Ask someone what they love about doing improv and you’ll often hear this: there is no such thing as failure.The more you fail, the better. Celebrate your mistakes.
No apologies. No need to qualify or defend. You try and try again, you shift to a new piece and a new character. You don’t have time to stay nervous. The stories flow, they take odd turns, you laugh, you gaff, you shrug it off, and you move on.
Ask someone what they hate about interviews and you may well hear this: you have to think on your feet.You could blow it … by freezing and blanking out, by rambling, by not being able to answer the question.
In a job interview, you’re essentially doing improv but failing seems not to be an option!
Consider what is possible if you bring the attitude of improv to a job interview. Let’s call it the attitude of compassion and acceptance.
With an improv mindset, your objective is to keep in the flow, to stay energized and interested, to find opportunities to tell your good stories, to connect with the interviewers, and to be okay with not knowing.
- Improv means picking up cues and the interviewers’ energy.
- Improv means staying with a theme or thread as you answer questions.
- Improv means being able to say I don’t know how to do that AND that’s okay because I have done this and can apply that experience.
- Improv means learning to be nimble and forgiving when speaking off the cuff.
Improv is also important in a job interview because you don’t want to be rehearsed. You want to be natural and relational. You want to interact and connect, rather than talking at your audience.
In fact, a job interview could actually be easier than improv! You know the parameters, you know what you’re likely to talk about (job duties, organizational fit, strengths, accomplishments, interpersonal skills, relevant experience). You can prepare for typical interview questions.
So, get ready for interview prompts as you would any interview, but also try going to an improv class or two. It will help you to hold things a bit more lightly and let go of perfection. It will help get you in the flow.