Ever felt your mind go blank in an interview, despite knowing you're perfect for the role? While everyone experiences pre-interview jitters, for some people interview anxiety can be paralysing—turning capable professionals into nervous wrecks or causing them to avoid career opportunities altogether.

It's particularly frustrating when you know you could excel at the job, but anxiety prevents you from showing your true potential during that crucial hour. Unlike other skills, interviews are hard to practice—they're infrequent, high-stakes situations where meaningful feedback is rare.

While interview anxiety often appears alongside social anxiety disorder, they're not necessarily linked. You can be confident in other social situations yet still struggle specifically with interviews, usually due to the intense scrutiny and evaluation involved. However, it forms part of the social anxiety realm as the primary fear is in relation to what other people think.

Here's the good news: while these fears are entirely normal, they don't have to hold back your career. With professional support, you can learn to manage interview anxiety and showcase your true capabilities when it matters most.