I've been doing some mock interviews for friends and I've had a couple realizations. Almost everybody gets nervous at interviews. I get nervous, you get nervous, we all get nervous. However some are able to tamp down the nervousness and not let it show. There's nothing wrong with being nervous, but it is useful to project confidence. Stuff like smiling, speaking up, even providing a light joke can help you seem more personable and get you ready to perform.

When I have an interview, I tap into techniques that I used when I competed. I used to do a very individual based sport. Tournaments would be stressful since your performance solely depended on you. Therefore I learned a bunch of techniques on how to keep your mental game going. Techniques such as listening to music to hype you up, having certain ritual foods or drink, self talk, meditating, etc. One accomplished athlete I knew talked about how he'd tell himself that he'd put in the training to be the best. Therefore he knew that he could do it.

It's a little weird viewing an interview as a competition but it's really about getting through a stressful, high risk/reward situation with the right mental game.