Self-awareness Tips for Interviews

Self-awareness is the ability to perceive your thoughts and your emotions and to assess how others are perceiving you as well. This is especially important during a job interview because self-awareness gives insight into how a hiring manager is reading your responses. And it could possibly provide insight into the reasoning behind their line of questioning.

Your ability to discuss your strengths and weaknesses in a transparent way can also suggest your level of self-awareness. In addition, self-awareness leads you to consider your body language, your tone of voice, and your facial expressions. Does your posture suggest that you’re unapproachable, or does the tone of your voice imply that you’re annoyed?

Here are a few practices that can help increase your self-awareness and put your best self forward before that next job interview.

Be Honest

You’ve heard the old adage: honesty is the best policy. Be honest not only about your strengths but in regard to your weakness too. This type of transparency suggests that you possess the ability to know when you need help and that you’re able to reach out for help when you need it. Additionally, your honesty may indicate to an employer your ability to receive feedback during training and evaluations.

Listening with Purpose

Purposeful listening opens the door to receiving feedback and different perspectives. This openness, in turn, can help foster an unbiased response when you’re faced with constructive criticism. Managers know that when personal growth is the objective, you’re less likely to be overly sensitive or offended by what others have to say to you and about you.

Practice Mindfulness

Demonstrating mindfulness during an interview can help you understand your impact on interviewers. As well, mindfulness can help you to understand how others in the interview are causing you to feel. This increased awareness can help you process how the interview is unfolding and whether your need to make adjustments or stay the course.

Self-Awareness During a Job Interview

Presenting an interviewer with a thoughtful answer not only answers the immediate question but can also provide insight into the why behind your responses. Thoughtful answers include being open and transparent about how you see yourself now and about what type of effort you’ll need to make in order to grow. Moreover, self-awareness can give your prospective employer insight into how well you’ll integrate into a team, collaborate with others, and the level of professionalism they can expect from you in a variety of situations.

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