Suppose you’ve been fortunate enough to land a job interview recently. First of all, well done. Second, has your job interview prep included research into what insights celebrities might have to offer?
Probably not. But there’s actually a surprising amount of wisdom for job seekers to consider in how some actors and other successful performers describe their approach to landing work.
This is because "interviews aren't a test, they're an audition,” believes Dan Freehling, executive coach and founder of Contempus Leadership. “Just like a great audition, you need to practice your lines, then throw them away and be in the moment.”
To shed some light on this metaphor, he pointed me to a video clip of Bryan Cranston, best known for his role as career-pivoting Walter White in Breaking Bad, offering audition advice. It includes the line: “You’re not going there to get a job. You’re going there to present what you do.”
In a similar sense, “all you can do in an interview is give them a little taste of what you succeeding in this role could look like,” said Spencer Campbell, career coach and founder of the Spencer Campbell Talent Agency.
Freehing and Campbell have collaborated to develop a job interview prep strategy that requires shifting from a “test mindset” to an “audition mindset.” They say too many job seekers treat interviews as analytical assessments, rather than integrative decisions.
“The prep that really works is embodied, not intellectual,” Freehling said. ”It comes from the world of performance: acting, music, and sports, not your days as a student cramming for an exam."
To get a better understanding, I asked them to explain the key elements of their recommended approach to job interview prep, which Freehling said has been a game-changer for several job seekers they have worked with.
What you say in a job interview doesn’t matter (not really)
So much of whether you might get a job is out of your control. When you accept that and let go of what you can’t control, you gain power and confidence, Cranston goes on to advise.
“You don’t know the specific questions that they're going to ask, but you certainly can control what you do to prepare for the interview,” Campbell said.
Yet, we often focus our job interview prep on things like writing out canned answers for a long list of questions that an internet search or ChatGPT tells us might come up.
“Sometimes we approach interviews like it’s a game, and we're looking for hacks, or trying to trick our way into a job, because we feel like that's maybe the only option available to us,” Campbell said. “But when you shift from thinking, ‘I'm being graded,’ to ‘I'm being considered,’ everything changes.”
Moving from a test to an audition mindset makes additional sense if you realize that, as Campbell put it bluntly, "what you say doesn’t matter, not really. The details of precisely what you say,” by “workshopping this answer or that answer is likely going to do less for you than you might think.”
In short, it’s not what you say, but how you say it, and there is plenty of research supporting this. Opinions are often formed based on brief interactions and the nonverbal cues and overall presence one portrays during them.
One study found that an interviewer may decide on a candidate’s worth in as little as 30 seconds. Others come to less extreme conclusions, but on the whole, interviewees have limited time to make a good impression.
“At the end of the day, we're talking about humans making a decision about other humans. So, you need to ask yourself, ‘how do I want the interviewers to feel?’” Campbell said.
Job interview prep is an exercise in storytelling
So what can you control? Your own narrative, which means developing career stories that “show rather than tell interviewers what you do,” Campbell advises.
The key is to zero in on what differentiates you from other candidates, or as Freehling calls it, “your secret sauce.”
The problem is that “we often shy away from telling detailed stories about our past work because we think that we should instead just mirror the job description,” he said. “So what we come up with is generic, jargony, and boring.”
If you’ve been chosen for an interview, you’ve probably checked off enough boxes from the job description anyway. So an oral rendition of your CV probably won’t do you any huge favors in the interview room.
To help craft powerful stories that have an impact, Freehling and Campbell recommend following a simple formula: I help X (audience) do Y (outcome) by Z (method).
“Start by setting up the stakes. Then, share what you did that is story-worthy. Finally, what is different in the world as a result?" Campbell explained.
If you need some inspiration, consider “talking to people who know you better than you know yourself, like friends and family, former colleagues, or mentors,” to help you understand what differentiates you, Freehling said.
Believing your own story may matter most of all
Another piece of performing arts wisdom that Freehling and Campbell like to reference comes from the actress Meryl Streep, who said that “acting is not about being someone different. It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.”
In a job interview, there’s a natural temptation to say whatever it is you think the interviewer wants to hear — to fake it until you make it. But if you truly think you’re a good fit for the role, the stories that best demonstrate this should be there for the telling.
Still, many struggle with impostor syndrome and are unable to convey these stories in the way that they deserve, Campbell said.
Overcoming imposter syndrome is a long-term project (trust me, I know). But Campbell said it can be helpful to think in terms of identities.
Whether you identify as a leader, entrepreneur, great writer, or a person who cuts through red tape, consider which identity connects you to this role. “If we can find it, that’s the core of a really great story for telling in our interview,” Campbell said.
Freehling and Campbell also recommend two visualization exercises that can reduce anxiety and cultivate more confidence before an interview.
The first one they call “the samurai,” which is rooted in the concept of “dying before you go into battle, freeing you up to fight without fear,” Freehling said. He suggests using a generative AI platform like ChatGPT to upload the job posting and output a rejection letter. Reflecting on how this makes you feel before an interview can help you “show up a little more removed” and less driven by your fears of rejection.
“The golfer” is another exercise, inspired by a real-life professional golfer’s preparation routine for a high-stakes tournament. It involves “closing your eyes and remembering a time when you noticed you were aware of how great you were at what you do,” Campbell said.
“If you can bring to mind some of that feeling you had when you were performing at your highest level, and bring some of that with you into the interview, that’s going to rub off in the room,” he added.
Ultimately, Freehling and Campbell believe effective job interview prep boils down to being able to share compelling stories that don’t just aim to please, but truly represent why you are the right person for the job.
“One thing that I say to clients is that there’s exactly one person you have to convince that you're a good fit for the role, and that person is you,” Campbell said.