Professional Development Forum

Job interviews make me nervous. The night before a big interview, it's almost guarnteed that I won't sleep and I'll stay up scrolling my phone researching a company because I'm afraid I'm not prepared enough. The day of the interview, I can't fully relax until it's over, AND THEN I start to think about everything that possibly could have gone wrong. 

While I'm not searching for a new job, I thought I'd share this NPR Life Kit article I found called "A career coach unlocks the secret to acing your job interview and combating anxiety."

The article advises to be yourself in a job interview because at the end of the day, the company needs to be a good fit for you and you need to be a good fit for the company. Cynthia Pong, founder and CEO of Embrace Change, recommends thinking of the Compusure Triangle, which has three sides that include Collapse, Posturing, and Composure. Pong said during interviews, people bounce between Collapse and Posturing, but the goal is to find balance through Composure.

Connectors, what do you think? Does the triangle work? Do you have any job interview tips?

The Composure Triangle is new to me, but the idea of being yourself really resonates.
One visible way is that I learned to let my hair be itself for interviews. For many years, I scraped it all back because it had been instilled in me that curly hair was messy and unprofessional. In one case, I got the job and showed up the first day -- and people didn't recognize me. :)
Plus, being yourself is a good equalizer to remember that you are also interviewing them to see if the job and the organization are a good fit for you. 

Job interviews make me nervous. The night before a big interview, it's almost guarnteed that I won't sleep and I'll stay up scrolling my phone researching a company because I'm afraid I'm not prepared enough. The day of the interview, I can't fully relax until it's over, AND THEN I start to think about everything that possibly could have gone wrong. 

While I'm not searching for a new job, I thought I'd share this NPR Life Kit article I found called "A career coach unlocks the secret to acing your job interview and combating anxiety."

The article advises to be yourself in a job interview because at the end of the day, the company needs to be a good fit for you and you need to be a good fit for the company. Cynthia Pong, founder and CEO of Embrace Change, recommends thinking of the Compusure Triangle, which has three sides that include Collapse, Posturing, and Composure. Pong said during interviews, people bounce between Collapse and Posturing, but the goal is to find balance through Composure.

Connectors, what do you think? Does the triangle work? Do you have any job interview tips?