How to ace an interview in five steps

Interviews can conjure up a lot of dread and fearful feelings but there are ways to prepare that will put you in the driver’s seat. You want to go all in with your preparation without getting attached to having the job. You don’t know yet whether you like the organizational culture, the dynamics with the person who will be your boss/supervisor/partner, and what they might be able to offer you.  

Here are five steps for preparing yourself for your interview: 

Srep One: Thoroughly research the company/organization/person or group who will be interviewing you. Make sure you know their vision and mission if available as well of course the job or position description. Think about how your strengths and talents sync up with those and how you could add value using your unique passions and experience. 

Step Two: Prepare some answers to questions using the STAR method – see this article: https://www.themuse.com/advice/star-interview-method 

Step Three: Make a list of your Must Haves and Wants for your new position (including financial/benefits/hours/organizational culture), and use these to create some questions you want to ask the interviewer(s). (You may not have the opportunity to ask these but have them available and if things progress you will bring them into your further interviews and conversations.)

Step Four: Do the Circle of Excellence cognitive exercise from Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) prior to your interview – use it a week before to prepare and then the day of the interview. The Circle of Excellence (also called ring of power) is a self-anchoring exercise enabling you to elicit, create, and stabilise desired states. The Circle of Excellence uses a kinaesthetic anchor to activate a moment of excellence, i.e., a moment in which you are in a high energetic state, in which you feel at the top of your game, energized, fully alive, and proudly yourself.  

Imagine a circle on the floor. Have the edges of the circle be flames or some energy that is powerful to you. Before you step into the Circle, get into the state(s) you want to have. You might recall a time when you felt totally in your power, in the flow, energized (ideally in your work but it doesn't have to be that). Another possibility for using the Circle of Excellence is by imagining another person, your idol or a character in a movie and placing this picture into the circle. You can be like them if you wish or have the feeling of being with them and sharing the values/states you feel that they have. 

Once you have chosen the scenario you are using: In your mind, imagine that state and ask yourself “what’s it like to be like this?” Conjure up the emotions, pictures, thoughts until the feeling pulses through your veins. Embody it/let it envelop you. Now you can revisit this anytime you want to be in this state by bringing back the circle and the feelings of it. (More info at https://www.nlpworld.co.uk/nlp-glossary/c/circle-of-excellence/) 

Step Five: Act as if you already have the job. This builds on the previous step of really being in your unique, authentic power. You would not have gotten the interview unless you had the qualifications for the job. So go to it as if you are ready to solve the problems the position or contract were designed to address for the company or team. Eighty percent of our interactions are energy and not the words spoken. You have nothing to lose by showing up as completely confident you can do the job/fulfill the contract and everything to gain.