Scitex has been helping candidates get into exciting roles in New Zealand for 36 years. Over time, we’ve gathered rich insights into how job seekers can perform well when interviewing and what it takes to succeed. This series is designed to help candidates preparing for interviews, with the aim of supporting you to perform at your optimum so you give yourself the best chance of a job offer!

So, you’ve been selected for an interview – congratulations! This is a fantastic achievement and a testament to your skills and qualifications. No doubt the Managers meeting you are excited to learn more about you and how you can contribute to their team. To help you prepare and perform as well as possible, here are some tips from our Talent team, how to feel more confident at an interview.

• Think of the interview as a conversation – it’s not an interrogation! You have been invited to the interview as they are impressed with your background, you are there because you deserve to be.
• Take deep breaths and focus on your breathing, sit up straight to help with this.
• Don’t apologise for being nervous in fact tell yourself that it is excitement causing a bit of anxiety – instead of saying: ‘sorry I am nervous’, reframe it to sound more positive: ‘sorry I’m excited’!
• Prepare the night before to reduce stress on the day: plan your route, get your clothes ready and leave plenty of time in advance. This way you will feel more in control once you get there.
• Improve your confidence on the day by thorough preparation. Make sure you understand the role and think of examples of your previous work that are relevant. Research the company and come prepared with some questions (more than likely you will be asked if you have any questions).
• When answering questions be conscious of the length – avoid one word or one sentence answers. Instead draw from your previous experience to pull out examples that will help answer the questions.
• Remember to smile, speak slowly, and make eye contact. Be open and honest and remember you are there to see if they are the types of people you want to work with.  This is a 2-way process.

Good luck for your meeting!

To learn more, here are some more articles in the series:

💡Staying on Track and Answering Questions Effectively in an Interview

💡Tips for Virtual (online) interviews

💡Tips for In-Person Interviews

Or, if you’re at an earlier stage in the process, here are a couple of articles helping you improve your CV: level one here and level two here. Once you’re happy with your CV, if you’re seeking a new role and you’d like our teams help, we suggest joining our talent pool, here.

-Scitex