Confidence, Job Interviews, and Bad Haircuts

When I was a kid, I thankfully had many legs to hide behind when the world became too terrifying to handle. My family was never surprised when I jammed my feet into the ground to hold my spot in the safe zone, and they were always near to help drag me along. It really was for my own good. Even my very first haircut was a traumatic event for me. I pretty much cried until my grandmother threw in the towel for me midway in. Unfortunately, my school pictures were the very next morning, and the end result was that lopsided head shot above that will forever haunt me. At least I find it funny now.

Later, my high school years introduced me to the world of stage acting, which triggered a dramatic change in my life going forward. Ever since then, I've pondered the energies behind self-confidence, and the methods people use to boost themselves up when needed.

During my time meeting students in person as a campus recruiter for HP, one thing that always stuck out to me was how some students struggled with confidence issues during the a job interview. A question like - "Tell me about yourself" - turned into an awkward spectacle of broken eye contact and a 60 second robotic elevator pitch that went on for 5 minutes too long.

Don't get me wrong here - I still struggle with similar things myself. It's not uncommon to catch me break out in a nervous sweat midway through teaching a class or talking to a group of people. Eventually, I relax, cool off, and regain control. Having replayed that stressful process over the course of much of my life, and watching others go through it, there's something I learned:

Maintaining confidence happens when you're prepared and excited about what you have to offer.

You can apply this idea to many areas of your life where you may feel less confident than normal, however this article is about job interviews, so let me clarify a few things. I'll start with preparation.

There's a difference between memorizing and understanding. When I teach students about behavioral interviewing, I ask them to pick a question and write down their answer in STAR (situation, task, action, result) format. One concept that I try to make very clear is that instead of simply memorizing the answer, they should instead really try to understand it inside and out. It's not possible to practice for every possible question that would come up in an interview, so I always suggest investing more time in practicing what remains constant - their own story. In the same way an actor study's a scene as a whole, and not just the sequence of the lines in a script, I ask my students to really dive into their stories. I encourage them to ask themselves questions like:

• Why did you handle it that way?
• What was going through your mind?
• What would you have done differently?
• What did you really learn?
• What changed because of this situation?
• How did others react to this situation?

This can help them get comfortable telling the story in a natural way because they can focus less on the script, and more on the context to align it with the job they're interviewing for. Additionally, thinking about the details of their stories reminds them about how accomplished they really are. That brings me to my second point of clarification.

In working with students over the years, I find that some doubt their own successes and experiences. They sometimes feel that academic experience doesn't count because it's not happening in the "professional world". Guess what? It does count! Think about it this way - a recruiter or hiring manager is most likely looking at your resume because you are a student, so they fully expect you to talk about things you've done as a student. You've got plenty of examples of team work, initiative, conflict resolution, problem solving, communication - just to name a few. 

And that's why you should be excited - because you've got an amazing story to tell. Actors on stage are excited for the audience to see the story play out, which is where some of that energy comes from. When you've got a juicy story to share with a friend, chances are you're excited to talk about it. Think way back to your own childhood when you scribbled a picture of something in crayon on a piece of paper, and you were extremely proud and excited to show anyone who looked. That's the same kind of excitement that you should have about your own story, and that energy is more than enough to boost your confidence and help you keep your cool during a job interview.

By really understating your story, and being excited about what you have to offer as a candidate, you're able to tell much more engaging and memorable stories. You're also less likely to freeze up, stumble over your words, and draw a blank when asked a question that you didn't practice for.

You know yourself better than anyone else, so you're the best one to communicate your abilities when asked about them. Get excited about that - you've worked hard to get here. Although I couldn't make it through a haircut, I have confidence that you'll make it through a job interview.

Jason Cirilo is a Career Development Specialist and Lecturer at the Naveen Jindal School of Management @ The University of Texas at Dallas. He serves students through classroom instruction, workshops, and one-on-one coaching sessions in order to share his knowledge of corporate recruiting strategy and professional development. Learn more at JasonCirilo.com