The Perfect Interview – (from “Out of the Actor’s Playbook”)

How do they do it? Those people who look so self-confident, so “put together” … are they really what they seem? They might even be having a bad day, but still they look fabulous, and they interview perfectly. So how do they do it? Here are a few tips – a few leaves from the Actor’s Playbook: • Physical Awareness – How are you standing? Are you even paying attention to it? If you throw your shoulders back and down – relaxing, but standing up straight – this gives you an immediate air of authority. • Emotional Control – It’s not a matter of rigidity, it’s a matter of focus! You may be having a day in which your self-esteem is beneath the floor, but you have to come across as empowered, right? So the quick way of dealing with this is to take the “witness” view of those thoughts running through your brain – the thoughts that are so negative and that make you fearful and doubtful – and tell them to take a seat until you’re done, while you focus on the task at hand. The longer-term way involves sitting down before your interview – preferably a few hours or days – and writing down those “voices in your head”; those messages that trip you up. Then take that piece of paper and put it aside the day of your interview, and go out and focus on what you do best: being you! • Being You! – Speaking of being you, this is the core of acting: being authentically your emotional self. So why can’t the core of interviewing be to be your authentic working self! Yes, we’re afraid of rejection, but if that’s all we focus on, nothing else comes through to the interviewer (or audience, if you’re an actor) but fear! One emotion is not the sum total of all that you are. So, be you! According to a top-level H.R. friend of mine, that’s what most people she hires are hired for: being themselves! Above and beyond their skills. • Vocal Skills – Ask a few friends what your voice conveys. Some people speak so softly you can hardly hear them. Others boom! Every kind of delivery carries a message. For example: soft voice can equal someone who is afraid to be heard; booming voice can equal someone who is overbearing and afraid not to be heard! Once you know what your voice conveys, you can decide if that is the message you want to be giving, and with that choice comes the next step: making changes!