Interview woes

[IceandIndigo]

I am currently looking for a job, after taking voluntary redundancy earlier in the year from a role that I used to love, but which went downhill after some leadership changes in the organisation saw me increasingly marginalised. It was a difficult experience and really sapped my professional confidence.

I have been applying for lots of jobs, and have a reasonable success rate at getting interviews. But I don't seem to be able to convert interviews to job offers. The first couple of interviews I did went fairly well and I was told I was appointable, but someone else was a better fit. As time has passed I've started to get more worried about finding a job and I feel like it's really impacting my interview performance and confidence. I am quite introverted so having to converse with new people is not the most comfortable situation for me at the best of times, but I feel like I used to be able to rise above this in interview situations. Now I increasingly feel like a deer in the headlights and find myself giving rambling and awkward answers, and then thinking of fantastic answers as soon as I leave. I am finding it harder and harder to bounce back from rejection and find myself taking every criticism to heart.

What can I do to turn this around? I'm starting to wonder if I am aiming too high and whether I should apply for more junior roles to get my confidence up. I have an interview coming up for a role that is more senior than the one I left and the recruiter has told me how impressed the employer was by my application, but I am considering withdrawing from the interview as I am so worried I will embarrass myself.

Any thoughts or advice gratefully received.

I sympathize, its really hard. I wouldn't pull out of the more senior role or start applying for more junior roles just because of the interview, junior roles won't necessarily have easier interviews and in fact you might face some tricky questions about why you are applying for a role you are overqualified for, nor is it easy adjusting yourself into a role that's a level down than what you've done previously, in itself that can be confidence draining.

I would try and remember that for most job interviews they will be seeing between 3 and 5 candidates, all of whom are qualified and able to do the job, so statistically speaking you'd expect to have to do several interviews unsuccessfully before getting a job, and that's before you take into account things like one of your competitors happening to have a particular qualification that's particularly relevant or already being known to the panel or similar. So many people I speak to say they must be crap at interviews/unemployable etc because they've been to interview for 3 or 4 jobs they're well qualified for and gotten the 'sorry someone else was just better on the day' feedback, when that's well within the range of normal statistical variation! Come back to me when you've done 25 interviews and maybe then there's a problem...

To feel better about the whole thing I'd really focus on your preparation, memorise and drill yourself with good answers to the obvious questions like why you want the role, what skills you have etc and then also learn lots of good, well structured examples of achievements/things you are proud of/times you have demonstrated good qualities, you can usually adapt these to whatever they ask about e.g. team work, leadership, problem solving etc. So much interview preparation tips focus on how to deliver your answers naturally and fluently but doesn't mention you need the content there in the first place - and personally as an interviewer I'd rather someone gave me a clearly prepared and rehearsed full and relevant answer delivered in a slightly stilted manner than spontaneous 'natural' verbal diarrhea that doesn't answer my question. Obviously I do want to get a bit of a sense of their personality too and it's nice if the person comes across as confident and engaging but IME it's far easier to do this if you know you have your content nailed and can then smile, look them in the eye etc...

Thanks @maxelly, that's really kind and helpful.

It's interesting to hear your perspective about preparation because that's one of the issues I've been having. I feel like I've spent so much time preparing examples and then I find myself trying to shoehorn them into the questions, and not really responding properly in the moment.

The other thing is that some of the interviews I've done have been virtual interviews via Teams/Zoom, and I really hate them. I find it much easier to get into the right frame of mind when I'm in a room with the panel and can read body language etc.

Great answer from maxelly, preparation for as many potential questions is crucial.

I’ve found another thing that really helps is trying to get into a discussion with them about the role/what their current issues are, etc and what you can bring to the table skills/experience wise to remedy these. If the opportunity doesn’t come up during the questions then they’ll surely ask if you have any questions at the end. At this point also ask as many questions about the role as possible, and from their replies you can then enthuse how your skills will really help achieve these. This way you’re effectively showing them what a good catch you are if their questions haven’t allowed you to do that up to that point (and your passion for the job). Sometimes it can almost feel like giving them free consultancy, but that’s the impression you want to leave them :)

Zoom can be difficult for sure, but on the bright side you can leave all your notes around you out of their sight.

Good luck!

It's really difficult I know, but I do think the more practice the better. I've been job hunting for a few months now and feel more warmed up to answering the questions; what are my best examples for certain competencies and other stories that may be more recent but don't showcase me fully.

I would ask how much you are leveraging your network? Depends on how big your professional network is but I would be reaching out to old work colleagues that have left for other places, trying to find out where there may be opportunities or hiring managers they can introduce you to. Using referrals from others and getting to know others in the industry will really help you stand out, though it may take some time for actual opportunities to present themselves. Personally, I've warmed up my network a lot. Had a few direct referrals and also have had new introductions/contacts who aren't recruiting now but may come to fruition in future.

Take a look at The Career Diet on Instagram, she has really good videos to help you think positively about your job search and also about how to network with others. She does paid courses, but often has a free 25 min course that you can access.

Also agree with the point about statistically you need to attend a number of interviews before finding a match. The Career Diet woman talks about 1 in 10 being more realistic odds than getting a job after a couple of applications.

It is tough and I think you have to try your best to be kind to yourself and stay as resilient as you can. Best of luck.

You can do it, OP. Have faith in yourself. The feedback from the initial interviews was positive, there’s absolutely no reason why you won’t get a job but it’s better that it’s the right job rather than the first one that comes along or one where you’re doing yourself a disservice because it’s too junior. 🤞🏻

Thanks everybody. I think I need to give myself a bit of a pep talk.