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You're not auditioning for Annie.
But when it comes tointerview preparation, most candidates put all their focus on scripting and rehearsing what they're going to say. While you should know your "lines," learning them is not the first thing you should do. You need to focus first on your "ACT": being authentic, making a connection, and giving others a taste of who you are and what it's like to work with you.
Focusing on your ACT will also help you control your emotions, which are bound to be mixed and intense--it happens to everyone regardless of level. This was clearly happening with a man I saw recently at a Starbucks: his leg pumping up and down as he shuffled anxiously through his notecards. On top of his table I could clearly see his resume.
"Job interview, huh?" I asked as I approached him.
His eyes bulged from caffeine and desperation. "Yeah, and I really need this job."
"Well, you're not doing yourself any favors." I pointed to his triple red eye (coffee with three shots of espresso). "Take some deep breaths and relax. If you go into the interview looking like this, you're going to blow it."
Now I had his attention. "This is not an interrogation," I told him. "Your goal is to have a conversation with your interviewer--pure and simple."
Conquering the interviewing mental game is crucial now that you're finally at this phase of the 90-Day Career Diet. You're ready--so stop psyching yourself out!
Perfect your mental game so you can be at your best at the interview. Otherwise, all your targeting, networking, and your newly revised resume are going to go to waste.
Dentist and Disneyland: Most people view interviews as a cross between a trip to Disneyland and a visit to the dentist to have a tooth extracted: While you look forward to it, you also dread it. If you let your imagination run wild, you'll amp up your panic until you can't put two coherent sentences together, or you overcompensate by talking nonstop.
The Old Standards: While you never know what you might be asked, you can count on some version of the "old standards" of the most likely questions:
Avoid the "Deadly Sins of Interviewing"
Your preparation should focus on you as well: your appearance, your logistics, how you present yourself. The more you prepare, the better you'll avoid committing a "deadly sin":
During the first seven seconds or so, the interviewer will make crucial determinations about you, including your likability, your trustworthiness, how aggressive or passive you seem, and how well you would fit in with others on the team. Based on this initial determination (which is typically unconscious), your interviewer will decide (probably also unconsciously) whether to help you in the interview by rephrasing questions, giving helpful feedback, assuring you with verbal and nonverbal cues.
Your ACT can help you make the most of those seven seconds. Do some sleuthing on LinkedIn to see if you share a commonality with your interviewer--e.g., same college or a passion for a sport or pastime (don't fake this or you'll quickly trip yourself up). Scan for something interesting in the person's office that you can talk about. Don't be a snoop, but if you can see it in the open, it's fair game. This small talk will help forge a connection as you relax and allow the interviewer get to know you.
Interview prep is crucial. You'll never present your best self if you're jittering with every response. So, skip the Annie audition, forget the interrogation, and enter into the conversation.
Check out steps one, two, three and four of the 90-Day Career Diet. A version of this article appears on Forbes.com.