Crap at interviews. How can I improve?

[LemonLime374]

I really want to move up to the next grade in my sector but am being seriously hindered by my habit of drying up in interviews, forgetting everything I've prepared, etc.

Finally managed to get an interview for a job I wanted (not easy in the current climate, employers in my sector are tightening their belts and not recruiting) and honestly I was shit. Totally lost my trail a few times and looked really stupid. Made worse by the fact that this was an internal job and I might bump into these people again around the place 😭

This isn't the first time this has happened to me.

How can I improve? It's not lack of preparation, it's nerves and an inability to think on my feet in that sort of situation. I even had loads of notes blutacked around my screen (the interview was remote) but still forgot all my examples.

Find a mentor and practice. Also, acknowledge to the interviewer what you’re nervous. If you can also possibly view interviews as just conversations where you are evaluating them as much as they are evaluating you. Good luck!

Thanks for your reply.

Find a mentor and practice yes that does sound like a plan. Not sure where I would find such a person but it's definitely an idea.

Use the STAR format to phrase your answers. I found it really helped me stay on track!

https://www.thebalancemoney.com/what-is-the-star-interview-response-technique-2061629

There's this, it might be helpful
barclayslifeskills.com/i-want-to-prepare-for-an-interview/sixth-form/virtual-interview/

Your other option, if you really can't find anyone to practise interviews with you, is to go for jobs your not serious about as practise.

Thanks. I thought I was doing STAR but I kept getting lost. One thing I always intend to do is keep a log of good things I've done and what skills they demonstrate, just in my day to day work. Maybe I could write then in a STAR format and think about them in that way in between job interviews.

I think sometimes the format of the question throws me off. Plus the sort of open ended ones that aren't about my experiences.

Treat an interview as a conversation not an interrogation. Remember that the interviewer wants you to do well.

Another tip I like to do is input the job description into chat GPT and ask it to identify interview questions. Write up your answers using STAR.

I’ve found Chat GPT to be very accurate with its predicted interview questions!

Ooh now this is intriguing. I will definitely try this in future, even if just out of curiosity!

In fact I might try it for the one I've just done while the questions are fresh in my mind, just to see!

The biggest tip I can give as an interviewer is to take 3 seconds to think about what the question is asking you and to ask for clarification if you have doubt. So many candidates rush into answering the questions because they can’t cope with any silences but the best ones take their time to think through what they want to say.

A mentor can be a manager that you trust. Could be a relative or someone in your current place of work.

If your current employer has an HR department you might consider approaching them and saying that you want to develop yourself and could they provide guidance on interviewing.

Thanks everyone. Lots for me to think about here.

I'd be careful with ChatGPT.

I recently interviewed 5 people for a middle management position. 3 of them gave virtually identical answers, which is what I got when I put the competency Q into Chat GPT. . I'd like someone who can think for themselves please...

Ask for the interview questions in advance. It's becoming more commonplace to provide them.

A balance between warmth and competency is important. It is not just about knowing your stuff, but coming across as a fabulous addition to the team. Sometimes we can get so lost in the technicality of our answers that we can come across as cold or unfriendly.

Smile, nod, engage with your expressions and gestures.

Totally agree - actually in my current role I encounter ChatGPT and can spot it a mile off. But I do like the idea as per a PP of seeing what questions it might suggest.

Never heard of this in my sector but definitely something that would help me! Sadly unlikely I think.

It’s controlling your nerves that is key. Good interviewers ask a soft question to ease you in and you can create a rapport. This is important. You are human, they know you are human and they want to see that, not just the perfect answer. Show your personality and take the chance to show your passion for an area of your work - “x & y is what gets me out of bed in the morning. I’m really driven by being able to z”. Making them laugh helps and calms your nerves. Apparently accepting and holding a hot drink helps, and drinking sips.

Don’t worry about having notes in front of you and referring to them. Tell them “I have a good answer to that question in my notes, let me find it” - have bullets as reminders rather than sentences, but practice the sentences and make it sound natural rather than memorised. If it’s civil service or similar this is the key bit because of the scoring. So better to refer to notes than miss a key part. I always have notes plus the job description and my CV/Cover Letter/CV.

Remember that interviewers want you to do well. If not, you wouldn’t want to work for them. It’s also an interview for you to decide if you want the job. Prep questions for them, one about the company/culture/team, one about the job and then if they want to ask you anything else. Particularly if you missed adding something that shows you meet the criteria - “I saw x requirement in the JD, I didn’t mention I have experience doing x. Do you have any questions about that?”

Remember to smile, make eye contact and try to reframe it as a friendly chat where you get to show off how great you are.

Do you taken in written bullet points?

Get ChatGPT to ask you questions and respond to them out loud. Put in your cv and the job ad.

Basically it's practice and curiosity. If you were interviewing someone for the role what questions would you ask?

I enjoy interviews because I treat them as a conversation. I have a bunch of questions I want to ask. It's a 2 way interview - you are trying to work out if they are a good fit for you too.

Not usually if it's in person but maybe I will consider this. Today it was on Zoom.and I had loads blutacked up in front of me. Maybe too many.

Focus less on your bullet points, post its, notes, etc, you are just over complicating things. Instead, focus on your own state of mind.

You obviously have good experience and relevant knowledge for the job you are being interviewed for, because you got through the application sift and were invited to an interview. It sounds as though you are then knocked sideways simply by the fact that it's a job interview? Which I completely understand because I used to be exactly the same.

So work on your self confidence around this. An interview is not an exam where they are trying to blindly test you on revision. You are a professional with knowledge and experience that they want you to talk about.

Practice talking about your experience in general terms, so that when you get to an interview it's more familiar to you.
For example, pick a topic, say, managing a team. Talk about your experience of managing a team, how long you have been a manager, what additional training you did to get to that level, how you interact with your team day to day, any problems you've encountered and how you dealt with them, any successes you had and how you acknowledged them. When I say practice, I mean get used to saying it out loud, talk about it with friends, family, colleagues, make it familiar and easy to talk about. They might ask questions to fill in the gaps, then you talk some more with the missing details.
Then you go to an interview and they might ask you "tell me about a time you experienced a problem in your team", and you know straight away how to answer because you've talked about it so many times already - you can reel off a problem and how you addressed it and how you manage a team in general to try to ensure difficulties are minimised.

So many people fail to research the role that they are applying for. My tip would be to research the role and organisation and tailor your responses to standard questions back to this point. Employers want to know that you understand the role, that you can do the role and that you are a good fit for them.