Job interviews??

[pinkcandy]

pressures on me to get a job cus i need the money & may not be going back to college (fear of an interview for that! & meeting ppl) so.. how do i deal with that? it's not gonna be any major job but it's still scary as hell! never been to a job interview in my life & i find it hard enough leaving the house alone.

[Jesserie]

Interviews are intimidating to almost everyone. What has helped me is to remind myself that the process isn't just about them getting to know ME and asking ME questions. It's also a chance for me to ask questions and see if the job is a good fit for my personality.

And if it helps, I've gone on a ton of interviews, and everyone has always been very nice to me. Everyone understands that people are nervous during an interview.

[Babimay]

I have thrown in the towel and have decided to open up a little about my Disorder at work over the past few weeks. As scary as this sounds, it's working to lesson my stress level. I have told about 5 people at work that I suffer from anxiety and now these few people redirect "me", when I'm getting anxious. Who would have thought that would happen?

Now with that said, some people on here have posted that they have had bad experiences with telling colleagues about their Anxiety Disorder. I guess this is a "Hit or Miss" subject however, if things are not working the way they are, perhaps it's best to try a new approach.

I think with my next interview when I have had enough of this current job I may try a new technique. I will start the interview but making the interviewer aware that I have a "slight" case of test anxiety making me nervous in interviews. No idea if this will work but I figure it's better than walking away from an interview fearing the worst and feeling like a mumbling idiot. If your fear is out in the open perhaps your body will not be hit with the anxious symptoms.

With me I fear looking nervous and saying dumb things because of my anxiety. I have always tried to hide my disorder in fear of judgment. What if you just threw it out there in the open from the get go..

You shake hands, sit down and thank the interviewer for the opportunity of meeting with you and then "Bamb"...

"Just before we get started I wanted to make you aware that I have a "slight" test anxiety and I get a little nervous during interviews but it will pass and doesn't affect my skills and abilities while on the job"

I think this could work. Who knows, sometimes you may get lucky and the person interviewing you may be able to relate suffering too from anxiety. If anyone would like to test this theory let me know how it went and if it helped with your anxiety.

[Steve_P]

I don't think you need to try the new technique of telling them about your anxiety beforehand. Everybody gets nervous at interviews, but by coming out and making this the first thing you tell them is probably setting the tone in an unfavorable way and could cost you the job before they even get a chance to ask you any questions.

I'd just proceed as everyone else who interviews does - sure you'll be nervous at first, which is normal, but you WILL calm down and get into a flow once you start talking. Trust me, I used to have the same fears about interviews but never once did I freak out like I thought I would. They all went smoothly just a minute or two into it after I had calmed down.

As for telling colleagues, I only did this once when I was suffering badly from panic attacks. I only told my immediate supervisor that if I'm acting weird in a meeting, it's because I have a fear of public speaking, not because I'm crazy or anything. He was very nice about it and even admitted he gets anxious a lot as well.

We're all human, just try not to put too much pressure on yourself about the interivew

[danstelter]

A reasonable person would thank you for admitting your anxiety difficulty right up front...that takes courage to do! In fact, you will probably find that more often that not people will respond to you in a positive manner for doing so. Those that do not would probably be a pain in the ass to work with anyway. If the interview does not go the way you would like to, just remember that you will find something if you keep working at it, and don't take it personally-things are rarely meant personally.