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DON’T INTIMIDATE YOURSELF
I remember one of the first interviews I ever did while still in college. It was for an unpaid summer internship with the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. From the moment that I got a call to come for an interview I was intimidated out of my pants. The position wasn’t open to college freshmen, of which I was one, it was described as highly competitive, and the deadline had technically passed. As the train pulled up to Grand Central Station in New York, I was wondering why I was willingly putting myself up for failure.
My interviewer was a very sweet and extremely tall woman who’d worked with the Lawyers Committee for many years. She said that they were thrilled to get my application and that I shouldn’t worry about the deadline passing—they hadn’t yet filled one last spot for the internship. (Great, more pressure.) We talked for a while—about my family’s immigration from Russia to the U.S., about the hard time I had adjusting, about why I speak English like an American, and so on. She didn’t mention my being a freshman, nor quiz me on what my specific qualifications were for the position. I realized, as I walked back to the train station, that the one qualification that I did have was the most important one and the only one that mattered. Through my own immigration experience I’d gained the understanding and the skills required to work with other immigrants and that was an asset.
I should have been prepared to talk about my experience and what I’d learned from it, instead of stressing about not being the most fitting applicant. I could have presented myself better and more powerfully, instead of spending the first moments of the interview obviously intimidated and nervous. Although eventually I did get the internship, I think it was more because my interviewer made the extra effort to see what I had to offer than because I presented myself in the best possible way.
Don’t intimidate yourself, however intimidating the situation might be. If someone wants to interview you for an internship or a job, there’s a reason for it. If you got into your very competitive college or university, it wasn’t by luck, but because you’re smart and good enough to be there. Feeling intimidated often translates into acting intimidated and acting intimidated is not what you want to do. Believe in yourself, understand your strengths, focus on them, and learn to talk about them well. This won’t always lead to success, but you’ll be maximizing your chances rather than sabotaging them. This is true in college and perhaps even truer after you graduate. You start competing with many more people, who are often older and more qualified than you, and you have to learn to hold your own. If you intimidate yourself, you can’t put your best face on, and boy, do you need it.
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