can you teach yourself to become confident?

I did this for a little while too. First of all however, you have to know from the start that many people will ignore you. This is NOT because of YOU, but because they dislike being approached and asked for money. This should therefore not get you down, it will always happen. Second, think of how you are helping a charity, the more confident you feel, the better the chances are of you gaining some cash for this charity and helping those they support. Therefore, don't go up to the person saying "um...excuse me....I was wondering...if you could give a little money to...", this will make them ignore you because you arent confident in yourself and that makes it sound like you arent confident in the chairty and it will take too much time off the person on the street, making them say "no thanks" or such. So, be confident. Say what you would think would convince YOU to give money to the charity. For instance, "good morning, how would you like to help out (X) charity to give those who are less fortunate a better chance at a successful life?" Tell them what would happen if they give money. I used to have a chart thing that I could show them. "50p helps X", "1 pound helps Y", etc etc.

Good luck!!

Thankyou that was alot of help
Do you have an idea of what i would expect from the interview?

I think you can, in my opinion lack of confidence in interpersonal relations stems from the speakers concern of how he or she comes across to the other person. So instead of having confidence in the views they wish to express they try to tailor whatever is said to the preferences of the other person e.g not wanting to hurt feelings and gain positive affirmation at the expense of expressing the view they have developed in their minds.

The above is a simplified analysis of the reason for lack of confidence, now I am going to propose a solution which I believe will help you if applied correctly.

Having confidence stems from the belief that what you say is in your mind is 100% correct. Have you noticed that when you understand something fully you are able to express it fluently to other people, just because you know you've thought about it through. If we agree to this then what we can observe is that confidence comes from the belief that what you have thought out in your head is correct. So how can we make ourselves think that the opinions we hold are all correct?. This comes from logic, you cannot refute logic. If you believe your view is logical then you KNOW you're right and this leads to confidence. Of course not everybody will agree to your pattern of logic and thats fair enough. But thats not your concern.

I know its difficult to change your pattern of thinking over night especially if you are someone who makes decisions by taking peoples feelings etc first. Instead on using emotional judgement be objective. For example, when problems arise compose yourself and think in your head " is it my place to protect their feelings at the expense of what is just and fair based on the facts at hand". Apply impersonal judgement and detach emotions from minor everyday decisions, this will expose yourself to the phenomena of logical thinking which will give you an innate confidene that the view you hold is correct.

If this is not clear to you PM me, sometimes I leave holes. Gd luck

That is a short term and unreliable method as you would be memorizing and regurgitating instead of logially understanding. For example if stage fright occurs what you noted about the semantics of your sentences will surely start.
Try to think logically why you want the job, why you think you will be good at it, and understand the aims of the charity. Do not come up with what you think they will want to her, instead what you think is right and just even if it means disagreeing on some points.
You should apply this to your whole life, I feel I have benifited immensely from critical thinking.

By the way this is for a job i applied for doing work where i have to approach random people on the street and persuade them to give money to a charity.
im just not sure i could do it, because if, like now, im on my own and stuck inside i dont see myself as the right person for a job like this. But when im working as a waitress or im with friends i sort of change.

Ooo. I think this job is a different ball game to general confidence.

I wore scrubs and ran around trains on the underground, announcing i was raising money for stuff and asking if people would donate... and I hated it. I think the only reason I did it for 5 hours was because I was doing it with a friend (we took different carriages at the same time). But I hated asking people for money.

I don't know. At least when you're a waitress, people want to see you, raising money requires a lot of confidence... good luck

i had to approach people in the street asking them for money but it was for a good cause so i just thought about how i was helping them, and by the end of the day i was really enjoying it and the more confident i was the more people gave money because if youre quiet and shy they can usually ignore you easier