by Solange Lopes | May 14, 2015 | Career |
I’ve done my share of interviews, whether formal or informal, group or individual, traditional and non-traditional, etc. And although most of my interviewing experience, and feedback from friends and family members also going through the interview process, is quite varied (and frankly interesting), there is one common thread I inevitably found present. It revolves around one’s mental state before the interview.
All throughout your career, you may have noticed preparing for an interview entails much more than figuring out what suit fits you better, or what shade of lipstick to wear. Being in the right mindset also plays a huge part in ensuring you come out of the process a winner, but you also enjoy it. And yes, there have been interviews I did enjoy, and ones that made me reconsider my aversion for dental appointments…
10 mental hacks to prepare for a successful interview
Here are 10 mental “Interview Superhero” hacks to get you all set in your head before you start answering questions about how much you love working:
1. Have a game plan!
Nothing like having a plan to feel mentally up to par. Make sure you are clear on how to convey your work history, strengths and weaknesses, as well as the reason(s) why you’re looking to leave your current place of employment, if any.
2. Have a back-up plan!
Interviews don’t always go as planned. Schedules change, people get snappy, and plans need backups! So even if you have your game plan on, always have a back-up plan (and keep your game face on)!
[Related: 12 Best Planners for Working Women.]
3. Check your equipment!
Any piece of equipment you will use before and during your interview will have to thoroughly be checked the day before or even earlier if possible! You know, things like if the car has gas, or your GPS is in working order, or if your interview includes a presentation, if you’re all set with the equipment…
4. Practice visualization!
I strongly believe in the power of visualization and manifestation of outcomes. You could have all the knowledge in the world, and a negative mindset may just cause you to miss opportunity after opportunity. Take a moment before your interview, or preferably at the start of your day, to visualize actually getting the job. If it helps, write it down and read it out loud!
5. Spend time around people who support you!
Build a support network around you. The more supportive the people you spend time with, the better mentally prepared you will be to tackle challenges such as a job interview.
6.Use positive self-talk!
What you say to yourself matters more than you think. Remember you will be talking about yourself quite a bit during the interview! Start practicing by positively thinking and talking about yourself, your skills and competencies. Once on the interviewee’s seat, your mind will remember…
7.Arrange for some quiet time before the interview!
Give yourself a few extra minutes ahead of time to have some quiet time to gather your thoughts, and calm your nerves!
8. Focus primarily on your strengths, and build your weaknesses’ narrative around them.
Both your strengths and weaknesses will be put to the test; however, you may want to focus on your strengths first. What is it that you do particularly well? Build on those to pinpoint things you could improve on.
[Related: 30 Best Personality Assessments to Help You Find the Career You Want!]
9. Maintain consistency in your schedule.
The day you have a major interview scheduled is not the day to make drastic changes in your schedule. Try, as much as possible, to maintain consistency in your schedule around this period!
10. Rest and relax before!
Last but not least, get a good night sleep, hit the gym the day before (or take a light walk around the block), and show up with your A-game on!
Any other mental hacks you’d like to offer?
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Apr 22, 2015 | Career |
My very good friend Jessie runs marathons. That’s her thing, don’t ask me, my body and my mind are still trying to get in agreement with the very concept of running or exercise for that matter. Every year, her goal is to run a greater distance than the year before. Most of the marathons she runs are to benefit charities, and when they aren’t, they’re just practice for the next.
Last time we met in New York, she was trying to enlist the rest of the girls and I to join her for her next race. Which I graciously declined while in the process of stuffing myself with bread and butter (my all-time food favorite, don’t judge me). That’s just who Jessie is, she goes all the way, stretching and challenging herself just to see how far, and how much, she can give of herself. She’s “elastic”, as my friend Deguene would say. If you want to know Jessie, watch her run, watch her pursue her goal of finishing a marathon.
While Jessie’s a pretty phenomenal example, if you think about it, it’s pretty much the same with any goals. The kind you pick, the way you pursue and reach them, and what you do with the results, pretty much define who you are, at work and in life.
From using the right strategies to avoid setting ineffective goals, to picking goals that are compatible with who you are and what you want out of your career, goal-setting, and goal-reaching, can tell a lot about how you perceive yourself, and how others perceive you in a professional setting. As a result, it says quite a bit about whether you are setting yourself for success, or whether you’re headed in the opposite direction, ahem, you know, the not-so-good one…
1. Your goals represent you! Don’t just set goals because it’s yet another box to check on your performance review checklist! Keep in mind the type of goals you select, the breadth and width of the associated objectives, speak of who you are as a person. Pick goals that are in alignment with who you are, yet goals that stretch, expand and let you blossom into who you really are.
