7 Tips To Avoid Brain Freeze During A Job Interview

Have you ever been in a situation where your brain froze? And what’s worse than experiencing this situation during an interview? Nothing, right?

Well, you can easily avoid that horrifying experience with a few simple tips. The result would be – a much more strong-willed, confident and self-aware candidate.

Let’s take a look at seven such tips that can help you avoid brain freeze during a job interview.

1. Prepare well – The most common reason for a brain freeze is lack of preparation. When you are asked something that you never really anticipated – you are highly likely to go blank. However, that’s not always the case. There are times you may get blank even because of questions like “why should we hire you” or “tell me about yourself”. So, prepare well in advance. Practice, practice, and practice. You can rehearse for your interview in front of the mirror or just ask a friend or family member to take your interview. Prepare your answers in advance to get a feel of the real meeting.

2. Do not chase perfection – Your quest for perfection may do more harm than good to your career. That constant desire to leave an impression on the interviewers with a brilliant performance just builds up more pressure on your brain. So, stop trying to be perfect. Just be you. If they will like you, your knowledge and your skills, you will be hired. And once you are hired, you can always leave a great impression on the same people through your ‘actual’ work performance.

3. Don’t overload your brain – While it is good to prepare well for your interview, don’t study so much that your mind finds it difficult to remember it all. You will be in a good position if you know about your job profile and expectations well and understand how can you contribute to the role. Try to get a little bit of knowledge about the latest industry trends, but if you try to know it all, then you might forget everything during the interview. So, don’t put too much burden on your brain.

4. Learn the art of staying positive – Focus on positive things, and you will not let the fear of failing at an interview affect you. Think about succeeding at the interview, instead of thinking about failing at it. List your achievements and first convince yourself that you are the best candidate for the job, then move ahead to convince others.

5. Take your time – During an interview, when a question is asked to you, don’t jump straightaway to answer it in haste. Be calm and take a few seconds to jot your thoughts. Answer slowly, it won’t give a wrong In fact, the interviewer will be happy that you are thinking before speaking. Also, don’t talk like a robot. Be real and talk about things the way you usually do. Treat it more like a conversation than an interview. Doing this will help you be more comfortable and reduce the chances of a brain freeze.

6. Summarize – In case you have been hasty while answering a question, then don’t lose hope. You can always summarize it to make an impact. Be confident and sum up what you have said before in just one or two lines. When you do this, you will give yourself some time to cool off, and you can resume your composure, preventing your brain from freezing.

7. Remember that they are just people – Stop visualizing interviewers as people who are going to decide your career, they are not. They cannot. It is you who is going to decide your career. Just treat them as normal They are doing their jobs. You do yours. But that doesn’t mean that you don’t treat them with respect. They are at a respectable position to shortlist candidates for a job. Give them the respect they deserve, but don’t let the thought of them scare you from giving answers. Just prepare well and be the best version of yourself. The job will be yours if you will be the most suitable candidate for it.

Practicing the above tips will reduce your fear of taking interviews and will help you a great deal in avoiding that nerve-racking brain freeze. Invest your time in these tips and shine at your next interview!

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