Tips for interview anxiety and scheduling interviews

If you wait until you're 100% ready for interviews, you'll never interview. I recommend aiming for 70-80%.

Most people think of a job search as a two-step process:

1. Preparation
2. Take and pass interviews

But #2 should be a part of #1. There's only so much prep you can do on your own. Practice makes perfect. So use interviews to perfect your interviewing skills. Go from "I need to pass this interview" to "I'm going to learn and grow from my interview."

Here are some other things to keep in mind:

• Interviews aren’t a test and you’re not a student. They're not pass/fail.
• Treat interviews like you’re working with a colleague.
• Be collaborative. Don’t try to impress.
• Assume the interviewer is on your side.
• You can’t pass all interviews (even if you’re really smart).
• Doing your best = #winning

Make doing interviews less meaningful. It's like going to the gym. One workout (good or bad) won't make or break your long-term goals. The less significant interviews feel the easier it is to do more of them. This decreases the pressure and increases your chances of success.

My four tips are, in order:

1. Use the Snowball Method
2. Go ahead and bomb
3. Mind your finances, timeline, and health
4. Use cognitive reframing

Use the Snowball Method

Do not target a single company. Target collections of companies and group them by tier. Start interviewing with Tier 3 companies to get practice before taking on harder interviews later. Bombing a Tier 3 interview is fine, and if you don't bomb and get an offer it will act as insurance against Tier 2 failed interviews and lowball offers.

Go ahead and bomb

We know passing and failing are possible. That shouldn't be a source of anxiety. The source of anxiety is not obtaining your preferred role(s). Now that you are using the Snowball Method, you should line up some Tier 3 interviews and they should not be your main target roles. In this safe situation, feel free to bomb. It won't hurt your overall job search outcomes at all and it is likely to improve them because you are accruing interview experience.

Bomb as much as you want! It feels less bad each time and your anxiety will lower by exposure. Make sure that you take away a learning from each and every mistake. Then, it wasn't really a mistake was it?

Mind your finances, timeline, and health

Ideally you have savings so that you are not in a timeline crunch.

Some people are in a timeline crunch. That's why this is my third recommendation rather than my first. If you got here, great, you can afford to sleep, eat better, exercise, hydrate, and spend a little extra time with study in order to prepare for interviews. This is a great luxury and it will greatly reduce your anxiety. Don't consume excess caffeine.

As part of health: Do also mind your self-talk and your social group. Make sure self-criticism is reasonable and constructive. Make sure there is substantial positive self-talk as well. Make sure your peer group is similarly saying healthy things, or else change your social context. Find better groups online, like Taro, or in real life.

If you can't afford these things then don't feel bad: Go ahead and take the Tier 3 offer that you got. Save up and ride it out for 6+ months then give a proper job search a go. Don't feel bad for performing in a suboptimal way due to anxiety subject to constraint. Just do the best you can for now and prepare for a better job search later.

Use Cognitive Reframing

If you've gotten this far and done the prior things then there is nothing you should be anxious about. You may have butterflies, jitters, and feelings you associate with anxiety, but you can honestly know you cognitive reframing: "These feelings I have are feelings of excitement! This is my version of the Olympics!" If you are properly safeguarded and ensured, you only have the possibility of improving your situation by interview, so it's a source of positive excitement and risk but not loss or danger. How could you lose something you don't already have? Don't assume your right to the job you are interviewing for. Make sure to appreciate and value the opportunity.

Even if you fail, it will be a source of growth, as were those Tier 3 interviews! There is no permanent "Won't hire" decision. There is in the worst case a cool down at one company, but you aren't targeting a single company right? So don't get down on yourself. Even if you fail final rounds at two companies, the third isn't subject to the same pattern if you are growing each time. So don't assume you will fail. That's not only an example of harmful self-talk which causes reduced performance, it's also an example of negative extrapolation and poor analytical or statistical thinking.

The only way to get good at interviews is to fail a bunch of interviews first. Organize the interviews from least exciting -> most exciting and just run through the gauntlet. I talk about this in-depth here: https://www.jointaro.com/course/ace-your-tech-interview-and-get-a-job-as-a-software-engineer/order-matters/

Embrace failure and learn fast. That's the only way to succeed in interviews and as an engineer overall. You got this!

Anxiety comes from an attachment to an outcome. If you desperately want to succeed in an interview and get the job, it's natural to feel anxiety.

So, the best way to combat this is not to be attached to the outcome. How can you do this?

• Have the confidence that you will find a job, it's just a matter of time.
• Schedule a bunch of interviews so you don't have too many expectations on any one job
• Focus on the process, not the outcome

Alex talks about this in more detail here: Having The Right Mentality

The anxiety is there because you're thinking this is all or nothing. Remember, failing an interview at one company doesn't mean your career is over. You must accept this. There are plenty of good companies out there and if you don't quit, you'll eventually find something you are happy with even if it takes longer than you would like.

Practically, I would suggest that you interview with a company you have no interest in taking the job for. One of two things will happen:

i) Either you'll fail the interview and learn a lot about where you stand, or

ii) you'll pass the interview and gain some confidence

You may also love the role they offer you and take it! This happened to me with my previous role