How to Stop Nervousness During Informational Interviews?
I often find my heart racing and palms sweating before informational interviews. My finger shakes as it hovers over the call button a minute before the scheduled time. What can I do to be less nervous? During the call, my voice gets shaky, and I often come off as bland, since my mind goes blank and I can't think straight, making it seem like I can't even hold a conversation. How can I fix this? Im sure im not the first person to go through this, how do I get through this?
It just gets better with age.
Step one though, stop phrasing these literal phone calls as "informational interviews"
practice more and have a rock solid handle on your value proposition to an employer.
in my experience, nerves are a sign that you're unprepared
Most bankers on the other side are understanding and it’s quite common for a kid to stutter, stammer, whatever you wanna call it when the call starts. Knowing that alone should give you some comfort that it’s totally okay to be nervous and is in fact very normal. Agree with above that coming in prepared is crucial, and if you get your selling points across no one will knock you for being nervous in the first minute of the call. When I was an intern, it helped to ask if the person to walk through their background first, then I would jump in right after. Have someone else take the first 2-3 minutes of the call allowed me to catch my breath and humanize the banker I was speaking to.
It comes from confidence which is developed through practice
Propranolol and never look back. Game changer, erases 100% of physical anxiety symptoms (sweaty hands, shaky voice, etc.) with zero psychoactive effects. Pop ~20-40MG before your interview until you get to the point where you no longer need it because you've been gradually exposed to the anxiety trigger so many times and made it through just fine that your brain no longer responds to the prospect of interviewing/public speaking with fear.
propranolol W
We out here pushin P and the P is propranolol
ProP is an absolute game changer
Honestly what helped me is just being genuinely prepared ahead of time and then just keeping busy until the interview or call and just free-balling it. The more time I sat in expectation the worse my nervousness would get so I would just make sure I knew my record and story inside and out and then just stay busy up until the last minute before the interview began, jump on crush it, and continue on with my day let the chips fall where they may. That's the best way to do it. Once you are genuinely prepared on your story, record of achievement, and have some genuine interest in the company or role, it just becomes natural and more of a conversation.
Keep in mind, the interviewers on the other side are in a state of anticipation as well. They may not be as anxious as you but by the nature of interviews, they are preparing themselves on the other side. That gives you a slight advantage in that you can exert greater control over the interview if you don't have that moment of anticipation or hesitancy and just flow right into it.
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