Boost Your Job Search With Hypnotic Techniques: Step Three

Step Three is preparing for the job interview. If you enjoyed the television technique in Step Two, then you have probably already realized that this technique could work equally well for an interview. If you would like to try this, first self-induce a trance state:

Observe your breathing, and relax your breathing. Imagine all of your muscles relaxing, muscle group by muscle group, moving either from toe to head or from head to toe. Next, choose a number over five, and tell yourself that as you count down from that number, with each number, you will be relaxing ten times more deeply than before. Count down, and when you reach the number one, start the television technique.

Imagine that a movie of your upcoming job interview is being shown on a television screen and that in your hand is the remote control device. Tell yourself that the show ends in you getting the job. If you want to see that part first, you can fast forward to the part where you know you will get the job. Then, rewind to the beginning. This is a successful interview, so watch carefully to learn exactly how to successfully interview for this job. Give your subconscious time to fill in all of the details. There is no need to think- simply observe and let it come from your deep mind. When you have seen the show enough times to get a substantial amount of detail, rewind to the beginning. Now, play it again, and imagine stepping into the show, experiencing all of the feelings of being there. When you once again get to the part where you know you will get the job, memorize the feeling of success, and as you do so, touch your thumb and forefinger together. Tell yourself that from now on, every time you make this gesture, you will get this feeling of success.

Please remember to avoid using your gesture when you are in a place where it is not safe for you to fall asleep. Since being interviewed for a job is stimulating for most people in the same way being pulled over by a highway patrol officer is, there is probably no danger of your code word or gesture putting you to sleep during the interview. Going into a light trance state at that time may simply make you seem the most confidently relaxed interviewee.

When you have experienced being in the interview enough times to really feel yourself succeeding, remind yourself about the gesture giving you this good feeling whenever you use it. Then, prepare yourself to count back up by telling yourself that you will more alert with each number, and that when you reach the number you originally chose, you will be completely awake. Count yourself back up, reminding yourself with each number that you are ever more alert and will be completely awake by the final number.

Another technique you can use to prepare for a job interview is called New Behavior Generator. This is a neurolinguistic programming technique that can be incorporated into the technique just described. When you watch the show, place another person whom you believe would sail right through the interview in the role of interviewee. Watch and listen to everything s/he does and says. Then, when you have done this enough times, imagine becoming that person, and step into the show as you did before. You are now in the interview show as that person. This, time, select a new gesture or code word. Tell yourself that from now on, whenever you use this new gesture or code word, whether you are fully awake or in a trance state, you will become this person.

You can go through an entire real-life interview acting the way this person does if you practice this technique enough times beforehand and use the gesture throughout the interview. The more times you can run through the interview using these techniques, the better. This will give your deep mind the feeling that the interview has turned out well so many times, that it is bound to do so again. If, at the actual interview, you feel like the whole experience is old hat, you can concentrate more on what you really want to say and less on not appearing nervous, putting you ahead of the crowd.

The founder of the American Association of Professional Hypnotherapists and the Palo Alto School of Hypnotherapy, Josie Hadley, author of the internationally used textbook Hypnosis for Change, used to tell a story about how she prepared to give a talk before a large audience. She hypnotized herself, telling herself she would become the classic film actress Kim Novak. When the day came, all throughout the talk, she found herself making the hand gestures that Kim Novak always made. The talk went swimmingly, and Josie had a wonderful time being Kim Novak.