5 Types of Visualisation for Interview Preparation

No matter how suited you might be to the role, any interview is a nerve-wracking experience. Your self-confidence is tested, and anxiety creeps up on you. When you aren’t sure what to expect, the stress of the situation can bring out unnatural behaviours, and you may not be able to tell your career story as you wish. This is why many job seekers use visualisation for interview preparation.

Laying down imaginary behavioural and emotional responses onto your neural pathways before the actual event is a way of preparing your brain for how you desire to act. Repeating these visualisation techniques in the weeks and days leading up to the interview (for 10-15 minutes each time) offers a significant level of mental support. 

If you practice these five techniques before your interviews, you will clearly communicate and confidently carry yourself. Why? Because you have been there before. 

Interview mental rehearsal.

Athletes and performers commonly use mental rehearsal techniques to ensure peak performance. Imagine yourself in that interview room (check out what your interviewers look like on LinkedIn). Think about how you will be sitting, what you will be wearing and even your perfume/aftershave. See yourself answering the critical questions about your career – imagine feeling relaxed and confident as you answer. Live the experience.

Create a career vision board.

A career vision board is a tool to help to concentrate your mind on your career goals. It should be a collection of images representing what you want from your future career, how it makes you feel and what it might mean for your life. Having it at the front of your mind during an interview will allow you to tell the most relevant career stories and ask the most searching questions to work out if the opportunity is right for you.

Positive visualisation for interview

Imagine your own happy place.

When stress threatens to upset your mental equilibrium, going to a mental “happy place” will ease your negative thoughts and help you to rediscover your focus. It should be a simple image that evokes thoughts of peace and contentment. It doesn’t need to be somewhere you have been, although you should have thought about it enough to bring it to mind quickly. Floating on a surfboard and watching the sets roll in does it for me.

Convert desires into beliefs.

Sure, you want to get a specific job, but do you believe you will get it? Genuine belief isn’t some chest-thumping mission statement to the world. It is simply an inner thought of “do you know what? This could happen.” A job search isn’t a time for wishful thinking – converting those wishes into genuine beliefs will give you an inner confidence that will help you to sail through any tough interview. You deserve that job. Believe.

Play the role of the interviewer.

Putting yourself in the role of the interviewer can give you a different perspective. What questions would you ask if you were them and what sort of person would they want to hire? What would they think of your mannerisms? Try to keep the mental imagery positive – imagine them thinking that you were awesome and try to think of as many reasons as possible why they would want to hire you. Then go and be that person in the interview.

Be the change. Visualisation for interview preparation will help you to get there.

These interview visualisation techniques are job search game changers.

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This blog is shared with Job Seeker Duetists. 

Written by former recruitment ghostwriter Paul Drury (not AI).