Crush Job-Interview Jitters by Visualizing Peak Experiences

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

By: Gloria Schramm

Athletes do it the night before the big game. Actors do it before going on stage or camera. If you conjure up those feelings you experienced during apex moments in your life -- those moments when you felt that all was well with the world and you -- that feeling of being "on top of the world" actually helps you relax and bring your best self to a job interview.

Celebrities and sports psychologists have spoken about this phenomenon. It’s a way to put yourself into a peak state. It's a cost-free way to prepare for a job interview and it's all inside YOU. The night before a job interview, think back on a time in your life when you felt absolutely wonderful. It could be an accomplishment, a winning of some sort or even the birth of your child.

I know someone who snuck away from home when she was 13 to go to New York City. That was back in 1964 when the Beatles were in town. She was terminally in love with Paul McCartney. Pushed with the surging crowd of other teenyboppers, my friend in her frenzy threw herself on the trunk of the limo carrying the Fab Four before they pulled away from the Delmonico Hotel. Paul McCartney turned and caught her eye and blew her a kiss! It was as if she had won the lottery. I was a Beatle-maniac and I get excited just thinking about it even though it didn’t happen to me. I suggested she remember that lucky moment when she went on a job interview -- and for any down or challenging times in life -- for that matter. It works!

We all have apex moments. Although you may only have a handful of them, use them, rely on them and cherish them for when you need to call them up! Pay homage to those moments in life that made you absolutely tingly or profoundly joyous. Those are the moments when all the stars and planets aligned for you. Pull up one of them and meditate on what you felt at that moment. It releases strength and endorphins that can make you shine.

If you go into the interview with that memory in the back of your mind -- not just the memory, but the feelings of that memory as you felt them in that moment -- you will smile more, be more relaxed and be able to think through your answers, because you will be pulling from your own life's toolbox. That preparation, after all the usual interview prep "stuff" is done, will carry you over the threshold and make you memorable. It is then, that you will have the best chance of reeling in an offer. Conjure up your apex moments in life for follow-up interviews, thank-you letters and cover letters for your next job application. 

Your apex experiences can lift your job-seeking performance. All you need to do is call on them.

Gloria is a retired career counselor now in private practice. She is also a playwright and equine volunteer at HorseAbility, a therapy center for disabled children and adults. She can be found on LinkedIn at: http://linkedin.com/in/gloriaschramm

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