This episode focuses on mastering your mindset to increase your chances of success in job interviews. From mindset tips to practical strategies, Sarah provides the tools you need to ace your next interview and achieve your career aspirations.

Show Notes

[00:00:00] Welcome and Introduction

[00:02:00] The Growing Complexity of Interviews

• Insights into why interviews are becoming more extensive and the commitment required from candidates.

[00:03:00] Overcoming Negative Mindsets

• Learn how to shift your mindset from dread to confidence for interview success.

[00:05:00] Harnessing Positive Experiences

• Reflect on past successful interviews to boost confidence and frame your preparation.

[00:06:00] Reframing Nerves as Excitement

• Transform feelings of anxiety into excitement and embrace the opportunity to connect and showcase your skills.

[00:09:00] Gaining Perspective

• Put interviews into context: they’re an opportunity to assess fit and not the sole determinant of your career.

[00:11:00] Seeing Interviewers as Allies

• View your interviewers as potential colleagues who want you to succeed rather than as adversaries.

[00:13:00] Power of Affirmations

• Discover how affirmations can rewire your brain to foster confidence and positivity.

[00:15:00] Visualization Techniques

• Learn to use evidence-based visualization to rehearse and enhance your interview performance.

[00:17:00] Final Encouragement and Resources

• Sarah shares additional resources and closes with an inspiring reminder of your potential.

Remember, you are capable of more than you know. Shine brightly, lead boldly, and unlock the extraordinary potential within you. Be unstoppable!

Useful Links

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Join The Love What You Do Facebook Group

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn

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If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: sarah@careertreecoaching.co.uk

Welcome to Unstuck and Unstoppable,

the podcast for ambitious female

2

leaders who want to create more impact,

income, and influence in their careers.

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feel connected to their passion

and purpose, but without

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selling out or burning out.

5

I'm Sarah Archer, a leadership coach

and career strategist, helping women

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like you thrive in leadership roles

while staying true to your values.

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I'm the founder of CareerTree

Coaching and have over 15 years of

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coaching experience and significant HR

leadership experience to share with you.

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I know as a female leader it can

be hard to find time to focus

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on your career aspirations.

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The day job can be all consuming.

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Plus, no matter how senior you are,

there are always going to be times

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when you feel stuck, when you have

self doubt, or feel like an imposter.

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And that's where unstuck

and unstoppable comes in.

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Each week I'll be sharing practical

strategies, insightful interviews and

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inspiring stories to help you boost

your confidence, lead with purpose

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and achieve sustainable success.

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If you're ready to stop playing

small and unlock the incredible

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potential you have within you and feel

unstoppable, you're in the right place.

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Let's get started.

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Welcome to today's episode, which is all

about having more success interviews.

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And the reason I wanted to talk

about this topic is because as

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a leader, the interview process

can be very time-consuming.

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my previous background was in

HR and , , I've run selection

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processes up to chief exec level.

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But I think now they seem to be much

more protracted and require a . huge

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commitment from the candidate in

terms of time and preparation and,

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content that they've got to prepare.

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, in fact, I was coaching a client last year

who was going for a senior role and he

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had eight stages to the selection process.

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, he did get the job in the end, but, , that

requires a huge amount of commitment.

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, and you're meeting a whole

variety of different people in

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those interview stages as well.

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, so the commitment is large.

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I wanted to talk a little bit

about, , prepping for success because

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obviously you do want to, , maximize

your chances of success because you

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don't want to have to be putting

that energy and commitments into lots

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of different selection processes.

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You want to be , , successful in the one

that you want to be, offered the job for.

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, , but today I wanted to focus on mindset

because you can have the best technique

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in the world, but if your mindset is not

where it needs to be, that's going to

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make it harder for you to be successful.

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I wanted to focus a on mindset today.

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, to help you think about how

you can prepare now, even if you

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haven't got an interview looming

to increase your positivity,

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your mindset around interviews.

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You could ask yourself the question, how

do you feel about having an interview?

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Do you love them?

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Do you hate them?

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I've run a lot of interview workshops

and, often there might be one person in

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the room who actually likes interviews,

but the majority of people find them, , a

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challenging experience, shall we say.

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, and often when you think about having

an interview, you can feel that same

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sense of dread that goes alongside

having an exam, or, a driving test,

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or, , something where you're going to be

examined, and found potentially wanting.

