Interview stress sucks. Why? Because it can reduce you – an otherwise intelligent, perfectly well-adjusted human being, into a blathering, wide-eyed and white-knuckled nut-case, in no time flat. That is, if you let it. If you’ve ever been the victim of a bad interview in the past, take heart. Interview stress can be beaten! Here’s how:

The two most common negative effects of interview stress that will sabotage your 60 Second Sell are: 1. Speaking too quickly – rushing and tripping over the tongue, or 2. Speaking too slowly: humming, hawing, stuttering or digressing from the topic.

Both of these interview stress side-effects stem from one or both of the following factors: 1. You are not aligning your thoughts with the speed of their delivery (speaking faster than you can think), and/or 2. You are citing a list rather than ‘telling a story’.

It is a global phenomenon that individuals trained in IT and engineering are predominantly left-brained. That means they tend to think logically and analytically. (Predominantly right-brained individuals are more creative and visual in their thinking patterns.) This is mostly due to the type of education they received and the intense practical training they went through to become a qualified professional in those fields.

One common phenomenon exists: predominantly left-brained individuals usually respond to questions by making a list. When you ask them to tell you about any subject – lets say “Books”, they inevitably begin by saying, “Books. Well, there are many kinds of books. There are novels, paper-backs, hard-covers, coffee table books, illustrated books, audio books, etc.” Now wasn’t that interesting? Not.

Inevitably, they run out of subject matter – they get more and more anxious, they speak faster and faster, their eyes bug out, they trip over their words, they stutter, sputter – and then it happens: KA-BOOM! They crash and burn.

That’s exactly what happens in an interview to anyone who hasn’t dealt with the negative effects of interview stress ahead of time. And it could happen to you next time you’re under the gun if you don’t do your Elephant Walk and Talk exercises and perfect your 60 Second Sell.

Here’s the bottom line: citing lists during an interview is about as fascinating as hearing the contents of a toothpaste container – and crashing and burning is not an option.
What to do next?

Read the next interview coach article: Dress Up Your Data: Say No To Lists

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