Mindset for Cracking Technical Interviews

In today’s blog post, I will be discussing one of the most common issue I see when I coach students on how to crack technical interviews. It’s the mindset!

In the beginning, when a candidate starts, he or she is all motivated to learn the techniques to crack technical interviews. They just want the higher paycheck, better job, better position, more challenging work, better benefits, etc. They are ready to do whatever it takes to get them out of their current misery.

However, as the weeks progress, the motivation starts to dwindle. And by the time, candidate gets the actual job interview call, he or she starts asking if it’s a good idea to switch jobs. Maybe the other company sucks too. Maybe I don’t want to relocate. Maybe I might be dissatisfied at the new place too. Maybe they will make me do the exact same job what I do today. Maybe the restaurants near the new company aren’t as good 😛

All these fears start popping up which are associated with change. As a result, candidate starts wondering if it’s even worth it to prepare for the interview. Should I even give the interviews? What’s the point of preparing for all these interviews? After all, whatever I have currently is not that bad…

This mindset, especially at this point of time, is a very dangerous place to be in. The issue is, when the interview call is coming up, our mind starts looking for excuses to not prepare wholeheartedly. The little genie on our shoulder starts saying that this change might not be good for you. This fear of change and various excuses become our point of focus instead of preparing for the interview. As a result, this leads to candidates giving interviews halfheartedly. When it’s a crucial time to learn more about the company and revise our concepts before interviews, candidates tend to chicken out.

HOW TO ADDRESS FEARS?

So these fears do exist in everyone’s head. By bringing them in open, we can discuss & address each of them. After all, an enemy known is an enemy half-whipped.

All these fears you have in your mind will do remain. They existed before you got the interview call and they will exist even after the interview is over. Don’t let your mind wander at the crucial time before interview. Stay focused at least till the interview is over. The mindset should be to give your 100% to what you have decided.

Once you have made a decision in your life, then there should be no excuse for you to hold yourself back.

Always remember, you can revisit your fears after you have cracked the interview. You can make a rational decision once you have the offer in hand and you can compare what you currently have and what you are going to get in future. Or if you have multiple offers, you can compare them against one another. The task at hand is to crack the interview, until it’s over.

Secondly, remember that each and every interview you give, will affect your confidence level. If you are able to crack the interview and land up with the offer, you will be more confident in future. This confidence is going to reflect in your personality and in future interviews. And every time, you don’t get the offer, it does affect your confidence in a negative way as well.

WRITE THEM DOWN

So far I have seen that writing the goals and putting them somewhere visible in your home, keeps you motivated. Your goal was to get a better job. This remains as a constant reminder to what you committed to. All your efforts and energy should be towards that goal. Anything preventing you from achieving your goal is an obstacle and needs to be dealt with. Similarly, if you write down your fears ahead of time, you can address each of them at the appropriate time and make a rational decision. These fears don’t have to remain in your head all the time. Writing them down & addressing each of them will help you diffuse them. We tend to make those fears bigger in our head and that is one of the major reasons for us to not give our 100% dedicated effort.

CONCLUSION

In each & every aspect of your life, if you manage your fears and your mindset correctly, it can do wonders for you in life. Similarly, cracking technical interviews also require the proper mindset and focus. If you have the right mindset, you can crack any technical interview.