Interview - bad anxiety

BigAunty

Hypnotherapy. There should be experienced practitioners who help people with interview nerves, general confidence and esteem, anxiety, relaxation.

There are some practitioners that align their practice with counselling and therapy,including hypnoanalysis to try to discover the root cause of the anxiety.

Instead of seeing the hypnotherapist as specifically to achieve a successful interview outcome, it could be a regular thing to help with general well being and helping you to feel more positive about yourself.

pd52

anmarj wrote: »

I got an interview for promotion as well next week, and had a bit of a panic attack today, but I have got some hypnotherpy tapes which I am going to listen to this weekend and swott up on my compentancies! Good luck for next week though x

I'm doing mindfulness its helpful but I've not got to a stage where I can use it out and about to calm myself yet

belfastgirl23

Good advice here. I also have used rescue remedy (one of the bach remedies) and still do for flying - my own panic trigger - and find it really useful. I got advice on this a while back and the therapist advised visualising my fears floating off in a balloon and visualising myself walking through an airport and onto a plane confidently and it did really help. Also combating my own catastrophic thinking (I see you have it in spades too!!).

The other thing is remember the likelihood is that someone on the panel will suffer from anxiety about some trigger of theirs - it's much much more common than you'd think.

The singing is also a really good idea. It forces you to take deep breaths if you're singing at the top of your voice and this is good for settling nerves. A brisk walk or some other form of exercise is also great for settling down the fight or flight feeling.

And the sugar thing is definitely a trigger for anxiety for me, or makes my anxiety much worse if I'm experiencing it. Likewise caffeine. Be aware of your intake in the day or so leading up to the interview if not for longer.

Lastly think about what you'll do after the interview - focus on coming out and how amazing it will feel for the interview to be over, regardless of the outcome. Try to keep that feeling in the front of your mind.

If you're anything like me you work yourself up into a state ahead of time and then are actually so exhausted with stress by the time you're in the situation that you are almost too tired to care lol....

selement

If it makes you feel any better I get stressed like this about interviews too.
For me it helps to take the pressure off a bit - if I don't get it I don't lose my current job and I can always try again in the future, really not so bad!
Finding that first job was real hard though. Deep breaths, prepare as well as you can, maybe request a glass of water if they dont provide one, taking a sip after they ask you something can give you a moment to process what they are asking and consider your answer. It's ok to ask them to repeat, or even elaborate if it is a confusing question.
Good luck!

[Deleted User]

Have a try with this - https://www.headspace.com

It's a set of mindfulness exercises to listen to; there's an app also

Don't pay for the years subscription!

BigAunty

pd52 wrote: »

I'm doing mindfulness its helpful but I've not got to a stage where I can use it out and about to calm myself yet

Who is teaching you this/how are you learning this?

Are you doing this inconjunction with other supporting practices like yoga and meditation?

What I love about it is that it retrains people to live in the present moment, instead of panicking about future events or being stuck in past experiences, which results in anxiety.

Hopefully you will crack the practice, too, which encourages a lovely attitude to life.

Tinathurgood

I find that yoga helps with my anxiety. Also, light weightlifting has seemed to increase my self-esteem thus making me less self conscious and lowering my anxiety. Try to get rid of all the pent up energy.

Guest101

I know that interview stress is real, however if the job itself is stressful it may not be the right career move?

At the end of the day, be yourself, some interviews are looking for what you say, i find internal ones are often more about how you say it.

Theres a good chanc the interviewer knows that you're qualified and is seeing if your personality matches the job role.

Just did a 1st and 2nd interview for a second job (nailed it) - it helped that I was relaxed, I didnt get a single "give me an example of..." question, just general chat.

Qualifications were clear from the CV it was just to meet me.

So accept that you're qualified for the job, dont be nervous about not being able to answer something, and try to maintain a relaxed demeanor.

no1catman

tomtontom wrote: »

I find Bach flower remedies useless, more of a placebo effect than anything.

Have you enough propranolol to do a test run?

I'm surprised at that, placebo - perhaps if you have confidence it will work, but at the start the idea that flower essences could work seemed too ridiculous to work, but I gave it a try. After about 30 minutes I'm thinking why am I smiling!


Bach remedy, can either be used via drops on the tongue, into water to sip over time, or you it can slowly dissolve via chewing gum/lozenges.

dirtycredit

Hiya, I know you are asking about medication for this but can I just say I have massive issues with situations like this. I've actually fled interviews in the middle of them before because I just couldn't handle the situation panicked and lost control and I've passed out in a universty assessed presentation. I knew my current job was perfect for me so I really had to find a way to get through it without panicking myself into a frenzy. And I actually did it. I'm not a hippy but you have to find ways to talk yourself into calming down. You have to find the coping mechanisms and triggers that calm you. The ones that calm me are:

Study long and hard for the interview think of everything they could ask you and rehearse your answers. write them down learn them and repeat them out loud to yourself all the time and have 'set pieces' so that when your brain shuts down (as i knew mine would in the blind panic) you can just spurt the lines out because you've rehearsed them enough.

Repeatedly think or tell yourself in the lead up to the interview that you can do the job, you are qualified and there is nothing they can ask you that you don't know the answer to. You might stumble but the answers are all there otherwise they wouldn't have offered you an interview in the first place.

Finally for me the hardest part is the start of the interview. The minute I open my mouth and hear my own voice is my ultimate meltdown trigger. My heart's pounding and my hands are shaking just thinking about it. In this interview for my current job this panic at the start made me stumble over my words. I took a really deep breath stopped for a second and quickly told my self in my mind 'you know the answer just take it slowly.' i apologised to the panel and said 'I'm a bit nervous can I start that again?' another deep breath and away I went.

I don't know if these things will help you but if you keep telling yourself that you know you can do the job you are qualified etc your responses will start to remap and dissipate some of the anxiety.

You can do it!