I've seen some heart breaking consequences of nerves at job interviews. People so desperate to do well, they just can't get the words to come out of their mouth, let alone the right ones! Here's some of the effects of nerves.

Heart rate quickens with numerous effects, most negative for interviews
Talking faster, stumbling over words, occasionally shortness of breath
Flushing, appearing red around the face and neck
Increased sweating, sometimes sweat dripping from face
Memory meltdown...complete blanks on familiar subjects or during presentations
Stammering
Talking too quietly or muttering or mumbling
Becoming clumsy, dropping things and fumbling through files.

The cause of nerves, or any kind of stress for that matter, according to psychologists is uncertainty, so it's easy to see why graduate job interviews are so much of problem.

a) You've not interviewed for jobs before
b) You know nothing about the company
c) You know nothing about the interviewer
d) You know nothing about the interview process
e) You've never been to the venue before, so you don't really know where you're going or how long it will take.
f) You don't really know what the job is all about
g) You don't know how you will react to the situation
h) The rest of your future starts here....who you meet, where you live, how much you earn, what lifestyle you're able to lead

It's just one large bag of uncertainty, and if you are a prolific sufferer it can be a really problem.

The immediate solutions are straight forward. Remove as many uncertainties as possible before your interview. Research everything, the company, it's products, your interviewer ( your consultant should be able to help here), your journey (do a trial run and time it, then add 30% on). Try and predict as many interview questions as possible and prepare answers (search the net of interview questions, ask you consultant to find a previous visitor to the same company). Research the interview process, call HR department or ask your consultant.
For first time job seekers there can be an overbearing feeling that the rest of your life depends on this, and this feeling doesn't help. Indeed, many older people will confirm that job decisions are life defining. However, ultimately, opportunities in life are in abundance, where one door closes, another one opens so don't let any one opportunity get you down.

Here's a couple of extra tips which worked for me.

Exercise before the interview. Your body is loaded with powerful drugs called endorphins which are released following exercise. If you already exercise, you will be familiar with that tremendous feeling of relaxation after a work and a shower. That feeling is your endorphins flowing around your body. For nerves at job interviews, this is the cure of cures. It is almost impossible to feel nervous after a ‘work out‘, nerves and endorphins appear to be mutually exclusive events. A lot of interviews are at hotels, if they have a gym and pool, get there a couple of hours early and try it, you'll like the results.

Muisc. If you're not the active sort, apologies for the above, but maybe this one is for you. Music can have some powerful personal associations. Most of us will have tracks which remind us of a particular time or an event in our past. On the same basis, we each will have tracks which make us feel happy, and perhaps others which make us feel sad. Try and identify a handful of tracks which make you feel upbeat, happy and relaxed and make up a CD to play in the car, or a play list for the MP3 on the way to your interview. In many cases, music can induce a deep relaxation to combat nerves.

Like anything in life, familiarity comes with practise. The more interviews you do, the more comfortable you become with the process. Ask for feedback from you interview, it may help you adapt your approach, but may also give you some much needed encouragement and praise which will serve to reduce nerves for your next interview.

Good luck

This article is written by John Bult of Graduate Vacancies