Beat Your Nerves (NEW)

Getting an internship normally requires getting past at least one interview and/or assessment centre. Often, it can be a couple of both. This tends to fill quite a few people with a sense of fear; being asked to perform in this way is not natural for most of us and can be very difficult. This fear is usually accompanied by an attack of nerves on the day of the interview or assessment centre. While a bit of adrenaline is evolution’s way of making you do your best, outright nerves is the mind’s way of ensuring your perform terribly.

The key is to be up for it, but relaxed. But how do you manage that? Find below the internshipHelp guide to beating those internship losing nerves.

  1. The first and foremost key is not to do anything that makes things worse. Know where you are going and at what time. Leave a comfort margin by aiming to be early. Have everything (clothes, bag, notes) prepared the night before a morning interview.

  2. Read over you cv/cover letter and look at the positives gleaning from it (see our Top 10 Tips: CV for details). Remind yourself that you would not have an interview or assessment day if they were not at least considering employing you, and that to have got this far you are evidently a talented and capable person. If you do not believe in yourself as you enter the room, why should your assessors?

  3. Plan what you will do as you enter the room, especially in the interview. Plan to walk in confidently, give a handshake which mirrors the weight being offered by the person you are meeting, and sit down promptly.

  4. Having imagined this, now begin to visualise more fully. Imagine yourself answering well and acting confidently. Visualising the process will make you feel prepared and reassured when you do it for real.

  5. As you wait for an interview or assessment you will start to breath fast and suffer a quickened heartbeat. Use this trick from professional golf: breath in for three seconds; hold it for three seconds; and breath out for six seconds. Repeat five times. They call this“3+3+6 x 5=relaxation”.

  6. Another classic nervous symptom is a dry mouth. This sends a signal to your brain of nerves and panic. To prevent this, press your teeth on the end of your tongue gently. This will automatically release saliva into your mouth, releasing signals to your brain that everything is ok again, and relaxing your body.

  7. Another great way to fool your body into relaxing is an exercise in muscle memory. Next time you are feeling very relaxed (in a hot bath, snuggled up on the sofa etc) press your left hand little finger between your right hand thumb and index finger. Repeat this at four or five relaxed moments. Now, when you are nervous at the crucial internship moment, repeat again. Muscle memory will take hold, and your body will be transported to that relaxed feeling. Bingo.

  8. Nerves' worst impact on performance can be when they start a process which sends you into panic. If something goes wrong, or you are just very nervous, then this downward process can begin. The crucial thing is to learn how to snap out of it and begin an upward process toward a relaxed performance. For this you need a memory prompt. For some people it will be music: start playing a certain song in your head and you snap out of the downward process. Find yours and make sure you use it, as a downward process leads very quickly to internship rejection!

  9. At an assessment day, try to say something early. The longer you leave speaking for, the worse nerves will get: confront them early, speak out, and feel yourself relax.

  10. Above all else, remember you are at this interview/assessment day because you want to be. It will be a learning experience, however it goes, which will lead you toward becoming the strong job candidate you want to be. So therefore, enjoy it!