BY STEVEN E. LURIE

After four months of job hunting, Jerry Miller, a laid-off corporate controller, was two weeks away from his final severance check. Normally composed and confident, he had two sons in college and felt increasingly pressured during interviews.

Mr. Miller (not his real name) feared interviewers would sense his desperation, but when he tried to tone down his eagerness, he came across as flat and uninterested. Eventually, he sought counseling to quell his interview anxiety. After learning to relax deeply and see positive images of himself in interview situations, he was able to manage his stress and regain his confidence and composure.

Knowing how to interview successfully is critical to job hunters, yet many executives who can skillfully handle other job-hunting basics lack this ability.

Visualize yourself and the interviewer as two equals engaged in a comfortable conversation to explore opportunities.

The spontaneous, unpredictable nature of interviews, coupled with anxiety about impressing interviewers, causes them to feel highly pressured. While some stress can be productive and help job seekers demonstrate enthusiasm, excessive stress makes them nervous and fearful. This is true not only during job interviews but in networking and telephone meetings as well.

Job seekers can effectively control stress and appear confident during interviews by relaxing deeply and creating positive thoughts or images of interview situations. This method, which I call the peak-performance technique, works by first reducing physical responses to danger that interviews can trigger. The second phase of the exercise helps job seekers to interact comfortably with interviewers and perform well during meetings.

Relaxation and positive imagery techniques often are used by athletes, entertainers and others who perform under pressure. When mastered, the technique allows “interviewees to get in touch with and fully express their feelings of confidence and power” during interviews, says New York career counselor Gloria Waslyn, a career development consultant to Chemical and Chase Manhattan banks.

How It Works
Because a bad interview can mean the loss of self-esteem (and a job opportunity), the prospect of interviewing often triggers a stress response. Nervous job seekers automatically prepare to fight or flee, much like they would if attacked by a wild animal, only with less intensity. This is the reaction normally called stress. The chart below lists the physical and mental symptoms of stress, which can interfere with the skills and abilities needed to perform well during interviews.

The chart also lists the reactions that can be achieved from practicing meditative exercises. These trigger “relaxation responses,” which counteract the body’s stress reactions and prepare it to perform well under pressure. Positive imagery techniques allow job seekers to see themselves succeeding during an interview, building confidence and enabling them to call on inner resources during actual meetings.

The combined meditation and visualization exercises take about 10 minutes to complete and become easier with practice. There’s no “right” way to do them: You should find a system that’s comfortable and works best for you. When you use the technique before actual interviews or meetings, allow about 15 minutes between the end of the exercise and the interview. The following are some general guidelines on how to relax and visualize positively:

1. Sit in a comfortable position in a quiet place. Don’t slouch or recline. Instead, hold your body straight with your spine erect. If necessary, use music to help you relax. “New age” or “environmental” sounds, such as a rainstorm, are often helpful. Practice anytime except right after a meal.

2. Start by practicing twice a day for two to 10 minutes. Build gradually to a comfortable frequency. Some people relax up to eight times daily. The more you practice, the less time you need to achieve full inner concentration and relaxation. It also becomes easier to relax and concentrate in stressful settings, such as at work.

3. Close your eyes, inhale deeply, then hold your breath for a count of three. Exhale, letting go of tension and any distracting thoughts. Let yourself feel peaceful, warm and relaxed.

4. Visualize and deeply relax each muscle group beginning with your scalp and ending with your toes. Let each muscle group feel warm, heavy and relaxed. Feel the muscles unwind as you exhale unwanted tension through your nostrils, then inhale deep warmth and relaxation. Let the relaxed feeling spread through the muscle area.

5. Continue with each muscle group until the entire body feels warm, heavy and relaxed. While in this meditative state, recall a successful interview or business meeting. Remember and visualize as many details as possible and how you were feeling. Identify the feelings that accompanied the interaction, such as confidence, poise, self-respect, perceptiveness, willingness to be yourself and so on.

6. Now visualize your upcoming interview. Imagine you have the same feelings that you had during the event you just visualized. See yourself interviewing with confidence and pride. Imagine yourself attuned to the interviewer and easily responding to questions. Picture yourself and the interviewer as two equals engaged in a comfortable conversation to explore opportunities. Imagine reaching your objectives and feeling comfortable with the interviewer by the end of the meeting.

7. Spend a few minutes visualizing the interview, then open your eyes and slowly regain your normal state of awareness. Stretch, take a deep cleansing breath and exhale. Know that you’re prepared.

As you begin practicing, don’t be competitive or ambitious about mastering deep relaxation. Don’t worry about how well you’re meditating or if you’re getting any benefits. Just relax and you’ll receive the benefits.

Nervous job seekers automatically prepare to fight or flee, much like they would if attacked by a wild animal.

These techniques work well in relative privacy and quiet. Though not as effective, other methods of reducing stress and improving concentration can be used if you’re caught in a traffic jam, subway or other hectic place prior to an interview.

For example, a brisk 10-minute walk to an interview can significantly reduce nervous tension. Listening to stress reduction tapes available from bookstores while driving or riding a train also can help reduce tension. If you’ve meditated and practiced positive imagery recently, take two or three deep cleansing breathes just prior to the interview. This will trigger the relaxation response and help you to be more effective during the meeting.