We all know that finding a job can be stressful. When you are looking for a new job, there can be a sense of urgency, and if you are looking for something better, you may want the job so much that you put a lot of pressure on yourself to succeed. You spend hours re-working and re-wording your resume, and countless more researching companies and applying to jobs. When you do finally hear back from an employer, you automatically feel excited, and maybe even relieved. But that excitement can quickly turn to dread, nervousness and other negative feelings.
You are not alone in feeling that way. In a study conducted by Harris Interactive, they reported that 92% of people have some form of fear when it comes to being interviewed by a potential employer. The top fear of those interviewed was feeling nervous about the interview itself, followed by not being able to answer questions they were asked, or being late for the interview. These fears are called Interview Anxiety and in reality, they are real fears to have.
Seeming or appearing nervous in an interview could be the deciding factor as to whether or not you are hired. According to Universum, an employer branding firm, one of the top traits that an employer looks for when hiring, is confidence. So what happens when the mere thought of being interviewed makes you feel queasy?
Hypnotherapy can be the solution you are looking for. It is something that can help banish interview jitters, and allow you to make your best first impression in an interview. Hypnotherapy can help to get a person to a place of confidence, and, in a situation where there are real fears of rejection, help to rid your brain of negative self-talk.
I spoke to our three registered hypnotherapists at The Morpheus Clinic for Hypnosis to develop a better understanding of how hypnosis could help with interview anxieties:
According to Kate Gardiner, one of our senior hypnotherapists, she would work with your unconscious mind in two different ways. First, to find where your fears of being interviewed were developed and re-working that memory into something positive. Second, helping to get rid of negative self-talk that has been developed as a habit. And finally, she would work with your conscious mind to help you to learn breathing techniques as well as meditation practices so you are able to perform at your best during the interview.
Why would working with your unconscious mind help? The unconscious mind is where your fears live. Kate explains that “it’s like a sponge that takes in all of the stimuli from the environment” and at some point “your unconscious mind learned that this certain situation was dangerous, and your reaction is it’s way of protecting you.”
So, one reason that you may have a fear of the interview process could be as simple as finding a memory in your past that taught you the wrong lesson, and re-working that memory in your unconscious to learn the right lesson – that an interview process is nothing to be nervous about!
When doing regression work, a hypnotherapist will find out where the fear comes from, and then change the experience that you had into something positive. If you learned the wrong lesson, and it is affecting your confidence, they can go back to that place, and, through your unconscious mind, change the lesson to work for you, instead of against you. Something to remember is that no one is born without confidence. It is something that you have learned along the way. Luke Chao, the founder of The Morpheus Clinic for Hypnosis explains that “confidence is not something to be built. It is what remains after somebody’s fears, doubts, and worries have been dealt with.” Hypnotherapy helps to deal with those fears, doubts and worries, through your unconscious mind.
When we work with negative self-talk, we are also speaking to the unconscious mind. Many people have developed the habit of speaking to themselves negatively in their head, and it could be something that you don’t even know that you are doing. Amy MacKay, our junior hypnotherapist explained that “negative self-talk often becomes a habit as a result of a variety of external forces.” Hypnotherapy “allows us to gain a better understanding of this habit and to discover means to overcome self-sabotaging thoughts and behaviours.” When you are in a hypnotherapy session, you are in a very relaxed state, and you are more open to suggestions, that your conscious mind may not be open to. If you have spent years telling yourself negative things, positivity wouldn’t be accepted easily, unless under hypnotherapy. Amy explains that she would first “take the client though some visualizations where they can imagine negative self-talk and thoughts leaving the mind.” Then, she would “illustrate to the client that it may be the case that negative self-talk had served them in the past, for whatever reason, but it is time now to let go of these thoughts as they no longer serve the client in any way.” She explained that this technique will allow the client to “accept their thoughts and to understand that it’s time to change them.”
Helping a client recognize that they are of value and have worth is a big part of acing an interview. Luke seconds this view, and wants his clients to recognize that a job interview is not just the employer interviewing you, but you are also assessing the company. He explains that “you don’t want to enter into a company where they don’t recognize your value” and he helps clients take on the attitude that they have value, worth, and are needed by the company just as much as you may need the employers salary.
Simple things, such as remembering to take deep breaths, taking a quiet moment to meditate before an interview, and making sure to pause and give yourself time to think before answering a question are also things that would be touched on during your hypnotherapy session. This can help in more ways than you would think. The American Heart Association explains that “a stressful situation sets off a chain of events” starting with “your body releasing adrenaline, a hormone that temporarily causes your breathing and heart rate to speed up and your blood pressure to rise.”When you are able to keep your breathing and heart rate at a calm and normal rate you will be better abled to perform well, and appear more confident in an interview.
Why can hypnotherapy help a person who is worried about their next big interview? It’s the best way to prepare for the interviewing process: Hypnotherapy can boost your confidence, get rid of negative self-talk, and help you perform at your peak when you really need to.
Confidence can affect a person’s life in so many ways, and will definitely affect you when you are heading into an interview. It plays a huge role in whether you are hired for your dream job, or if you experience rejection. The next time you have an interview and start to feel the interview anxieties take hold, give us a call. Hypnotherapy can help!
One of our Client Care Coordinators published this post.