Whether we realise it or not, we are all guilty of messing up a good job interview at some point in our professional lives.  If you are aware that you’ve messed things up, then you have be aware of how you did it.

Regardless of where you are placed amongst a line up of candidates for a particular job, no matter how good you think you are and no matter what your chances are, you all have as much ability as anyone else to increase your chances of getting the job you want.  Conversely, the opposite can be said of your chances of really messing it up.

Focusing on negativity

Let’s assume for a moment that you know what your weak spots are when being interviewed.  In the build up to preparing for a particular job interview, making sure you know what a company does and how the role you are being interviewed for impinges upon that, should give you the lead over your competitors.  You know where you’ve made mistakes before.  How do you cope with this?  At least one third of us will worry so much about how not to mess it up, that we are programming ourselves to fail merely by dwelling on such thoughts.  How to overcome this problem could be the lynchpin on whether you get it or not.

To avoid the pitfalls, try these measures:

1.     The day before your interview, rehearse any likely questions with a friend. Ask for their opinion.  If their judgement is not very good or even mediocre, keep on rehearsing until you get it right – confident not cocky.

2.     Approximately an hour before your interview, study your CV. Review your achievements, professional experience and skills.

3.     Shortly before your interview, take several deep breaths; tell yourself that you've met tougher challenges. Tell yourself that you really want this job and that you are going to do your best to get it.  There always will be other job interviews.  Reaffirm your ability to yourself that you must remain cool under fire; others have done it and so can you.

4.     Five minutes before the interview, recite a verse from a poem or song or some other piece from memory anything to clear your mind so you can concentrate on your objective.

Provided your interview went well, (feeling good as you leave the place where the interview took place) and that you are confident you said all the right things at the right moments, then you have good reason to feel positive.  Knowing that the interview went well increases your confidence, even if you don’t get the job, at least you know that you interview well and can answer some tough questions…….but don’t go and celebrate yet!  In “interview etiquette” you should send a letter or email to your interviewer in which you go over a few points, making sure you don’t get bogged down in verbiage.  This is also a great time to make sure that your interviewer keeps on remembering you.  Thank them for their time and say how much you enjoyed meeting them etc. etc.

So any time soon, the offers will start to come in and if you get more than one, well then, you have a choice which is even better than you hoped for!