Playing the Negative Tape in Your Head: the Job Interview

Playing the Negative Tape in Your Head: The Job Interview

At the moment a job applicant is ushered into the interview room, they experience a flood of perceptions. This might include the decoration of the room, the smell of perfume or cologne, family pictures on the desk, the computer monitor sitting on the desk, the state of tidiness in the room, and the appearance of the interviewer.

But the job applicant is also somewhat of a prisoner of something else ? their own state of mind.

At the moment the interview begins, the applicant is the sum of all of their job experiences and life experiences up to that point, positive and negative. And there are other important realities too. How badly does the applicant need the job?

The following list itemizes different states of mind and is worthwhile reading for anyone seeking a job. The applicant?s negative state of mind can be so pervasive that it will surely be difficult to assess the potential of the job.

The State of Mind of a Job Applicant:

* 1. The applicant really needs a job ? Coming into an interview with a tremendous need for a job can make things difficult. Money might be dwindling, rent might be due, and the sense of impending doom might be crowding out all rational thought in the applicant?s mind. 'I just need a job,' might be their mantra to the point where all negative feedback from the interview is put on a back burner.

* Then if the applicant gets the job, reality soon begins to set in and there is regret and anger over the decision. Almost always, the state of mind can be traced as the heart of the decision to take the job, overriding any discerning influences. A sense of desperation drives any questions that the applicant asks and any questions that the applicant answers. 2. The applicant is coming away from a very bad experience ? Psychologists talk about post traumatic stress disorder among our armed forces and among those who have experienced a traumatic event. Yet, if the applicant is working at a job that is not panning out at all and they are feeling the rejection of their boss or other supervisors, this might be the one thought most occupying their minds in the interview. Compared to the current job, the new job almost has to be better, doesn't it? Again, any potential negatives about the new job are pushed to the back of the applicant?s mind because of their state of desperation. Furthermore, their sense of failure looms large and may make the applicant subconsciously feel unworthy of the job for which they are interviewing. In any case, all of this baggage will likely affect the way they answer questions and conduct themselves at the interview as well as fueling the chance of making a bad choice.

* 3. The applicant is coming away from a very good experience but is hoping to move up ? When a person has had the pleasure of working for someone they get along with and with finding acceptance and appreciation, it clouds their judgment as they enter into the interview process. Without knowing how awful it really can be to work in a difficult environment, the applicant is not picking up important cues that might indicate trouble. The boss may be hard to get along with but may manage to come across as a decent person at the interview. That's why the ability to pick up subtle cues, like signs in the break room, might be a giveaway to an aware applicant. For someone who has not had to worry about this kind of a boss, it might again mean making a bad choice.

* 4. The applicant knows that there is a lot of competition ? Often, the person who calls for the interview appointment lets the cat out of the bag. There are a lot of other interviewees. For one thing, this tends to make the applicant see himself as vying for the job and thus getting into a competitive frame of mind. For another, it might make the applicant believe the job is much better than it really is. In either case, the applicant approaches the interview differently that if he didn't know he was one of many meeting the boss. In the competitive mode, he might subconsciously try to manipulate the situation to his best advantage, as he sees it, but not his best advantage in the long run. 'Oh, no, I don't mind working on weekends,' might pop out of his mouth.

* 5. The applicant doesn't have much experience ? In this case the applicant already has a negative tape running in his head and he is dreading the interviewer's questions. The lack of experience tends to affect his lack of confidence and thus he undermines the interview. Rather than building himself up by recognizing his knowledge of the subject matter and his ability to work with people, for example, he is already