nervous and sweaty. Don't let them feel that they have the upper hand. Do it the fmitawaps way.

Realize that these people interviewing you only make you nervous because they temporarily have the power of deciding if your future source of paychecks will come from them, and nothing more. These are the same people you'd honk at in traffic, or cut in line in front of in the supermarket, and think nothing of it.

Walk in KNOWING how awesome you are, and how lucky they are that you'd even deign to work for their company for their joke of a pay rate.

Don't be all cocky and overconfident, like that jackass Robert on the recent A&E tv show "60 days in". Just walk in, say hi, answer the questions, speak of your past experience and your future goals, and let it go at that. Don't give them the satisfaction of seeing you all nervous and on edge, silently begging them to hire you.

I recently went to a NOC interview. In the interview, the person asked me what my expected pay rate was. I said that the local market for NOC jobs is in the 40K to 50K range. They told me their pay rate was 35K. I was making more than that 3 years ago in desktop support contract assignments, with no certs and no real experience!

Instantly, the switch flipped off in my mind. I maintained a professional demeanor, but in my head I was all like "LOL FOOL PLEASE, why are you wasting my time". I gave the answers, spoke of my future plans, then met with the second interviewer and he seemed to like me, so we will see if they call me for the next interview.

And as volfkhat said, you may get over the terror and become annoyed by interviews. I got past this a year or so ago, when I got tired of explaining to temporary agency people my skills and qualifications for IT contract jobs. They have no computer experience, no IT background, and no certifications, they are just reading off a piece of paper the job requirements, WHO ARE THEY TO QUESTION ME ON WHAT I CAN AND CAN'T DO?!?!?!?!

And I have found some IT managers to be similar to this. At my previous IT contract assignment, according to their LinkedIn pages, my IT manager was an accountant, and his manager was a lawyer. WHAT THE HELL do they know about IT? And I have to answer to THEM for a job?!?!?!?

docrice

Fundamentally, having interview jitters is rooted in a fear of your own shortcomings and focusing on potential failure. While generally natural, you need to learn that you aren't just a set skills but also a character with aspiration, a certain degree of drive, goals, etc. that binds it together.

Your sense of self is ultimately predicated on these qualities as well as what you've accomplished and how you believe (not just think) you'll be able to improve on them in the future in whatever environment and team(s) you'll be working with. It can be nerve-racking thinking about how bad you'll look if you don't present right or answer questions correctly and at speed, but remember everyone is weak in different areas and strong in others. We're all human, and at the end of the day if you don't get the job or end up failing the interview miserably ... then so what? It's not like you're sentenced to death. There will always be another day.

Think about what you've accomplished and how your core skills can help future employers. Working on believing in yourself, otherwise faking it tends to show through in interviews.

yellowpad

Thanks guys...I have been reading this thread over and over.

Dojiscalper

yeah, thread is very helpful. Thanks,

I have a family history of schizophrenia, social anxiety disorder, and aspergers syndrome so I saw and I think mimic a lot of the fear family members have
in any social interaction. I've grown a lot over the past 20yrs of being out on my own while I watch my relatives continue to struggle far more.

I totally understand being annoyed by interviews. I'm that way with recruiters and HR types, its the technical stuff that will get me even not in an intervew, my current boss thinks its funny that if he asks something to me I can't give an immediate response, but 10-15 minutes later I'll give him some ridiculously detailed answer and fix his issue.

I understand where the interviewers are coming from also and don't have a good answer on how they should judge a candidates skills. A 15-30 minute role play or question/answer session isn't going to even scratch the surface of what I can do with technology. I'm sure its the same for anyone, but thats no good to them when they have 10+ people to interview and I'm sure there are a lot of fakes out there trying to get in.

Now my wife on the other hand is a total type A, and a very capable sales person. She could BS her way into about any job and they'd hire her on her amazing personallity if nothing else.

DatabaseHead

Sometimes you got to remember to breath.

volfkhat

I just had an interview for a NOC role on Friday.

Turns out, It went really well... in SPITE of my best efforts :]

The first thing i did wrong was: No Preparation.
The day before, i thought about pulling out my notebook, and brushing up on a few concepts;
but instead, i fell asleep watching Netflix.

Second thing i did wrong: showed up Late.
Actually, I made it to their front door with 2 minutes to spare... but it turns out, i was at the WRONG door. So i had to walk around the outside of the building looking for the right door.
(Also, it was about 94 degrees that day; so i became very sweaty & slightly ANNOYED)

As for the interview,
There were 3 guys, and me. Everything went swell the first 5 minutes; then they said they wanted to ask a "few" technical questions. (That's when i remembered that i Never studied the previous nite)
At this point.... i was Annoyed, mad at myself, and Ready to go.

They handed me a MArker, and asked me to draw a simple network on the whiteboard.
The next 40 minutes were spent asking all types of hypothetical situations/scenarios.

Well, a funny thing happened.
My Annoyance and 'Desire to Leave' transformed into Respect.
I was thoroughly impressed by the level of questions; and also the Logical followups that were asked.
But i was also impressed by something else: the interviewers were Very personable, very informal, very relaxed. And they made sure to Tell lots of Jokes (to keep things light).
Their calm-ness kept me calm.

I walked out of the interview (80 minutes) with an actual SMile on my face!
These guys taught me something; Interviews can generally be a worthwhile Learning Experience.
They don't always have to be a Gauntlet of Technical Gotchas.
They can also be a demonstration about interacting with "people" (if done correctly).

A good interviewer should be able to "read" you; and react appropriately.
This is meaningful because,
A good supervisor should be able to do the same thing.

If your interviewer seems like a bit of a cold Hard-Ass... then he's probably gonna be the same way as your manager.

Conversely, if your interviewer seems fairly personable/approachable... then he's probably gonna be the same way as your manager.

Who would you rather work for??
:]

Going forward, i'm gonna starting Evaluating the Interviewer.

For those of you who get Nervous/Terrified/Petrified in interviews... maybe you should try this too!
(my 2 cents)

yellowpad

I like to update my thread as well. After having read all suggestions over and over again, I went on an interview......a panel of six!!!

During the whole time, I was think techexam...techexam...at one time, I actually said the word, and pretended to cough. An hour and a half later, I walked out of that room smiling. I thought I would **** in my pants. but I went in to the session with a "I don't care" attitude. To sum up that session, I like everyone there and I had a great time chatting. I look forward to the news....good or bad. Thanks everyone!!!!

Ertaz

fmitawaps wrote: »

Do it the fmitawaps way.

You are indeed a pro at getting them. This should be a bumper sticker.

volfkhat

yellowpad wrote: »

During the whole time, I was think techexam...techexam...at one time, I actually said the word, and pretended to cough.

LOL
Now that's comedy GOLD :]
i am immediately reminded of those aflack commericals (with the talking Duck).

Way to go YP; you are definitely taking back Power over fear. Pretty soon, the World is gonna be your Oyster!

In my last interview, they asked me to Explain how DHCP works.

Instead of describing the process of D.O.R.A.... maybe I should have answered, "I Don't care!"
:]

wrfortiscue

I have an interview this coming Thursday. I am beyond nervous, and I am probably going to bomb. With that being said, If I don't try I will never get out of helpdesk.

scaredoftests

Practice in front of a mirror! Relax! (I know, I know, it is hard to..)