#022  3 Ways to Reduce Nervousness | Sound More Confident During Interviews

When calming your nerves during interviews, some prep can work wonders. In this article, I'm going to talk about the three most effective strategies that will help you handle nervousness and anxiety if you experience any and how to sound more confident during an interview. Plus, stay tuned until the end for a very practical bonus tip.

 With that said, let’s get started.

 First Strategy: Before your interview, think about the most common questions related to your role that you could be asked. Be prepared with some real-life examples to discuss. For instance, if they ask about any recent successes, share one you've had. Even small improvements in your processes count as wins. Share your success story and explain how you achieved it. Next,

 Second Strategy: Be prepared for curveball questions. These are unexpected or challenging questions that gauge your adaptability or critical thinking. If faced with such questions, I would recommend buying yourself some time by rephrasing the interviewer’s question or asking for more clarity. Use the SARL technique to respond to questions. If you don’t know about it already, I talked about it in my previous video. Here is the link to access that. 

Let me briefly tell you SARL is an acronym that I created where S describes a Situation, A stands for Actions you took or would take, R is for the Result that came out of your actions, and L is Learning you gained out of it. So use this strategy to articulate your responses really well. Plus, you avoid rumbling this way.

 Moving to the third Strategy: Don’t forget to research the company and interviewer beforehand. Gain insights about the interview's focus from your recruiter. Candidates ask me all the time. This will boost your confidence and reduce stress. Prepare along those lines but also be ready for unexpected questions. And now you know how to manage such unexpected situations using the technique that we just discussed.

 This led me to talk about the Bonus tip.

You should never rush to answer your interviewer's questions, take pauses between your responses to stay in control of what you say. When you talk fast, you tend to fumble and lose your train of thought, which can   your confidence. 

Speaking fast doesn’t show confidence, rather articulating your thoughts with clarity at a moderate rate of speech makes you sound more professional and confident.

I hope this helps!