Serene Lin-Stephens

Teaching Academic, PhD Candidate - Discipline of Rehabilitation Counselling, The University of Sydney 

Serene Lin-Stephens is a teaching academic and PhD candidate in vocational rehabilitation counselling at the University of Sydney. She is a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a career counsellor, educator, and researcher with extensive involvement with universities in Australia and the Asia Pacific region. Her most recent research interest involves using visual narrative interventions to address employment-related anxiety. She regularly shares her research findings through peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and workshops to support practitioner research. Some of her work has led to multiple awards in learning and teaching, service, collaboration and research awards.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATION

Relieving interview anxiety with image-supported storytelling preparation

Interview anxiety is the nervous feelings and fear towards selection interviews. It negatively affects interview performance and can affect people with and without existing anxiety disorders. Because interviews are often the final step of applications for employment or education, being able to manage interview anxiety and performance is critical to securing career opportunities.

In this video presentation, a brief intervention of serious storytelling with images is presented. It prepares clients for interview storytelling by using images to support the recall and narration of past events and behaviours. Here, results from two case studies, three experimental and quasi-experimental studies are reported. The intervention alleviated dimensions of interview anxiety and improved performance.

Using psychological distance and construal level theory, the characteristics of images are extracted to explain the effect mechanism. Vocational counsellors may utilise this brief intervention to help clients prepare for interviews.