Coaching That Cuts Interview Nerves

In response to increasing requests for help with interview preparation, coaching specialists, Effective Training & Development, has launched a new ’no job, no fee’ interview training service for middle and senior management personnel.

Designed to help candidates struggling with interview stress and apprehension, the service focuses on preparing interviewees for tough questioning, awkward silences and how to appear confident without being arrogant.

Arnie Skelton, a personal development coach at Effective, comments: There are many businesses around offering to assist interviewees with their CVs and the odd self-help book offering interview hints and tips. However, there is little available in terms of
one-to-one coaching which is tailored to individual strengths and weaknesses.

So far, Arnie and the Effective team have helped more than a dozen interviewees successfully land their first choice job, accounting for an 85% hit rate for the service. Maura, an executive with an international company based in Ireland, was looking for a step-up the career ladder, but phased by a lack of positive interview experience.

She comments: I had been working in my previous job for over 5 years and had had a couple of negative interview experiences. Although nerves are part and parcel of going for a new job, I wanted to be fully prepared and more in control of how I was presenting myself.

The interview was limited to one hour and I didn’t want to spend half of it rambling and not doing myself justice. It also required a 5-minute presentation which needed to be precise and punchy. The personal coaching was really useful in helping me prepare for potential questions, identify points that I should use to sell my professional achievements, and learn body language and voice tone techniques to clearly express myself and engage the interviewer. It also dealt with mood management, so that I could better control my nerves and avoid any embarrassing mishaps. The detailed feedback from my practice interview was invaluable.

Skelton concludes: Stress and anxiety caused by an interview can affect even the most professional of people and cause them to undermine and undersell themselves. At the other end of the spectrum, overconfident interviewees can be off-putting and quickly lose the interviewer’s attention.

Our coaching service is designed to find the right balance and unlock an interviewee’s strengths so that they perform at their professional peak during interview.

The interview coaching includes assistance with CVs and presentations. Charges for the training will only be made if the interviewee is successfully offered the job and based on 2% of the basic salary of the new job. If the interviewee is unsuccessful with the new job application, a charge will not be made.