2. How you pursue your goals differentiates you! Remember the guy who’d call you at the last minute for an impromptu date, show up late and take you to some dingy bar in the middle of nowhere? Now think of the one who’s been wooing you for weeks, made reservations at a great spot weeks in advance, and even sent you flowers with a sweet reminder of your upcoming date! They both had the same goal on the surface, but how they went about it told you clearly the type of person they were.
It’s the same with goals! Are you the type who consistently adds small steps towards reaching your goals, treating the process just as well as you do the results? Or do you botch the process, trying to get to the end result too hastily? Lucky for me, I married the second guy…
3. Who are your goals serving? Are you setting goals for your own benefit or do your goals serve your team, a charity, other professionals? The “who” component of your goals indicate your character and team playing skills.
Don’t just set goals for yourself! Stretch and expand your goals to grow others, and as a result, grow yourself. Mentoring, team building, charity and organization-sponsoring are great engagement goals that say a lot more about who you are than all the degrees on your resume.
What do your goals say about you?
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Apr 5, 2015 | Career |
Happy Easter Sunday! Hope everyone’s enjoying today (and refraining from drowning in chocolate)! As you’re looking for that last piece of chocolate, here are the news that made us smile, laugh, and shake our heads this week:
- In awesome news this week, the Daily Show has a new host, and although it’s not a woman (sorry, I had to say that), it happens to be one of my favorite comedians, South African Trevor Noah! Can’t wait!;
- In less exciting (and actually rather unnerving news), former Kleiner Perkins partner Ellen Pao lost her case against the firm; however, Mashable confirms despite loss, Ellen Pao succeeded in calling out subtle sexism;
- Speaking of subtle (or not so much) sexism, this NY Times article virulently denounces the bias against women’s appearances vs. their talents;
- To make it a tad bit better, Fast Company lists 13 companies with remarkable perks (including a $4,000 newborn baby cash at Facebook, yes, talk about an incentive to procreate);
- This post by Bullish Jennifer Dziura in the Muse had me jumping in my seat in agreement: let’s ban “working mom” from the English vocabulary, or for any vocabulary for that matter;
- Apparently, some people are pissed more people of color are represented in the media, as revealed by Feministing (and we’re not sharing our chocolates with them);
- Fortune asks the 40 under 40 for advice they would give their 20-year old selves (and here’s my personal version);
- Speaking of advice, Forbes answers one key question for millenials: what to do with your 401k when switching jobs;
- The Wall Street Journal introduces us to In Her Sight, a company rating companies according to how they treat women (and we love the idea);
- The Guardian reveals new research suggesting what women really want is not so much flexibility, but rather power (yes, even is we tend to ask ourselves, “‘Mo power, ‘mo problems“);
- To end up on an inspirational note, enjoy these 100 leadership quotes, courtesy of Inc.
Happy Easter Sunday!
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Apr 1, 2015 | Career
Photo credit: huffingtonpost.com
I’m terrible at finding my way around places. Even with the most elaborate of GPS, I still manage to take the wrong turn, end up in the wrong state, or the right shoe store. Most of us have experienced that moment when you start asking yourself where you went wrong. Like when you pick a career or job and wake up one morning wondering if you missed a professional turn, and how to go back and fix it. And because we are not naturally good at knowing right off the bat what we’ll enjoy and what we’ll hate, we end up trying different directions. The problem is, when we land at the wrong destination (or shoe store), we tend to call it failure, get stuck there, and spend all our money, time, and hope.
The more we try to overcome this sense of failure, the deeper we sink, and the worse off the choices we make. And the bigger our tendency to pick the wrong jobs, then to frantically try to escape them, just so we can go on and pick another wrong job all over again.
These are a few ways to trick your mind into cutting to the chase and stop picking the wrong job (or shoe for that matter):
1. It was never about the job! Stop thinking it’s about the right job, the right career, or the right brand of GPS (I bought the best out there, and still got miserably lost). There’s no right career path, and you can always find a better shoe out there. It’s about you, who you are, what you believe in, and how much you want what you want. Until you have clarity as to that stuff, you’ll be stuck, even if you look successful where you’re stuck.
