Job Interviews - losing confidence

LisaB85

I have had quite a few interviews since becoming unemployed in May, I started off confident and thought I did well in interviews.....clearly I didn't as I was rejected.

But now I find myself resigning to the fact I won't get the job before I even get to the interview. I never know what to say or I say the wrong thing and kick myself about it later, going over what I should have said later on. I tried positive thinking yesterday but again I screwed up and I knew I had screwed up as soon as I left the interview.

I was interviewed by 3 people which I wasn't expecting, I felt they were quite abrupt but didn't ask that many questions. I don't think the fact I was recovering from a virus helped though.


So another knock to my confidence, I have never really been a confident in your face person that knows the right thing to say to every question due to my childhood/present problems.

I just don't know what to do anymore, I feel like giving up on all my plans.

MrHelpful

Don't get downbeat. Learn from the interviews you have been to - atleast your getting interviews! it shows they are interested. Have you tried making a list of the questions - the past interviewers have asked. If yes, have you prepared answers for them. Its all about preparing yourself. If unsure what to say - post your question and we can try help you out.

Don't give up. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP! Life is worth living and you just got to keep pushing

November5th

I was failing interviews - rambling, going off topic, you name it.
A few cures for me - make notes on the company and your interviewer (if applicable), think of compliments (not OTT) that will make them feel at ease, sometimes you get a tired and nervous interviewer. Back yourself up completely, there is no issue with referring to notes and eventually you find that you don't have to.

Think of the most common questions you are asked and write down your answers with these notes. You can refine these after every interview.

Make a list of 10 key questions to ask at interview, make these generic, like, what's the best advice you have been given on your first day, amongst the size of the department style questions, sometimes you get some great answers.

Make every interview a learning experience, debrief and make notes afterwards. It's not making a mistake, but how you handle it!

an9i77

I think a lot of success at interviews comes down to really understanding what the employer is looking for and how you can best present yourself/your skills and experience to meet their needs. I'm presuming you get a job description for the role before the interviews, if not ask for one. Then go through it with a fine toothed comb thinking of all the ways you meet the criteria, and evidencing this with examples. If you're getting to interview stage, youre halfway there you obviously have some good skills and experience or else they wouldn't be inviting you to interview, you just need to 'match' yourself in to the job/organisation a little better, most of the time when people don't get the job at interview it's because someone else is a better fit - you need to become that person. Best of luck, keep persevering, remember you've got to be in it to win it so don't give up! Your luck will change soon!

heretolearn_2

'thought I did well in interviews.....clearly I didn't as I was rejected.'

Don't think that way. You might have done fantastically well, it's just that someone else was slightly better for that particular job. Whenever we interview we normally end up with a shortlist of 2 or 3 people who could all probably do the job and have interviewed well. We then have to weigh up all their pros and cons and try to pick one - it's not easy. But it's not the case that the ones who were not successful did badly in their interview, not at all.

So you are getting interviews and maybe just getting pipped to the post. That's a great place to start from - you just need to tweak what you are doing, or find yourself in an interview where your skills and experience are an exact match in every way for what they want (never seen that yet in the interviews we run). So keep your confidence levels up and get tweakings. There's loads of advice on here about interview techniques.

Biggest problems we see with interviewees

1) Being too vague, not having specific examples or information on how they meet our requirements. 'Yes, I think I'm pretty good on computers' or 'yes, I can use all the normal packages' is not exactly helpful and it doesn't make you any better than the other interviewees. It doesn't compete with 'Yes, I'm am a competent user of Word, Excel, Access and Outlook. I can do the mailmerges that I believe this role needs as I was responsible for sending weekly mailshots out to clients when I was at company X, and I have set up new spreadsheets in Excel with all the formulas, look ups and so on for projects such as X'.

2) Banging on about irrelevant stuff - we only have so much time and if you waste it, you are going to lose out - a lot of people lose track of what they question was and go right off course. So for example, we ask a question about examples of organising events, they start talking about having organised the staff Christmas party, but instead of telling us what they did, what problems they encountered and how they overcame them, you know, information that sells themselves to us as an employee, they start telling us how many vegetarians there were and how nice the restaurant was in the end and oh the disco was great and even the old boy from accounts got up and danced and how much they love working in a friendly team like that and do we do anything at Christmas?

3) Not remembering what is in your CV. We had someone in for an entry level marketing role and when asked to tell us about their previous experience, couldn't come up with any. Kept prompting gently and re-asking a few times. no, no experience, sorry. So what about this brand marketing you did for X at university that's in your CV, and the marketing you did for your friend's business that is in your CV. Oh *blush*, yeah, that. Which makes you think they just made the whole lot up.

4) We start off with 'tell us a little bit about yourself' as an icebreaker and just to get an idea of personality. Most people have a couple of sentences they give us, it just gets them a bit relaxed and talking. Other people think we want a 30 minute full biography of everything they've ever done since they were 16, or for them to repeat their entire CV to us, or one very strange man who told us in huge detail about his previous employers and how super intelligent they all were. Please don't. 5 minutes is too long on that!

