It's your first job interview and you are excited, nervous and slightly afraid -- afraid you will not get the job, but even more afraid you will make a fool of yourself.
I know the feeling and, though it will lessen with every interview, it will never totally go away.
So what do you do?
Cram up on everything you should have read, but haven't?
Try to predict what the interviewer will ask and then mug up the answers?
Consult your horoscope to help decide whether you are really destined for the job?
Make a pact with God to pray more if you get the job?
Well, there are ways to beat the stress to a certain extent, by preparing both subject-wise and personally for what is going to be an experience of a lifetime.
After all, you may go through the interview process many times but the first interview is always unforgettable.
Text: Shilpa Sheth
Illustrations: Dominic Xavier
Shilpa Sheth is a Director of Shilputsi Consultants. She has an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad and has been in the field of Human Resource Management for the last 21 years. She is on the guest faculty at various b-schools, co-authors a column in a premier business magazine and has anchored the HR management television show Managing People.
