Feeling Nervous About Job Interviews After a 2-Year Maternity Break? Let's Talk Strategies

How to overcome the nervousness to face an interview due to my 2-year maternity gap! I feel I lack the flow of vocabulary and was never like this before. In short, I know the concepts but can't find the words to express them. Kindly throw some light and help me out of this weird situation. Thanks in advance. 

Dear member, the cause of your nervousness could be different. It need not be a maternity gap of two years in your career.

Your problem could be a lack of expressiveness. Other than in an interview, are you able to express a situation, an incident, or a story in a proper sequence or structured format?

To develop expressiveness, prepare yourself on a subject and express yourself solo. Tell some family members to take a video recording. Check your video. You will find your own mistakes.

Check the videos on presentation skills or read material on presentation skills. Implement it, and you will find a change in yourself.

By the way, you have not written your background. What kind of job did you do? Was there continuity in a particular field like HR, Purchase, Finance, etc., or was there variation? What kind of job do you wish to do? Did you gather information about your future role? Do you have the requisite skills to perform your future job effectively?

Nervousness could be the result of your lack of confidence. Lack of confidence results from a lack of competence. Therefore, develop the competence, and the nervousness will go away automatically!

All the best!

Dinesh Divekar

Hi Charlotte, my personal take is to do your basics right. Everyone, no matter how experienced, goes through this, so you are not alone. Here are a few takeaways:

1. Get yourself thoroughly prepared.
2. Reach the venue a bit earlier so you can get used to the environment.
3. Try to do some improv at home before the interview on various scenarios; this will help you a lot.
4. The lack of finding the correct words may stem from feeling desperate for the job. Please don't go into the interview with the mindset that this will be your last job. Avoid making the interviewer aware of your desperation for the job. This approach can help alleviate the pressure and provide more clarity of thought.

Hope this helps! All the best.

Regards, Syed Imran Ahmed

Dear madam, in my view, your two-year gap has somewhat shaken up your confidence. But it is manageable and is only a passing phase.

You seem to be struggling with irrational fears. I suggest you revisit the past interviews you have experienced. Pose those questions to yourself and write down your answers. Engage with your peers who hold similar roles to yours and explore what changes have occurred in these two years concerning the job role. Then incorporate those relevant aspects into the potential questions that may be asked and note down your responses.

Practice your replies aloud while sitting in front of a mirror as if you are in a real interview. Repeat this process until you gain sufficient control over your speech, vocabulary, and confident posture/body language. Subsequently, record a mock interview to assess and refine your presentation, attire, posture, tone, and word choice.

Seek guidance from a knowledgeable individual by sharing this video. I am confident that this process will significantly boost your confidence.

I hope you secure a new job soon and wish you the best of luck.

Regards,

Vinayak Nagarkar HR and Employee Relations Consultant