2. Never buy at the first offer! In my home country of Senegal, purchasing anything without haggling is a capital sin. Most likely, even the nicest of sellers is trying to con you! If the item’s really worth 50CFA, they’ll start quoting prices at 100CFA. They use what scientists call “anchoring”, or the human tendency to make decisions based on the first piece of information received.
So next time you get ready to pick a job, take a detour into any West African market. You’ll probably get an overpriced item, and a lifelong lesson to make up for it.
3. Get the real deal! Some random guy once tried to sell me a contraband bag in Chinatown. He followed me for a whole hour, asking me if I wanted a Chanel bag. Of course I want a Chanel bag, who doesn’t want a Chanel bag? Out of curiosity, I followed him to some back alley, down some random, dark basement with dirty walls littered with fake Chanel bags. And I mumbled thanks and ran out, because I wanted a Chanel bag, but not one from a dark, scary basement with dirty walls…
It’s the same with wrong jobs. They look like the real deal, they may even feel like the real deal. Yet you’ve gotta get down to the basement, and check them out first. You’ve got to ask the right questions, get the real job description, and take a good look at your surroundings. Get your Chanel right!
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Mar 30, 2015 | Career |
Photo credit: huffingtonpost.com
One semester somewhere between middle school and my umpteenth serious acne crisis, my Chemistry teacher, this larger-than-life (literally) heavy-framed, smart beyond limits, lady, gave me my first failing grade ever on a major test. Ever. I was flabbergasted, shocked, in absolute disbelief. At 12 years old and four feet something, I was already failure-adverse. And it would take me decades to get over it…
Whether they admit it or not, most people are scared shitless of failing. Hence the whole concept of “faking it ’til you make it”. We’re afraid of messing up, picking our faces off the floor, all the while looking like total idiots, and moving on like nothing ever happened. So we try to perform better, work late nights, network more, get more degrees and certifications, and dress for the job we want. All that so we don’t look like we’re scared shitless of failing…until the day we fail again, and we have to do it all over. It sounds exhausting, because it is…
Truth is, most people are scared shitless of failing…
There are tons of lessons out there about failure, especially career failure. Some say it’s good for your career, others provide tips and tricks to overcome your fear of failure and make it big! Speak up, lean in, do the superhero pose, don’t talk too much, find your bliss, lay down, get up, start running…And the more we talk about it, the more scared we get. It’s like telling yourself you’re not going to trip over yourself so much you forget to tie your shoe laces…You’re going to be scared nonetheless, so you might as well ditch all the prep work and just do it:
1. Stop being attached to the outcome! it took me years to pass my CPA because all I wanted really was the piece of paper and the designation. As long as I didn’t strive for the process itself, I kept failing, and miserably so. One day I decided I was going to do it, whether it worked out or not…and it worked out! That’s the thing about desires, if you just want the end, you tend to stay stuck at the beginning. And that sucks!
2. Focus on the gains, not the losses! Why do you think you’re more taxed on your gains than your losses in business? Well, sometimes the obvious doesn’t hit us until we’re laying face down in our own mess. You cain’t fail if you’ve gained experience, wisdom, knowledge, and this tricky thing called perspective. You can mess up, yes, but as long as you’ve got something to take home with you, that ain’t failure!
3. It’s never black-and-white: Bad leaders will tell you there are only yes or no answers (that’s why they are bad leaders). It’s never black and white, not even when you’re dealing with different coffee roasts. The problem with the very concept of failure is that it’s definitive, it’s black-and-white and boring! It doesn’t leave you with anything but a large surface sting to deal with, and you don’t want that. You want to be able to learn something so you can pick your face up off the floor and keep moving. And if, when you find a leader who can tell you that, stick with them…
4. Enjoy the process! I know, the whole cliche of “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey” is pretty old. But it works. And so does Vaseline on chapped lips, it’s cheap, old as all hell, but it works. And when it works, even if it’s not fancy, or New Age, or 100% certified organic, you keep it somewhere in your back pocket. Enjoy the work, learn something, ask a question! If you think you can’t enjoy it, at least enjoy your paycheck, be grateful you can pay rent, and thank the Lord the reason you hate this job is so you can work out the guts to go do something you really enjoy…And get ready, because you will also have some pretty sucky days at that job you really love…
The Corporate Sis.
