10 Tips To Deal With Nervous Candidates In A Job Interview

Dealing with nervous candidates can be tricky and critical, but today, Drjobpro gives you tips to professionally handle the whole situation.

Why should I care about dealing with nervous candidates?

You might lose an excellent candidate only because they are nervous in an interview.
Nervousness doesn't define their whole professional level or their qualifications.
Remember that you are looking for a good employee, not a perfect interviewee.

How can I deal with nervous candidates?

1- Notice the signs

There are specific signs for being nervous, so try your best to recognize if candidates go through any of them.

Some of them are sweating, trembling, avoiding eye contact, having a shaking voice.
If you see any of them, try to calm them down and have a small talk with them. Talk to nervous candidates about how the interview process is going to be smooth.

Moreover, assure them that it's okay to be nervous through an interview and how you've been in their shoes one day.

2- Prepare a comfortable environment

The place atmosphere can be an essential factor in calming your interviewees down. Pay attention to specific details in your interview room. For instance, lighting, comfortable chairs, relaxing scents, and considering a coffee shop interview.

The lighting should be natural as possible to give soothing vibes.

Provide padded chairs that have armrests.

You can also spray a natural relaxing scent like lavender but consider that your candidate might have an allergy.

A coffee shop interview is a great idea, as it feels less formal and more friendly.

3- Offer the candidates a cup of water

Water helps relaxing nervousness and calms your candidates down. You can also offer them other available drinks.

That helps them feel welcomed in the interview and breaks the ice between both of you.

It can also be a great conversational starter, as you can ask them about their favorite drinks and forget a bit of the interview's tension.

Try to provide relaxing drinks like mint and jojoba tea in your office to help candidates feel calmer during the interview.

4- Build up the conversation

You cannot just go directly to difficult questions once you start the interview because that makes the interviewee feel trapped and anxious.

Additionally, it might make them define the rest of the interview according to the first phase and ruin the rest of the answers.

First, start with breaking the ice and asking them about their day.
Second, Ask more general and easy questions about them as humans.

Third, go for easy technical questions or professional ones.

Fourth, increase the difficulty level of questions step by step till the end of the interview.

5- Tell candidates about the company

It's essential to make a small orientation to the candidates at the beginning of an interview.
It helps them understand the entity they're dealing with, makes them feel calmer and more aware.

Tell them about your company's history, how it was created, its goals, and its culture.

Also, engage them by asking if they know any information about the company and get them to interact with you.

6- Pay attention to your body language

Body language is a huge factor when it comes to delivering messages to people around you.
Try to focus on it and make it close to aggressive. It should be open, welcoming, and friendly.

Eye contact also helps you connect more manageable with your nervous candidates, but try to practice and control how you look to others, as it's unintentionally aggressive sometimes.

You can read more about these topics on the internet or take courses to control better and know their meanings.

7- Try semi-structured interviews

A specific type of interview follows a conversational style; it's called a semi-structured interview.

It's where you use open questions to open a door for the candidates to feel free and creative.
This less formal style of interviews suits nervous candidates the best, as it's less formal and friendlier.

For further reading about Semi-structured interviews, click here.

8- Show your sympathy and understanding

Humans always want to feel understood and heard. People are way calmer when they feel that they're not alone.

Say phrases like, "I understand," "It's okay," "No worries" when candidates get nervous, or when they forget about anything.

Don't judge them fast or build assumptions from the very beginning of the interview.

Remember that you were a candidate once, and you needed interviewers to understand you the most.

9- Show signs of agreement and interaction

Deal with the interview as a kind of a conversation that has two sides.

Listen carefully, nod through their speech, and show signs of paying attention to their words, as silence mainly causes nervousness.

When you interact with interviewees, it gives them a feeling that you're not judging them.
That helps candidates feel way calmer and makes your interview go smoother.

10- Don't forget to give feedback

It's essential to give feedback at the end of an interview, especially with nervous candidates.
Providing candidates with feedback gives them feelings of appreciation and helps them develop.

They wouldn't also be worried about their performance, as you already give them the needed information.

In conclusion,

being an employer is a huge responsibility, and a part of it is dealing with nervous candidates. By doing that, you are winning excellent employees and building your company professionally.