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Speaking Point: In a job market where the competition is intense and there is a lot riding on making the very best impression, it is inevitable that interviews will cause tremendous stress and distress. Your goal is to remove the distractions and to get the interviewer to see you as the great candidate that you are. Here are a few tips to manage, minimize and overcome interview anxiety.

Speaking Point: Sometimes the solution is simple.  We break the nervous cycle through a gesture or an intervention that eliminates the source - or reminder - of being nervous and stressed out.  For some of my clients, and for me too, sweaty palms reminds us that interviewing is unpleasant.  When we remove the wet palms issue the nervousness disappears almost immediately.  A little dab of antiperspirant is a miracle cure.  Rubbing a small amount on the palms prior to the interview keeps them dry and the boost in confidence has the potential to be exponential.

Speaking Point: Practice.  But not just the questions you expect to be asked.  Seek out friends to role play and rehearse with; to challenge you, poke holes in your resume and story, and intentionally try to make you uncomfortable.  The more you face difficult situations in practice and in a safe setting, the better prepared you will be in real life....and the greater your ability to calmly approach and address what makes you uncomfortable.

Speaking Point: Remember, the goal is just to get another interview, not necessarily to hit a home run.  They are nice and always welcome but on a practical basis, they happen far too infrequently to establish as a benchmark for success.  When you ease up on the expectations you free yourself from the burden of being perfect.

Speaking Point: Recognize and remember that job search is always about rejection.  It is inevitable.  In a challenging job market success is only achieved through hard work, research, a little luck, and most important, high volume to beat the odds.  In fact, the way we measure a successful job search is not by the offers we receive but rather by getting lots of rejections!