A Meditation to Deal with Stressful Job Interviews

Or How NOT to panic at interviews

I discovered the Course in Miracles at a bad point in my life, which actually turned out to be a good thing. As I wrote in the article The Gift of Suffering , suffering is good for you, spiritually, as it forces you to question your life.

In 2017, I lost my job, and the company found a legal way to ding my redundancy pay, so that I would only get a fraction of what I thought I was getting. Maybe it was my mistake for expecting too much, but the fact was, I was out of a job, little or no savings, a little baby and wife to take care of.

And there were zero jobs in my area. Zero. I’d have to move hundreds of miles away, provided I could get a job.

I was interviewing furiously, but still had a lot of free time, so I went back to meditation, something I had given up for years.

It was at this stage that I saw this inspiring line from the Course:

I am a Teacher of Light. I am only here to be truly helpful. I do not have to worry about what to say or do, because he who sent me will guide me. I will be healed, even as I teach others to heal.

Specially this part: I do not have to worry about what to say or do, because he who sent me will guide me.

If you don’t believe in God, replace he with the Inner Teacher, Higher Self, Buddha Nature or the Universal Intelligence.

There are 2 parts to this:

I am only here to be truly helpful.

You only want the job if you can be helpful. You don’t want a job where you are not 100% useful. This might be hard if you are unemployed or in a job you hate, but you need this attitude. You are doing God’s work, you must do it with love and dedication.

I do not have to worry about what to say or do, because he who sent me will guide me.

If this job would be perfect for you, the Universe will speak through you. You don’t need to think about what you will say, but trust that the Spirit will say the right things, through you.

This became my mantra before every interview. Earlier, I was always tense, stressful and angry. I took the usual idiotic advice given by recruiters: Act interested in the company, ask them leading questions etc. But this only made me sound desperate (at least to myself). Please sirrr, gimme job sirrr, I’ll do anything, clean your car, wash your clothes, sirrr.

So I gave up on traditional advice and started following this technique:

Interview Mantra

On the day of the interview, I would say the Mantra to myself a few times.

In this interview, I do not have to worry about what to say or do, because he who sent me will guide me.

Then, when I reached the company, I would turn off the car, but keep sitting in it. If possible, finding a park or natural area is also a good idea.

Then repeat the saying again at least 3 times:

I am only here to be truly helpful. I do not have to worry about what to say or do, because he who sent me will guide me.

Then I would go to the interview smiling. I refused to think at all about all the disaster scenarios if I didn’t get the job. Instead, if I got any worrying thought, I would replace it with My Higher Self will guide me if that occurs.

And I actually felt a Higher Intelligence was guiding my path. I knew just what to say and when, I was relaxed and confident, and for the first time in my 15 year career, I actually laughed in the interview, instead of acting like I had diarrhea and the interviewer was an interrogator trying to get a confession out of me, which is how I normally interviewed ☺

The interview process became easy, I got more job offers, including one I accepted, including a significant pay rise. The funny thing is, the company is one I would normally have ignored because of some personal biases, but because I was listening to the Higher Self, I decided to apply anyway.

And accept that some interviews wont go good, but you have to trust that was not the job for you. You have to accept the Universe has a better job for you. This faith keeps you positive and smiling, and trust me, that helps in interviews.

Finally

I still use this Mantra whenever I face any stressful situation. I remind myself that I do not have to worry about everything, try to control everything, for the Inner Teacher will guide me on what to do. And it works wonders everytime ☺