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  3. Seeing Your Way Past Interview jitters It is not unusual to experience a mild attack of nerves before a job interview. But t

Seeing Your Way Past Interview jitters It is not unusual to experience a mild attack of nerves before a job interview. But t

admin2010-05-26  15
问题                      Seeing Your Way Past Interview jitters
    It is not unusual to experience a mild attack of nerves before a job interview. But there are engineers whose interview jitters are intense enough to be harmful. They have such overwhelming apprehension and fear that they either become tongue-tied or proceed to talk themselves out of the job. Even many capable and articulate (表达力强的) engineers act stiff and awkward in interviews, often fidgeting or sitting on the edge of the chair.
    When we’re anxious, we frequently become self-conscious spectators of our own behavior during interviews, observing and judging our every utterance and movement. This not only makes us more anxious and less convincing, but also divides our attention.
    Excessive self-consciousness is particularly true among engineers who go to interviews with a do-or-die attitude. Trying too hard to succeed increases tension and reduces effectiveness. "The self-imposed pressure of trying to ace an interview can make some people focus too much on how they look and act," says Steven Berglas, a psychiatry instructor at Harvard Medical School. He feels that those who are overly conscious of their grooming, speech, body language, and other interviewing behavior frequently "suppress those elements of their personality that won them the interview in the first place."
    Perfectionist engineers particularly experience high anxiety during job interviews. Because they have a strong need to do well and have such inflated expectations of their own performance, any real or imaginary deviation from their self-imposed high, and often unrealistic, standards triggers excessive nervousness and self-critical ruminations. From one slight, innocuous mistake they automatically assume the entire interview will turn out badly.
    This anticipation often drives them to behaviors and statements that would seem selfsabotage to an innocent bystander.
    REDUCING TENSION
    Although you may feel your blood pressure rise, palms moisten, and stomach tighten before an important interview, you can control these reactions.
    According to H. Anthony Medley, author of Sweaty Palms: The Neglected Art of Being Interviewed, there are four sound reasons why you have nothing to fear but fear itself, and they can help you keep an interview in perspective.
    1. The interview centers on the subject you know best: yourself.
    2. If you’ve done your homework, you have a decided advantage: You know more about the interviewer’s company than it knows about you.
    3. Interviewers expect job candidates to be a bit nervous.
    4. You have nothing to lose. You didn’t have the job offer before the interview, so if you don’t have it afterward, you’re no worse off.
    Some interview failures may be inevitable. Most engineers have experienced at least one. The important point is to refrain from exaggerating the importance of an interview situation. Also, if possible, generate several interviews; don’t pin your hopes on just one. A winning at-all-costs attitude seldom wins a job offer.
    It is detrimental to adopt a confrontational stance with the interviewer. If you feel overly tense or belligerent, it is helpful to pretend that the interviewer is a good friend. A little make-believe can go a long way toward calming hostile feelings.
    One interesting method of lessening interview stress is suggested by Lawrence Darius, president of Corporate Communication Skills Inc. , New York.    He is convinced that one of the more effective ways to overcome interview jitters is to separate yourself from your performance. "Just as an actor or actress creates the character in a script, you must try to create a character for the position you’re seeking," he explains. "You probably have an image of the ideal engineer or, better yet, of the perfect candidates for the job. How do they differ from you? How do they walk, talk, and act?"
    Daralee Schulman, a New York City-based career counselor, teaches her clients to relax before an interview by doing this exercise: "Visualize a serene and beautiful scene, perhaps a moonlit beach, while becoming aware of the rhythm of your breathing. On each breath in, think ’I am’ and on each breath out, think ’calm.’ Ten repetitions of ’I am calm’ breathing done in the reception area before an interview can ease your tension." A "reliving" of a past interview in which you did well boosts your self-confidence, too.
    A more advanced and exceedingly effective breathing technique is offered by Dan Lang, who conducts stress-reducing workshops in New York. First, exhale totally, imagining that you are relaxing all your tension. Next, close your mouth and place your right thumb on your right nostril so that it is completely closed. Then slowly and deeply inhale and exhale through your left nostril a couple of minutes, or 25 to 30 times. This enables you to tap into the right hemisphere of your brain, particularly the limbic part that governs emotions. You will experience an immediate reduction of fear and anxiety resulting in a more relaxed, in-charge feeling.
    THE POWER OF VISUALIZATION
    Many top athletes experience almost overwhelming stress before important events. However, most of them have learned--through the new sports psychology of visualization--how to manage performance anxiety, improve concentration, and enhance athletic performance.
    Tennis champion Chris Evert, for example, used to carefully and repeatedly visualize every detail of an upcoming championship match in her mind’s eye. She pictured her opponent’s style and form, and then visualized how she would counter and respond to every possible maneuver or tactic.
    Golf great Jack Nicklaus programs his "bio-computer" for success this way: "I never hit a shot, even in practice, without having a sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head. It’s like a color movie. First, I ’see’ the ball where I want it to finish. I ’see’ the ball going there: its path, trajectory, and shape. The next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous image into reality."
    There are significant emotional parallels between sports and job interviews. Through visualizing your ideal interview performance, you can build confidence and reduce anxiety to manageable levels.
    Visualization of a successful interview is impressed upon the memory. When the actual event happens, there is complete confidence of success, as if one had done it before with a positive outcome.
Tennis champion Chris Evert visualized her opponent’s style for imitation.
选项 A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案B
解析
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