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Or you might feel like there's going

to be some kind of interrogation.

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And it just feels like a very

uncomfortable experience.

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, and I had another client last year

and he was a very senior individual.

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He'd worked in some incredibly high

pressured situations, but when it came

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to interviews, he just felt like it

all fell apart or certainly in the

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last year or so, it just fell apart.

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And so he wasn't getting the

results that he was hoping for.

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He'd been for a lot of interviews and

it became a bit of a vicious cycle.

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in that he believed that he wasn't

able to perform well at interviews.

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And so therefore that led him to

perform less well at interviews.

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And so he wasn't offered the job,

which then affected his confidence.

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And, it just became that

self fulfilling prophecy.

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We definitely have to believe

that we're going to be successful

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and have the positive mindset

around going into the interview.

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Because, we can mask those feelings,

but often there is something called

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unconscious seepage where, , There are

just ways that , you're not able to

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generate the same level of enthusiasm or

be as convincing because in the back of

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your mind, you're dreading the experience.

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You're not looking forward to it.

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You're feeling unconfident about it.

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So it's very important to do this work

as well as, , doing the interview

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technique stuff around prepping for.

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the examples that you're going

to share with the interviewer.

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So I've got some, , some tips to help

you do that, which we'll run through

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.

What we want to think about, , is, , first of all, remembering the positive

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experiences that we've had in interview

situation, because often when we

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think about our interview experiences.

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, we will focus on the ones that we

think didn't go well, and we'll

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remember them, , and then that will

colour our feeling about how we're

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going to perform at the interview.

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So taking ourselves back to interviews

where we've been successful, where we've

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performed well, we've been offered the

job, but it doesn't have to be that,

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it can be just ones where you felt you

performed well but maybe you decided not

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to take the job, whatever the outcome

is, but Knowing that you actually did

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well in the interview and remembering

those times and thinking back to how

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you performed, how you felt, what you

did that made those interviews go well

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and focusing on them, not on that one

interview that didn't go to plan for

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whatever reason it might have been.

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That's the first thing, is to

get back in touch with interviews

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where you have been successful.

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Then the second thing is to think

about repositioning and reframing

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how you feel about interviews.

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Often when we're thinking about

the interview, so say we've got

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an interview next week, we'll

get that sensation in our bodies.

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. I'm rubbing my stomach here.

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So we'll probably feel that kind

of butterflies in our stomach, that

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spike of adrenaline, that buzz of, Oh

God, I've got an interview next week.

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And that sense of dread

that comes with it.

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And I know when I used to have an

interview coming up, , I'd often

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have that feeling of, Oh my God,

I've got that interview next week.

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I really hope there's a train

strike and I can't make it, or I

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get the flu and I just can't go.

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I'd want something to intervene

to make the interview go away.

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And I would not want to think about

it because it would just make me feel

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really uncomfortable and nervous.

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And obviously we don't want that.

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We want to be able to reposition it.

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So two things to think about here.

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First of all is that the feelings that

you get, the butterflies in your stomach,

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that sort of anxiety about the interview.

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sits right next to feelings

of excitement , in our body.

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, often it's the same feeling we

get when we're thinking about

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something that's going to be a bit

exciting and we'll get that buzzer.

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Oh, I've got that thing coming up next

week and I'm really looking forward to it.

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what we want to do is move that feeling

of anxiety into feeling excited about it.

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If you can feel excited about an

interview and we're going to work on that.

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What we want to be thinking in our

head is actually not, I'm dreading

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that interview and I wish something

would happen to make me be able

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to not go, but actually be telling

ourselves, actually, I'm really looking

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forward to this interview next week.

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It's the chance for me to meet some

new people, to be curious about

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the job, to find out if it's the

And to share the experience I've

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had in this area of, , expertise

or whatever words, work for you.

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But just to be telling yourself, actually,

it's a good opportunity to, , test my

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interview skills, to meet new people,

to find out more about the organisation.

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And just by positioning it into

a more positive, experience

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will help us with that.

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feeling of dread because we're not going

to be dreading it, we're going to be

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looking forward to it because it's going

to give us an opportunity to be curious.

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So that's the second thing to do is to

reposition it and reframe it as something

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that's going to be a good experience.

