What to practice if your mind goes blank in a job interview

Rowan O'Grady

Rowan O'Grady

President of Frank Recruitment Grouping North America

Published February 27, 2020

It tin feel similar something straight out of a nightmare. You lot've prepared extensively for your job interview, got into the right frame of mind, and walked into the room feeling confident. But of a sudden, to your horror, your mind has gone completely blank when asked a question.

What causes our minds to suddenly get blank?

Nosotros're all man, nosotros've all experienced this to some caste before – whether that be during an exam, presentation or, indeed a job interview – what counts is how nosotros deal with it, and movement on. And then, firstly, lets understand a little more about why this happens in the first place, and what'southward going on in your brain when your mind appears to, out of nowhere, go completely blank at crucial moments.

Research has shown that, when nosotros get stressed, "…the brain tends to shut off the cortical networks involved in creativity, contemplation, planning and thinking abstractly." Essentially, what happens is that, instead of concentrating on the chore at hand, the brain goes into 'fight or flight mode'. This is a physiological reaction to the presence of something or a situation that the brain perceives as terrifying, either physically or mentally.

'Mind-blanking' is defined by a lack of conscious awareness. Similar to being posed a question during a job interview, your mind can suddenly go 'blank', fifty-fifty when you know the answer to the question being asked and can fully clear the correct response – just not at the very moment you lot need.

Yet, the deviation between sitting an exam, and revising for it, is similar to preparing fully for your chore interview and then facing it. During revision or training, you're naturally more relaxed, which allows for a perfectly logical and rational thinking process, often referred to as 'cold cognition', to take identify.

During this process, the brain produces fewer stress hormones, and the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of the encephalon work normally. Unfortunately, during more stressful situations, such as exams, presentations and job interviews, the encephalon begins to release more stress hormones, which later triggers a period of 'hot cognition'. These hormones make information technology harder for regions of the brain to communicate – and, suddenly, your listen can become completely…

You lot've got it. At present, as I mentioned earlier, this tin happen to anyone, and so I've put together some simple tips that could help you deal with your mind going blank in a job interview – and how you could avoid information technology happening again in the future.

Four things to do if your mind goes bare in a task interview

  1. Stay at-home and don't panic.This is crucial. It's important to know that the sense of dread and impending disaster washing over y'all isn't everything you fear it is. Staying at-home will allow your heed to enter back into a state of cold cognition, enabling you to think more than rationally.
  2. Have a deep breath. Not but will this give you a moment to collect yourself, a deep breath too sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax. In a job interview – your encephalon has reacted to a state of affairs it perceives as threatening, and you taking a deep breath is calmly sending information technology a polite message, in response, that this time it'due south mistaken.
  3. Admit to your interviewer that your mind has gone bare. This shows honesty and humility, whilst giving you the opportunity to motility on. It could also help y'all to relax from the sudden fight or flying response and let you to enquire the interviewer to repeat the question.
  4. Or, you lot could repeat the question back to the interviewer. An alternative, however, is to repeat the question back to them. This gives you a moment to collect your thoughts and heed to the question again in your ain voice, and for the interviewer to confirm that you accept heard the question correctly.

Each of these steps is designed to requite you that crucial extra time yous demand to collect your thoughts and relax. By following them, you'll notice that your listen becomes articulate once more very shortly, and you'll be able to answer the interviewer's questions eloquently and without hesitation.

How to avoid your mind going blank in your next job interview

So, we've covered what to practise if your heed suddenly goes blank in the center of a task interview. But is at that place annihilation you can do to ensure this doesn't happen in the first place?

  • Relax as much as you can during the job interview. As I mentioned earlier, when you're relaxed, yous're in a state of 'common cold cognition', thinking logically and rationally and therefore in the best position possible to perform at your best during the interview.
  • Don't over-ready –if, when preparing for your interview, you memorise your answers to mutual interview questions, y'all'll non merely audio scripted, only it's besides more likely that you'll forget crucial details. Over-preparing for a task interview tin also make you believe that there'south only 1 mode to give an answer – and this, too, can trip y'all up during moments of stress.
  • Go out of your head and listen to the question being asked. Stop worrying near every minor particular, and, instead, actively listen to the question being asked of yous.
  • Take noteswhilst the question is being asked to assist you to recollect key points of the question and therefore help you give the all-time possible, most relevant respond yous can. It's also fine to refer to any notes you've brought with you, which you may have put together whilst preparing for the interview.
  • Don't worry nearly bouts of silence, they are normal in whatsoever conversation, regardless of the situation, then don't dread them if they arrive. Instead, take the fourth dimension to contemplate your answer.
  • Use gestures to help you in the retrieval of central data. This study, published by the University of Illinois, found that participants who were allowed to use hand gestures while recalling information performed far better than those whose gestures were restricted.

We've all experienced our minds going completely blank before – and at the most inopportune moments, too – such equally chore interviews. When it does happen – it's important to realise that this isn't as catastrophic equally it feels in your caput. Any temporary heed blanks shouldn't de-rail your entire interview, every bit long every bit you lot deal with them properly. What's more, y'all tin can even reduce the chances of them happening in the starting time place past following the tips in this blog.

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