[Exercise] Learning to manage your emotions during an interview

Yes, we know emotions can be tricky. Especially during a job interview. To learn how to manager them, here’s a cognitive re-education technique. The objective : to overcome your 

disturbing visceral emotional reactions and allow you to regain control.

Managing emotions : the preparation

Take a moment to think about your past job interviews. What events during these interviews provoked the strongest, most disturbing emotional reactions in you?

• List the top 3 of these situations (e.g. a recruiter cuts me off several times during the job interview) in the first column of the table below

Managing emotions : the exercise

Then think about how you react to these strong emotions.

• Describe this reaction in the second column of the table. For instance, “I got angry and stopped answering his/her questions”.
• Think about the reasons why you may have reacted this way and why this situation generated an emotional charge. Think about the hidden causes in the light of your personal experience. Explain these reasons in the third column of the table. For example, “I have the feeling that I am not heard in my life, by those close to me and the people I come into contact with, because I am not very tall and I don’t have a strong voice”.
• Indicate how you would have preferred to act in the fourth column of the table. For instance: “not getting angry, putting it into perspective by telling myself that it is not personal, that the recruiter is interrupting me because he/she got the answer he/she wanted and didn't need more information. Then giving shorter and direct answers and observing the recruiter's non-verbal language to see if I need to argue more”.

Let's move on to the most important step: visualise yourself in each of the situations described in the table. And imagine yourself in that situation reacting in the way you wish you had. It doesn't matter if you don't get it right the first time. Keep practising: you will get it.

Practice this exercise several times and don't hesitate to repeat it as you approach a future interview. It allows you to train your brain not to have the automatic emotional reaction you want to avoid but to react in the way you choose.

What if I have never been interviewed?

If you have never been to an interview, you can project yourself into a future interview situation. In this simulation, imagine what events might trigger a strong emotion in you. You can draw on your past experiences to imagine what kinds of situations or speech elements are likely to trigger strong emotional reactions in you.