Presentation anxiety and interview anxiety have a lot in common. Sweaty palms, a racing heart, a mind that suddenly goes blank can show up in either of these situations. But interviews carry a different kind of pressure. In a presentation, you might feel like you’re being judged. In an interview, you know you are.
It’s that kind of pressure that a public speaking coach like myself can help you with.
What Interview Anxiety Actually Looks Like
The physical symptoms are the most obvious sympton of interview anxiety: the racing heart, the shaky voice, the sweaty palms that make an in-person handshake genuinely awkward before you’ve even sat down. Sometimes there aren’t physical symptoms, but rather the nerves cause you to freeze and forget what you wanted to say. The biggest risk is that you can’t communicate when the nerves take over.
You’ve probably heard that when you get nervous, you fight, flight or freeze. In an interview, that can look like forgetting talking points you’d carefully prepared for, or even worse, forgetting the names of your past employers! If your body decides to try and flee, you might find yourself talking fast and rambling as you go, adding more and more to what you’re saying. Sometimes it’s just to try and fill the silence or clarify a point that was already clear. No matter what the nerves do, the result is always the same: they get in the way of showing an interviewer who you actually are and what you can actually do.
M’s Story: Qualified on Paper, Undone by Rambling
I worked with a client – I’ll call him M – who is a perfect example of what nervous rambling can do to an otherwise strong candidate.
M was getting interviews. His resume was solid enough to get him invited in the first place, so there was no question he was qualified on paper. But once he got nervous in an interview, he’d start rambling. He’d begin doubting what he’d already said and keep talking, adding more and more detail to try to fix it. Instead of clarifying his point, it created confusion and made him come across as unable to communicate clearly, which happened to be a core requirement for every role he was interviewing for.
He was consistently getting invitations to first interviews but not making it to the final rounds. The nerves weren’t stopping him from getting in the door. They were stopping him from articulating why he deserved to stay.
After we worked together, M advanced past his next interview through several rounds and was offered the job.
What We Actually Worked On
The foundation of the work with M was the same process I use with most interview anxiety clients: nervous system regulation and moving away from memorized scripts toward flexible structures he could rely on regardless of what was asked.
But with M specifically, we also had to work on controlling not just the nerves, but what came out of his mouth once they hit. That meant practicing speaking more slowly, finishing one sentence before starting the next instead of interrupting himself mid-thought, and learning what I kept calling “quit while you’re ahead” – recognizing when he’d already made his point and trusting it, instead of continuing to add details that buried the answer rather than strengthening it.
Learning structures for his answers and sticking to them mattered here too. When you have a structure to lean on, there’s less temptation to keep talking just because you’re not sure you’ve said enough.
A Practical Tip for the Physical Symptoms
If sweaty palms before a handshake are part of your interview anxiety, you’re not alone, and there’s an easy fix. I recommend a hand antiperspirant. There are a few good options out there, including Carpe, Certain Dri Hand Lotion, and Gamer Grip (which is what I personally use). Apply it about twenty minutes before you’ll need it, and wash your hands right before you’re expected to shake anyone’s.
It’s a small thing, but not having to worry about a sweaty handshake removes one more variable your nerves could latch onto.
If You Don’t Have Time to Prepare
If your interview is coming up soon and there’s no time for coaching beforehand, here’s the one thing I’d want you to do: trust yourself, and visualize success.
Picture yourself walking into the interview and doing well. Think about what it looks like, what it sounds like, and what it feels like. Your body remembers that kind of rehearsal, even when it’s only happening in your mind, and it can serve as a powerful reminder that success in that room is genuinely possible.
You Don’t Have to Face Interview Anxiety Alone
If interview anxiety has been holding you back — whether it’s showing up as freezing, rambling, or the kind of blanking out we’ve written about before — it’s a pattern that can be worked through, not something you’re stuck with permanently.
Explore our coaching programs or book a free consultation to talk through what’s happening in your interviews and what could help.