PotatoPotato

heretolearn wrote: »

'thought I did well in interviews.....clearly I didn't as I was rejected.'

4) We start off with 'tell us a little bit about yourself' as an icebreaker and just to get an idea of personality. Most people have a couple of sentences they give us, it just gets them a bit relaxed and talking. Other people think we want a 30 minute full biography of everything they've ever done since they were 16, or for them to repeat their entire CV to us, or one very strange man who told us in huge detail about his previous employers and how super intelligent they all were. Please don't. 5 minutes is too long on that!

I was just lurking about and i was wondering what is expected from this question?
5 mins to explain what exactly?
I've been asked this in the interview once and lets say it didnt go very well :rotfl: So i would like to have an idea on what to say for next time

EconomicsGirl

Hi Lisa

I was similar to you but now have got a really good job so keep on and you will get there. I took vol. redundancy middle of the year, applied for jobs, was getting an excellent interview rate but had about 20 interviews before I got offered a job. The job I have been offered is excellent. I also got to the point of what is the point of going to another interview I'll only fail again but you have to be positive otherwise its self-fulfulling.

What I'ld say is:
1. Go with a positive attitude - they must think you possibly can do the job or they wouldn't interview you. Be enthusiastic it goes along way.
2. You are getting interviews - you must be doing the forms right, that's got to be good.
3. Research the company, research the interview, prepare answers to questions they may ask - answers should be to the point but not yes/no. You can always say would you like more detail.
4. I was also told it was fine to take a notepad to interview. If you are having trouble focussing on the question this might help though never did it myself. I found some interviewers asked too long questions with 4 points in them and some didn't pick up on the other points if you didn't mention it.
5. Use guides on the internet on interview technique and maybe buy a interview guide. If someone asks a vague question like tell me about yourself its fine to ask what would you like to know - in general I've found its your most recent employment.
6. Sell, sell, sell yourself - before the interview prepare a list of why they should take you, think of yourself as the company.
7. Try to say nothing negative esp. about a past employer.
8. Almost be honest though its fine to be selective in what you mention.
9. Try to get on with the interviewer as a person - in the one I got we got on really well. One way to do this is if say they are walking you to the interview and ask about you, ask them something about them, usually what they've asked you. Obviously depends on the person, if they appear cold I wouldn't bother and I also would think twice about working there.
10. Send a follow-up thank you e-mail the day of the interview. First one I sent I got the job.
11. Get feedback from interviews - most of the time it'll tell you nothing but occassionally you get something useful.

You will get there - just believe in yourself and good luck.

LisaB85

Some very good ideas, I was never aware that it was OK to take notes to an interview to refer to.

One question that always gets me is the 'Where would you like see yourself in a year'

I would like to progress in a company eventually and develop myself but is this the right thing to say?

Also the role on Monday was 18 hours but need to cover full time 5 weeks a year she was quite abrupt asking if I had any commitments that were stopping me working full time, I said No at which point she asked if the hours would be enough. If I had commitments I'd not be able to cover the 5 weeks.

'Why do you want the job' I never know how to really answer that one.

Does it look good if I ask questions too?

DCFC79

Lisa I used to think like you, I was made redundant a few months before yourself and I was finding it hard to find a job, got to interview stage for a few and wasnt succesful (i do believe i know why i wasnt successful). I was beginning to get a bit down beat with the rejections but i still carried on with the applcations and luckily i was offered a job where i currently am.

Keep at it OP and you will find something.

DCFC79

LisaB85 wrote: »

Some very good ideas, I was never aware that it was OK to take notes to an interview to refer to.

One question that always gets me is the 'Where would you like see yourself in a year'

I would like to progress in a company eventually and develop myself but is this the right thing to say?

Also the role on Monday was 18 hours but need to cover full time 5 weeks a year she was quite abrupt asking if I had any commitments that were stopping me working full time, I said No at which point she asked if the hours would be enough. If I had commitments I'd not be able to cover the 5 weeks.

'Why do you want the job' I never know how to really answer that one.

Does it look good if I ask questions too?

re asking questions, yes I always ask questions but not sure what it would show, maybe an interest in the role.

cassie55

Definitlely don't give up.

I was made redundant in mid 2010. I work in quite a small industry and there were not that many things advertised but I applied for everything I saw.

I consistently got to the final stage of the intervew, so the last 2 or 3 candidates but was never offered the job. It was really disheartening and I felt like giving up (and there were lots of tears) but I kept on trying.

Last week I celebrated the first 12 months at my new (dream) job.

What's more, my current job is 10 x better than most of the jobs where I got turned down and it's made me think that everything happens for a reason.

So good luck, and don't give up. You will get there in the end.