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Now we can acknowledge that we're going

to feel nervous because you're still

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going to feel nervous even if you're

repositioning it because you're going

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to be going into performance mode.

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So you can acknowledge that

when you're reframing it.

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You can say, look, I know I'm going to

feel nervous, but I'm going to use those

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nerves positively to help me perform well.

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Again, it's acknowledging it

and using it in a positive way.

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Then the third thing you can do is get

some perspective about the interview,

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because sometimes we can focus on

it so much we think, if I don't get

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this job, that's it, my career is

ruined, or I'm never going to get this

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opportunity again, or, , we put so

much pressure on this one interview

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to deliver that actually increases

the pressure on ourselves to perform.

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If we can position it, okay, this

interview isn't the be all and

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end all, there will be other jobs.

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is my chance to find out if it's

the right job for me and it might

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not be the right job for me.

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And so getting that perspective

and what can be helpful is to look

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back on interviews where perhaps you

weren't successful and think about

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actually was it the right time for me.

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I know when I was an HR manager, I

was going for an HR director role.

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I'd got an interview to the first

stage and I remember thinking,

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yeah, I'm ready for this job.

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, I'm, can do it.

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I can, I'll show them I can do it.

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And got into the interview and The

questions they were asking me really

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threw me and I came out of it thinking,

Oh gosh, that didn't really go very well.

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And I didn't get invited

back to second interview.

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But when I look back on it now, I can

see that actually I wasn't ready for

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that role and that if they'd offered

me the job, if I'd been successful, I

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would have been out of my depth and I

would have really struggled in that role.

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And actually, I probably needed

to have another six to 12 months

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of experience under my belt before

I went for an HR director role.

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So looking back it was actually a

useful thing that I didn't get the job.

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I think being able to get that

perspective of there will be other jobs,

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there'll be other organizations I can

apply to, can really help you take the

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pressure off and help you feel more

positive about the interview as well.

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And then in that perspective piece

is also thinking about seeing

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the interviewers as colleagues.

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So not interrogators, but actually as your

future colleagues and that you're going

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in to have a professional conversation

with those people about the job.

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And it's a two way conversation

because you're also assessing them.

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Do you want to work with them?

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Is it the right job for you?

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Is it the right organization for you?

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So thinking about them in

terms of colleagues can help

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take the pressure off as well.

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And you can research them.

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You can look on LinkedIn to

find out a bit more about them.

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You can , See the synergy in terms of

your career and their career, and that

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can help you relax into the interview

and if you're feeling more relaxed in

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the interview, you're going to perform

much better and more confidently.

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And while we're thinking about the

interviewers, , because often we can

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think about the interview, they're

going to be trying to find fault.

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They're going to be trying to

find a reason not to appoint me.

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And actually the converse is true.

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The interviewers want you to do

well, because they want at the

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end of the day to be able to offer

the job to the best candidate.

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And they're giving up a whole day of

their time to interview six people.

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, so they , really want to

appoint at the end of the day.

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They don't want to have to do

another round of , interviewing

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because they didn't appoint.

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They want you to do well.

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They're not trying to catch

you out or to find your flaws.

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They want to have a

good evaluation of you.

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And if you think they're looking

for kind of three things, they're

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looking for, can you do the job?

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So do you have the skills and

capability and experience?

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Then they're going to be

looking at, will you do the job?

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Do you have the right level of motivation

and the enthusiasm for the role?

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And the more positive you're feeling

about, the interview, the more

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genuinely you'll be able to convey your

enthusiasm and interest in the job.

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Again, the kind of mindset

work is really important there.

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And then they're looking

at, will you fit in?

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Do you have similar values?

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Are you going to be a

good fit in the team?

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And also, can I work with you?

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The more relaxed and confident

you can feel in the interview, the

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more you're going to give off the

vibe that's going to be around.

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Yes, this person is going to be a good

person to work with and is going to

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make a good contribution to the team.

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, my next tip is around, , affirmations

because these can be really,

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helpful when you're trying to

create a more positive mindset.

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So these are about changing our

thought patterns in the brain.

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So our thought pattern in the brain around

the interview might be, , I'm dreading it.

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I don't know if I'm going to

be successful or whatever you

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might be saying to yourself.

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And we want to change it around.

