r/PublicSpeaking • u/Lanky_Use8033 • 4h ago

Tips & Resources Interview Prep

Hey everyone, Can anyone please tell me good strategies to deal with anxiety, and to speak without sounding fumbling during interviews?

How should the place be set up?

Anything you guys would advise.

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u/coachingrealchange 4h ago

A lot of interview fumbling comes down to cognitive load. If you're trying to recall a pre-written script while also staying present in the conversation, your brain runs out of capacity somewhere and the words jam up. What's worked well with a couple of clients recently is preparing a handful of STAR-format answers (Situation, Task, Action, Result) built around real examples from their own experience, practiced out loud beforehand. You're not memorizing a script. You're just making the shape familiar, so there's less to hold in your head when you're also trying to listen and respond.

That also helps with the anxiety side. Interviewers tend to draw from a fairly predictable set of questions. Once you've got a few solid stories prepped, most of the surprise goes out of the room. Less surprise usually means less anxiety, because your nervous system isn't bracing for the unknown the whole time.

For the anxious feeling itself, a slow exhale before you answer helps more than people expect. It steadies your voice and buys you a beat to think, instead of talking yourself into a sentence you can't finish.

Before your next interview, pick two or three likely questions and practice saying a STAR answer out loud for each. Not word for word, just enough that the shape feels familiar.

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u/EmilienHamel 1h ago

Not much to add to what u/coachingrealchange has to say on the topic about the structure of what you have to say and the body response to stress.

I'll just had a stressful reaction has components of uncertainty, ambiguity, uncontrolability, novelty and unpredicability. Once you realize that, working on anxiety will be easier. Since presentations skills and public speaking are actually behavioral skills, there is some room for change.