Those Stressful Job Interviews!
The BodyMind Connection
One executive level job seeker who I’ll call Katrina, who had worked in high-level management at Amazon and other large corporations, told me a familiar story. She said that “I make it through all the different levels of interviews and keep getting called back. It’s obvious that they like me and see I’m qualified. I make it to the final interview and believe I’m going to get the offer. And every time they choose the other candidate. This has happened so many times.” Obviously, she was very frustrated and afraid she would never break out of this loop. She came to see me because she had another important interview coming up and hoped I could help.
Katrina was smart, well-dressed and spoke clearly. I also noticed that she looked a little slouched down as she told me her story. It wasn’t dramatic, but she was making herself physically smaller the way she sat.
The first thing I tell almost everyone I coach is to feel their feet on the floor, so we started with that. I asked her to stand up, and then to walk around the room. I could see that as Katrina stood and walked, her weight was slightly back towards her heels. She was absolutely holding herself back.
Tuning into the connection of her feet on the floor, Katrina could feel her weight back on her heels, and she shifted it forward toward the front of her feet. I encouraged her to stretch her spine up so she stood and sat taller. She learned to lift her sternum so that her upper body lifted slightly forward instead of back, and then to expand her torso outward as well as upward. From this expansive position, I asked Katrina to speak. It was like being with a completely different person. “How does that feel?” I asked her. “It feels great!” she said. “I feel strong!” She looked strong to me, too.
The changes Katrina made that day seem simple, and they are. My hope was that she’d be able to maintain them through her interviews and into her career. Real change takes time and practice and because we were only able to meet once we focused on powerful positioning, which is the most easily attainable aspect of body awareness and its effect is immediate.
Oh — and she got the job.
You can increase your chances of success by making the same kinds of changes in your body that Katrina made. It definitely helps to have someone with a trained eye take a look at you, but I believe you can learn a lot by simply tuning into your body, and feeling what your body feels like to you. Feeling the same things Katrina learned to feel. Check out these 5 Tips to help you land your next job!
___________
We Want to Hear from You! Let us know which of these tips work and do not work for you, ask a question or please leave a comment!
