Overcoming nervousness in job interviews

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Earlier today, I found out that I had not reached the second round of interviews for a job that I had applied for. The feedback I was given was that the interviewers thought that I was very pleasant, somebody that they felt they could get on with in the workplace and that I had lots of experience but they also said that I was very nervous during the interview and my nervousness was even noticeable when I was collected from reception for the interview. Therefore, they decided to offer second interviews to candidates who performed more strongly in their interviews. Now I know that everyone gets nervous in these kinds of situations but it seems that people on the spectrum are more prone to nervousness affecting their performance in interviews as is the case with me. I have been looking for work for nearly 4 years now and I have had 12 interviews during that time. Not one of those has ever led to a job offer. I need to find some way of handling my nervousness in these situations otherwise I will continue to struggle to find a job. Does anyone here have any advice for strategies that may help me with this problem?

im nervous about that too, so much i havent ever been to one, and i could really use a job to pay for musical equiptment.

anyway i think what you should do, is just pretend its not important, and fake it til you make it, kinda! just breathe, drink some water, eat an apple or something maybe. and know that its good to be nervous (though i realise it can get out of control sometimes) and everybody makes mistakes.
think about happy things, like kittens or something, practice what you're gonna say, and know that itll be fine! afterwards, you can be pleased with yourself for doing it, and since youve done it quite a few times, you know that its okay!

and yeah, this probably wont help you much, i know how nervous i can get myself, but i just thought i might as well tell you ehehe!

sorry if this wasnt helping, but i tried and you're not alone

I still get extremely nervous in many situations... but I figured out many years ago that when I was interviewing, to take the pressure off by constantly telling myself to see an interview as if I was talking to a friend or just answering a questionnaire... I originally just went on lots of interviews, thinking I had no chance... and just used them as practice... eventually, I got hired... but it did take lots of practice interviews, and being willing to blow them off and just focus on the few things that I could enthusiastically talk about, and just show that I could figure things out that I didn't already know.

The only thing that worked for me were prescription drugs which I used solely for this purpose - it's a kind of stage fright. A beta blocker helped - called Propanolol (or something like that spelling) though Valium was much better and relieving my anxiety and enabling me to function at my best. Without them, I couldn't get jobs, with them, it was totally different, I got very sought after jobs. NOTHING else helped- not thinking positively, not rehearsing answers, not all the well-intentioned advice - it was all useless for me.

My doctor thought that the valium might adversely effect my thinking during the interview process but it didn't - it enabled me to think at my best level, without anxiety fouling up my attentional focus. It was surprising how much valium it took to bring my anxiety down to "normal" pre-interview nervousness.

Unfortunately, later on, I did start to abuse prescription drugs and developed some dependency (you can understand why). I don't take any now.

Just enthusiastically reiterate at every relevant opportunity that you are down for whatever they throw at you. And if they ask you something that catches you off-guard, ask them to clarify and use that time to gather your thoughts. If you do that and have half of a qualification you'll get offers, for sure not every time, but they will be there.

It's an odd thing about me, I actually am money in interviews, like I've sent out an unheard of number of job applications in my life and for the most part I never hear back, but in cases where I actually get to the interview process my "offer rate" is probably in the neighborhood of 70%.

It's detrimental to bog yourself down with too many things in advance of an interview. Every interview I've had in my life aside from the very first one I've gone into with just the two above principles in mind and a basic knowledge of the organization I'm applying at. It's far from bulletproof, but just locking into the basics (at least for me) does wonders to minimize the nerves that come with the interview process.

Yeah, interviews are never easy and almost everyone is nervous to some degree. Interviewers know this, so the good ones will try to disregard it, as long as you can still do the interview. So the issue is not so much whether they notice that you're nervous (they will), but whether being nervous prevents you from answering their questions properly. (I'm assuming here you're not applying for a job that requires extroversion, like sales!)

Having said that, there are a few things you could try:

1) Preparation The more you've thought about and practiced what you're going to say, the easier it will be to say it, and the less nervous you'll be.

2) Nicer interviewers Try interviewing at different kind of company if you can. Smaller companies tend to have a less formal process, which might make you less nervous.

3) Experience You've already got interviewing experience, but more will help. If you're unemployed, you should have the time to go to lots of interviews, so consider applying even for some jobs that you don't really want just for the interviewing experience. Then, if you get an offer, even better. It can be a nice confidence boost even if you consider the job to be beneath you.

4) Get a job Yeah, that's the whole point, right? But if you already have a job then interviewing for another one is less of a big deal, because you don't need it as much. So you'll be less nervous and, ironically, more likely to get the job! So if you do #3 and get an offer, you might consider taking it, even if only to keep applying for better jobs.

The Valium (or xanax) sounds like a good idea to me, though you'd want to try taking it a couple of times before the actual interview, so that you could see how it affected you. If the dose is too high, or you react very strongly to it, you may seem kind of off or spacey in the interview, and you don't want that either.

It's not at all unusual for people with high anxiety levels to do this, and if it's a "special occasion" sort of thing you ought to be fine, it's not the sort of things docs flag as an addiction risk.

Once you're on the job...you know, anxiety is a real problem for a great many people, even people who seem very cool. (Maybe especially people who seem very cool.) An econ-professor friend was just telling me about her terrible nervousness, speaking publicly. And I'll never forget driving to shoot an infomercial in another state, and my supervisor -- kind of a mean-girl, self-possessed sort of person -- tossed her money into a toll basket, or tried to, but missed. She had to get out of the car and find the money and put it in with cars backing up behind her, and she totally lost it, just panicked. I had to drive the rest of the way. Anyway, what I mean to say: I wouldn't worry too much about it as a sort of "it's just me, everyone else is fine" sort of problem. It's very common.

Once (on one of those 70's shows--not THE 70's show), a solution was offered for stage fright:

Imagine the whole crowd wearing underwear.

Perhaps, you could envision the interviewer in underwear LOL

Seriously, I've been successful in just "winging it." I could get anxious and nervous at interviews. I once walked out of taking the GRE because of anxiety.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Some good advice here (not sure about taking valium though!) and I'll try to incorporate some of these in future interview situations.

The one thing that worked for me finally after trying for months to say and do the all the right things,
My best friend told me this. Go in and treat it like you would a non serious situation, Complete apathy. Answer the questions appropriately, but dont try to be overly serious, but stay professional. If you try too hard its probably going to show. And if you dont get offered the job, oh well you'll never have to see them again.

It may not work for everyone, but going in with a mentality of not expecting too much after trying to put on show in all the others really helped me.