Job interviews are strange in many respects.
As the candidate you are trying to showcase yourself and persuade the hiring manager that you are the right person for the job.
The hiring manager wants to be sure that you are going to be able to do the job and fit into the team.
Whenever I am running working helping people land their next job or coaching people, one of the common things people say is that they lack confidence.
Now I think we can all relate to being nervous in job interviews.
It’s to be expected.
In many respects you never reach the stage where you become completely comfortable and confident.
The reason is the that you don’t do job interviews often enough or frequently enough to reach the stage of becoming unconsciously competent.
When you are unconsciously competent, you can do something without thinking about it.
The best example of this is something like driving a car.
When you start you have to really think about every step, every manoeuvre and everything thing.
Over time and with practice you get better and better.
After you have been doing it for a decent period of time it becomes second nature.
Job interviews are very different. You don’t get that continual practice to master the skill.
What this means that when you are out there on the job market, you really have to put in a lot of intensive work to be well prepared.
You have to practice. This might be using audio, video and even a mock interview with someone who can help you improve your answers.
The more you practice the better you get.
Does it mean you reach the unconsciously competent stage?
Probably not. At the same you can reach the stage where you are consciously competent.