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We want to have an affirmation.

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So that's one or two sentences, statements

that might be something around, , I'm

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really qualified for this job.

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I've got X skills and etc.

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X experience that's going to be

really useful for them in this role.

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They will be lucky to appoint me.

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So something that's really positive.

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And, also, , saying something

about, , your level of confidence in a

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job, , they'll be lucky to, to have me.

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Repeating those affirmations can make

a real difference because the brain

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likes repetition, and the more you

can repeat that statement, the more

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the brain , will value tag it, will

understand that it's important to you,

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will, go to that as a default, rather

than going to that negative statement

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you have about, , the interview.

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You might be a little bit sceptical

about affirmations, , but they do work.

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, I had a client, she was going for a

senior job in a big tech firm, and was

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feeling a lack of career confidence

because she had a bit of a . bruising

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experience in her current job, which

is partly why she wanted to leave.

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And so we were looking at interview

technique for the interview that she'd

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got coming up, , but also doing some

mindset work around her career confidence.

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And I gave her the affirmation idea.

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She was really skeptical.

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She was a bit like,

Oh, it feels a bit woo.

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I'm not sure it's going to work

for me, but I'll give it a go.

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She texted me to say, a few days

later, to say she was walking around

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the house repeating it while she

was making the kids dinner, she was

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repeating it, she was taking the dog

for a walk, she was repeating it.

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And she was beginning to feel that

it actually was beginning to make a

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difference to her, to how she felt about

going into that interview situation.

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And she did get the job.

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Now, obviously we can't attribute

it just to the affirmations, but

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it definitely helped her to feel

more positive and more confident

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going into that interview situation.

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It could be something you

could experiment with.

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And then , my last tip for you is around

visualization, because the power of

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visualization is, super important and it's

got evidence to show that it does work.

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Visualizing the interview going well,

not just once, but on a number of

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occasions, can be really powerful in

ensuring that actually it goes more well.

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Like that on the day.

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As I said, you can find out on

LinkedIn who your interviewers

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are and , what they look like.

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So you can imagine yourself walking into

the interview room confidently if it's a

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face to face interview, or logging on into

the Zoom or Teams interview, confidently,

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smiling, greeting those interviewers.

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Answering the first question they

ask you positively and confidently.

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You can visualize more interview

questions going well, but certainly that

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initial, , moment in the interview or

moments in the interview that first

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few minutes in the interview are super

important in establishing rapport

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Impact and setting you up for how the

rest of the interview is going to go.

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So spending time visualizing that

initial First say five to ten minutes

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in the interview can be really helpful.

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Now visualization has been evidence based,

so they have done research around it.

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There was particular research

that was around sports and

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they had three control groups.

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It was around basketball.

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So they had a control group who

went and practiced shooting the ball

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into the hoop over a time period.

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They had a control group who did nothing,

no practice or any kind of visualization.

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And they had a control group who,

just purely visualized themselves

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successfully shooting the ball

into the hoop but did no practice.

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And then they tested them.

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The control group who just visualized

shooting the ball into the hoop

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did as well as those that practiced

shooting the ball into the hoop.

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And obviously the ones who did

nothing didn't do that well.

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So the power of

visualization is incredible.

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That could be something else that you

could experiment with is just using

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visualization to help you feel more

confident and have a more positive mindset

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about going into that interview scenario.

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I hope that's given you some food for

thought about how you can increase your

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positive mindset because you might already

have a positive mindset around interviews,

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but you might want to increase it further.

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Or if you feel You'd read interviews,

how you can actually turn that

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around, , and feel more positive about

going into that interview situation.

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This episode is also available as a

video on my LinkedIn live events page.

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I'll put a link in the show notes for you.

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And while you're over on

LinkedIn, do connect with me.

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If we're not already connected.

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Thank you so much for listening

to this episode of the Unstuck

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and Unstoppable podcast.

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I have lots of free resources you

can access on my website, ww.career

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tree coaching.co uk, and I'll

also put links in the show notes.

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If you found this episode

helpful, then please subscribe

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so you don't miss the next one.

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And please do share it with a

friend and leave me a review

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and I will personally thank you.

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Remember, you're capable of more

than you know, shine brightly.

310

Lead boldly and unlock the

extraordinary potential within you.

311

Be unstoppable.