You have a job interview coming up.

Maybe it’s tomorrow. Maybe it’s later today. Maybe you’re sitting in your car right now, waiting until it’s time to go inside.

And you’re nervous.

So you tell yourself to calm down.

You take a deep breath. You try to think positively. You remind yourself that you’ve prepared. Maybe you even tell yourself, There’s nothing to be nervous about.

And somehow, none of that makes the nervousness disappear.

That’s okay.

Because you don’t have to get rid of the nervousness to have a good interview.

In fact, trying too hard to make yourself calm can sometimes create one more thing to worry about:

Why am I still nervous?

There may be another approach.

Instead of trying to manufacture confidence or eliminate nervousness, you can give yourself a few moments to notice what is happening, reconnect with your body, and arrive at the interview as you are.

You can be nervous and still be ready.

Nervousness Doesn’t Mean You’re Unprepared

We sometimes treat nervousness as evidence that something has gone wrong.

If I were really prepared, I wouldn’t feel this way.

If I were confident, my heart wouldn’t be beating so quickly.

If I were good at interviews, I wouldn’t have butterflies in my stomach.

But an interview matters. There’s uncertainty involved. You’re meeting people who will be evaluating you. You don’t know exactly what they’ll ask or how the conversation will unfold.

It isn’t surprising that your body might respond.

The important question may not be:

How do I make this nervousness go away?

A more useful question might be:

Can I let the nervousness be here without letting it run the entire experience?

That’s where a little mindfulness can help.

Try This Before Your Interview

Before you walk into the building—or before you click the link for your video interview—give yourself a minute.

You don’t need a special meditation posture.

You don’t need to close your eyes.

And you don’t have to take an enormous “calming” breath.

Start with something much simpler.

Notice your feet.

Can you feel the floor beneath them?

Notice your hands.

What are they touching right now?

Notice your jaw.

Are your teeth touching? Are they slightly apart?

Then notice your breathing.

Don’t change it immediately.

Just notice one breath that was already happening without your help.

That’s it.

You haven’t solved the interview.

You haven’t eliminated uncertainty.

You may not even feel noticeably calmer.

But something has changed.

You noticed.

For a moment, instead of mentally rehearsing a future that hasn’t happened yet, you’ve returned to the experience you’re actually having.

A Guided Meditation Before Your Job Interview

If you have a few more minutes, I created this Five Element Harmony guided meditation specifically for this situation.

Guided Meditation Before a Job Interview | Calm, Grounded & Confident

The purpose isn’t to convince you that you shouldn’t be nervous.

It isn’t to fill your mind with affirmations or make you feel invincible.

Instead, we’ll spend a few minutes noticing the support beneath you, reconnecting with your breathing, releasing some unnecessary physical effort, and remembering something important:

You can be nervous and still listen.

You can be nervous and still think.

You can be nervous and still speak clearly.

You can be nervous and still be yourself.

You Don’t Have to Prove Your Entire Worth in One Conversation

There is another kind of pressure that can appear before an interview.

It can begin to feel as though everything is riding on the next 30 or 60 minutes.

You have to give the right answers.

You have to make the right impression.

You have to demonstrate everything you’ve learned and accomplished.

You have to convince these people that you’re the person they should hire.

That’s a tremendous amount to carry into a conversation.

But you’re not walking into the interview empty-handed.

Your experience comes with you.

The things you’ve learned come with you.

The problems you’ve solved come with you.

The people you’ve helped come with you.

The difficult situations you’ve already handled come with you.

You don’t have to hold all of that consciously in your mind while you’re waiting for the first question.

It’s already part of you.

And you don’t have to prove your entire worth in one conversation.

You Only Have to Answer One Question at a Time

Before an interview, the mind has an impressive ability to conduct an imaginary version of the entire interview in advance.

What if they ask about that gap on my résumé?

What if I forget the example I prepared?

What if they ask something I wasn’t expecting?

What if I stumble over an answer?

What if I don’t know what to say?

Notice what has happened.

The interview hasn’t even begun, and you’re already answering questions that nobody has asked.

There is another possibility.

When the interviewer asks the first question, listen to the first question.

You don’t have to begin answering before they’ve finished asking it.

Take a breath if you need one.

Then answer.

If you need a moment to think, take a moment.

If you stumble over a word, continue.

If an unexpected question comes up, meet it when it comes up.

You don’t have to handle the entire interview at once.

Listen to the next question.
Take the next breath.
Meet the next moment.

Confidence Doesn’t Have to Feel Like Confidence

We often imagine confidence as a particular feeling: relaxed, certain, composed and completely self-assured.

But perhaps confidence can sometimes be quieter than that.

Maybe confidence is walking into the room even though there are butterflies in your stomach.

Maybe it’s listening carefully rather than rushing to demonstrate how much you know.

Maybe it’s saying, “That’s a good question. Let me think about that for a moment.”

Maybe it’s acknowledging that you don’t know something.

Maybe it’s remembering that an interview isn’t only an opportunity for an employer to evaluate you. It’s also an opportunity for you to learn about them.

Is this a place where you would like to work?

Are these people you would like to work with?

Does the position actually match what you’re looking for?

Seen that way, an interview can become a little less like a performance and a little more like a conversation.

In the Last Few Minutes Before the Interview

If your interview is approaching, you don’t need to squeeze in one more hour of preparation.

For the last few minutes, consider putting the notes aside.

Feel your feet on the floor.

Notice the chair supporting you.

Let your shoulders stop working quite so hard.

Take one easy breath.

And remember:

You don’t have to know exactly how the interview will go.

You don’t have to make yourself perfectly calm.

You don’t have to become a different person in order to do well.

Bring your preparation.

Bring your experience.

Bring your curiosity.

Bring yourself.

And when the interview begins, don’t try to handle the whole thing at once.

Listen to the next question.
Take the next breath.
Meet the next moment.

You can be nervous and still be ready. 🌿