On Interviewing
Interviewing is one of the closest things we have to an initiation rite in corporate America. It is also something we have to do many times. In classical American fashion, we have to be constantly innovating, even our own careers.
There are countless articles, books, and linkedin posts on interviewing, but rarely do I see people talk about the hardest part of interviewing. It is the "cortisol spike". You have a short time period to prove your worth to some strangers for a job that you need or want. You did the prep for technical and behavioral rounds. However, you walk in and are hit by a wave of fear and panic and become stupid.
We have all had this feeling before in our lives, most commonly on big tests. We take tests and quizzes much more often than interviewing, tests are more impersonal usually, and tests often times feel more close to the content you studied for, whereas interviews can feel more artificial.
I have done a lot of interviews as the interviewer and I have seen many folks who I know can do the work well, but they are panicking and their brain shuts down from any sort of creative problem solving skills. I have also done interviews myself, although only one recently, and I tried to be mindful of this phenomena as much as I could, yet it still got me a little bit. Keeping that part in check as much as possible did help the interview go well.