Way to go on getting the interview.  You are almost there.  Here are six quidelines to keeping up the job interview motivation:

1. The interviewer will be as nervous as you are.  Many times hiring managers are not always the best people-people.  Not everyone likes social interactions.  Not everyone who interviews you will enjoy the process.  If you are a more social person then you will probably have the upper hand in this department.  Recognize that during the interview and help calm the jitters of the interviewer and it will bode well in their assessment of you.  It really will.  Making them comfortable gives them the thumbs up in their “gut feeling” of you.

2. The interviewer has more to do than you do.  Whenever I interview people it was typically not as easy I as had wanted it to be.  In some cases I had to complete forms that were required from HR.  I had to ask questions in a certain way without alienating anyone or using any personal biases I had.  My gut feeling would clue me in as to if I liked the person within a few minutes.  If I was ok with the person it can take a few minutes or longer to really start asking good probing questions.  Or if I dove right into a tough question the candidate might not be as forthcoming with in because I moved too fast.  There are a lot of things to think about as the interviewer.

3. Keep all the negative thoughts out.  One thing I have done in this situation and encouraged others to do is a mind game.  Every time I thought something negative or got my self nervous about the interview, I would force myself to say two positive things.  Eventually I would start thinking about doing well on the interview and forgot about the potential pitfalls.  I look at it this way, if your head is going to try to bring you down, then you have to come up with a game to disallow it…head games.

4. Realize you are only human.  Don’t try to be perfect.  If you do you might look even worse.  Being human means being able to make mistakes, not do well and even surprise yourself.  Everything you do it an experiment in life.  This is just another piece in that experiment.  I had a seasoned client go on three interviews recently.  Two of the three went very well.  It was determined after the interview those positions were not a good fit.  The third interview went very badly.  You would think a seasoned interviewer would be good in every interview situation.  Not this one.  Not every interaction is always going to be successful.  Typically there are reasons beyond your control.  Be understanding about that and be human.

5.  Get outside help if you can.  So you need some job interview motivation.  Ask a few of your friends and family members to tweet, text or email you something they admire about you 15 minutes before the interview.  Ask them to tell you something they have never told you so you can get motivated for the interview.  Most will be willing to help.  And you might learn something new about what your friends and family actually think about you.

6. Facing your fears can be fun.  If you can conquer them you will never have to do it again.  Embrace the fear and grow stronger.

Using outside tools and techniques for job interview motivation can really help.  Realize that many times nervousness comes from being selfish.  I know that sounds a little crazy but typically we get ourselves all jazzed up about something because we are worried about how we are going to look or how we are going to act.  Those are selfish thoughts.  Work on the selfishness you might have inside and watch your nervousness go away.

Let’s Get Started!

Jeff