Keys to Succeeding at interviews

“Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success”

Having a well crafted cv and cover letter can only earn you a telephone interview or bring you to the assessment center but will not guarantee your interview success….

let’s look at what does! let’s go!

1.1 Confidence the essential spice….

Self confidence is an essential ingredient in the successful recipe for your interview success! What is self confidence? The origin of the word confidence is the Latin word confidere, which means to trust or have faith in. So to have self confidence means to approach what you are doing with faith in yourself and your abilities.

One of the most important contributions to your self confidence is the knowledge that you are sufficiently prepared. 

“Confidence is a funny thing; people often say that you need luck to win. But for me, confidence comes down to preparation. I took two deep breaths, eyed the corner of the net and emptied my mind of everything else except one thought “I am going to score”. There was one focus; there was no doubt in my mind, no negativity, just a sense of complete reassurance”.

(David Beckham – The Illustrated Book, 2013)

1.2 Prepare, Prepare, Prepare!

So the preparation was in three key parts:

1. The psychological preparation and choosing the right language “I emptied my mind of everything else except one thought I am going to score, no doubt in my mind”
2. The physical preparation of having practiced hundreds of free kicks during his career, taking two deep breaths, eyeing the corner of the net
3. The one focus “no doubt in my mind, no negativity, just one thought I am going to score”

This is an effective way of creating the right state and as football history unfolded David Beckham scored that goal in the 92^nd minute taking England into the 2001 World Cup.

1.3 Creating the right state.

So translating this for your interview:

1. Choosing the right language: that you create a positive mantra about being well prepared, that you are answering the questions with ease and have practiced out loud so you have heard yourself answering questions.
2. Your physical preparation: what you are wearing, that you are well hydrated & energized, that your body language is open and you are relaxed, confident and smiling at the interviewing panel.
3. Ensure that you have the right focus: thorough preparation into the company that you are applying to work with, knowledge of the job from the job description and job specification, applying your experience and skills to match what they are looking for.

We will talk about creating a winning CV in our next article, subscribe to our blog now