HTT#45

Getting Your Head in the Game Before an Interview

Nervous? Good. It means you care — and a steady mindset will help you show it with clarity, not panic.

Interviews make everyone nervous — school leavers, parents heading back to work, career changers, long-term jobseekers. Even people with decades of experience get the pre-interview wobble.
The trick isn’t pretending you’re calm. It’s learning how to get your head into the right place before you walk in.

Think of those last few minutes not as a “performance warm-up,” but as a quick moment to collect yourself. You’re not becoming a new person — you’re simply clearing the static so your actual abilities can come through.

Start with the basics: how you’re sitting or standing matters more than you think. Not for appearances — for function. When your body is braced, hunched, or tight, your breathing gets shallow and your thoughts scatter. Straighten up, relax your shoulders, and let your body catch up to the fact that you’re not in danger. That alone can steady you.

And then there’s the breathing. Not the dramatic, meditative type — just one or two slow, normal breaths that take your brain out of “panic forecasting mode.” You don’t need a technique; you just need to remind your system that you’re in control of the pace.

Before you walk in, it helps to give yourself one simple, practical reminder. Something factual. Something grounding. Something like:
  “I know my own experience better than anyone here.”
It cuts through the noise and brings your focus back to what you actually came to talk about.

A quick information refresh can help too — nothing deep, just one thing the organisation has recently done or said. It gives your mind a familiar point to hold onto, like a railing on a staircase.

And finally, give yourself a moment before you step inside. Not a dramatic pause; just a brief stop so you’re not rushing in mid-fluster. Interviews feel very different when you start them on your own terms, not the room’s.

The takeaway

You don’t need a routine, a system, or a perfect mindset.
You just need a clear head, a steady pace, and a reminder that you’re there to share what you already know.

If you’d like help practising interview skills or building confidence, drop into the Glenorchy Jobs Hub. We’re here to support you — nerves and all. Contact the team at GJH at jobshub@gcc.tas.gov.au or feel free to come see the team anytime :)