5 Tips You Can Use To Avoid Brain Freeze During A Job Interview

Have you ever encountered a situation where your brain froze, you forgot everything you knew while people glare at you expectantly hoping that you might deliver something?
Well, what’s worse than experiencing this situation during an interview? Nothing, right?
When this happens, it’s essential that you remain calm and not panic. It’s ok!
A big part of why you get brain freeze is because probably you want to have a perfect answer for the glaring panellists who look nothing like your old time BFFs.
By cutting yourself some slack and being ok with not having every answer, you will be more relaxed and more likely to break out of the spiral of brain freeze.
Quickly Read This >>> Got Years of Experience but no Interviews? Here’s Why!
Here is what you can do prior to avoid all these episodes
1. First of all, you need to prepare well
The most common reason for a brain freeze is lack of preparation when you’re trying to fumble looking for the appropriate word to throw in.
When you are asked something that you never really anticipated you are highly likely to go blank. However, that’s not always the case.
There are times you may get blank even because of questions like “why should we hire you” or “tell me about yourself”.
So, prepare well in advance. Practice, practice, and practice.
Go through some of our interview cheat sheet and get a feel of how the whole session will be like. Prepare your answers in advance to get a feel of the real meeting.
2. Don’t overload your brain
The human brain can only do much at a time.
While it is good to prepare well for your interview, don’t study so much that your mind finds it difficult to remember it all.
Try to get a little bit of knowledge about the latest industry trends, but if you try to know it all, then you might forget everything during the interview.
So, don’t put too much burden on your brain.
3. Move away from a scripted answer
You might naturally want to plan out exactly what you want to say in order to appear perfect but sometimes having a scripted answer can be a stumbling block when you get brain freeze.
You end up hung up on what word comes next in your script and will find it hard to break the cycle.
Instead, have your answer structured in short bullet points that you would then talk around. This means you are more flexible with the answer you give and are less likely to get stuck on what the next sentence was supposed to be, and can focus on a point you want to talk more about.
This has a twofold benefit of helping avoid brain freeze and also helping you sound more natural and confident to the interviewer.
This then leads us on to our final crucial tip…
4. Remember that they are just people
In many cases candidates visualize interviewers as people who are going to decide your career, they are not and they cannot.
It is you who is going to decide your career. They are normal human beings like yourself. They are just doing their jobs so you do yours.
Give them the respect they deserve, but don’t let the thought of them scare you from giving answers.
Just prepare well and be the best version of yourself.
Practicing the above tips will reduce your fear of taking interviews and will help you a great deal in avoiding that nerve-racking brain freeze.
Invest your time in these tips and shine at your next interview!
If you need more help on interview skills email Esther at esther@corporatestaffing.co.ke and let’s get you the job!
Judith Moraa is a Communication Assistant at Corporate Staffing a leading HR firm that offers recruitment and FREE job placement. For more information visit their website on www.corporatestaffing.co.ke