Interview Confidence

Don,

I was wondering if you had tools for giving presentations (I would rather light my hair on fire, than give a public speech LOL), I am very outgoing, but terrified to get up in front of a bunch of people!!! I am also interested in tool/advise/information on returning to work after staying at home with my children for two years.

I was working for a major Health Care Company for 18 years straight in IT. I worked my way up from mounting tapes to a System Senior Analyst on the VM and MVS (OS/390) Mainframes and then transferred over to the Windows/Intel Server side of IT. I have lost my confidence.

I would appreciate any thoughts/input you could offer.

Warm regards,

Jennifer

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Jennifer,

My background is also in IT and I have spent many years as a Windows LAN/WAN technology consultant. I understand your reluctance to giving presentations. I think public speaking is in the top 5 list of things people fear most. Personally, I don’t enjoy it either, but I have figured out how to make it work for myself. Unfortunately, I don’t have any tools for giving presentations. Just a couple of tips that I use to help me get through it. I never do Power Points and I always print-off and make multiple copies of my material and hand it out to everyone, if my audience is less than 20. I become very familiar with my material so I know it inside and out. And the single most important thing I do to stay calm and relax is to work-out for 45 minutes on the morning of my presentation. Even if I don’t have to speak until the afternoon, that early morning workout stays with me throughout the whole day and keeps me relaxed. Like I said, this is what I do.

Returning to work after staying at home with children is very common for many women. Just out-right tell your interviewer the reasons you are returning to work. I don’t believe they will hold that against you. Since you’ve been out of IT for two years, there may be some concern from employers on how up to date you are, since things are always changing in IT. That will probably be your biggest hurdle to overcome. Put your interviewers mind at ease and let them know you have been keeping up on the latest trends in IT by reading magazines and trade journals and studying in your spare time.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.

Kind regards,

Don

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