Having spent a good part of my life being interviewed, or interviewing someone, I can tell you that job interviews and nervousness go together like buying a home and mortgages. It's rare that the first comes without the second. But there is a way to structure the way you act and the interview so that you can control your nerves.

Here's a few tips how.

1. Nerves are Natural

The first and possibly most important thing to remember in all of this is that nerves are natural. We all get them - and those that say they don't are usually lying!

Interviewers will expect some nerves.

Interviews will often start with a bit of banter and small talk to help calm things down as well. All of which is designed to help you put your best side across.

In some panel interviews there will be a HR professional on the selection committee who is trained to calm you down and bring out your best.

People who are good at controlling their nerves in an interview situation are the same people that accept that nerves are going to happen. The nerves will be there before and during an interview. It's all part of the process. Knowing that will help you appreciate them for what they are and not to let them take over.

2. It's all about you

This may sound obvious but the interview is all about you. Sometimes we forget that. Interviewees tend to forget that the potential employer has seen some promise and asked them in for an interview. Somewhere, whether in your CV or application form, you've shown them something they want to explore. They want to find out about you.

It's an old cliche but no one knows you better than you. So no one can tell your story better than you can. You know how hard you worked on that report a few months ago. You know how you handled the stress of covering additional jobs for a colleague who was away from work. And only you know how many endearing compliments you received after that presentation last Tuesday.

I'm sure you get the idea.

You know what you've done, how you've done it and you know what you have to offer. So tell them. As human beings we are shy and often coy about telling people about our skills. Perhaps we don't want to seem arrogant or stuck up. Perhaps we're not just quite sure how much to give away.

Employers don't conduct interviews to take you out of your comfort zone. They conduct them because they get to hear about your skills, feelings and ability first hand. No one can say better than you. Only you can appreciate how hard you've worked and how much you deserve this job. And only you can show that to a potential employer.

You don't need to tell them that you are the best in the world at something - unless of course you have that title in writing. Anything else would just be plain arrogance. But you can tell them you feel proud of yourself because you took the initiative to .... you fill in the blanks. It's a great thing to proud of what you've done, what you've achieved or what you've learnt. So don't be shy about expressing that.

I'm always impressed in an interview when someone genuinely believes they've done a good job and are proud of what they've done. Employers always look for people who take pride in their work - it means you care about your job and have a good work ethic. So if you are proud of something or think you've done well then don't be shy about telling the interview panel.

Like I've said, this is all about you. Be proud of what you've done well, be honest about what you hope to improve or learn and don't be shy about being open with things you've accomplished. The more open you are, the more you'll feel like you've given it your best shot and that's all you can ever expect.

3. Be prepared

Last week I wrote a HubPages blog on 'Job Interview Preparation: The night before' - http://hubpages.com/hub/interview-preparation. The article was about the interview preparation you should be doing the night before the big day.

Being prepared is an important factor to calming nerves because it's spares up that little bit extra of brain capacity to focus on other things. Not quite sure what I mean? Think about it this way ...

One of the hardest things to do is impromptu speaking. Ask anyone if they want to do a presentation they'll probably tell you where to go. People seem to hate doing public speaking. In stress levels, public speaking is ranked up there with moving house and dying. But more than normal public speaking, people loathe impromptu speeches - you know the ones where your boss will turn to you in and ask you to give a 'off the cuff' run down on the latest progress. We hate it because it's hard. It's hard because we haven't prepared something and so our brain has to work twice as hard. Your brain has to come up with something to say, what you say needs to make sense, it needs to flow and it needs to keep the audience interested. All of which you have time to think about with a prepared speech but less so with an impromptu.

By preparing for the interview you are giving your brain a massive helping hand. Preparation leaves you that little bit extra power to focus on other factors that may crop up. And that will give you the calm grace of someone who knows what they're talking about. Preparation takes away a lot of the impromptu 'on-the-spot' element to interviews giving you one less thing to worry about.

Now that can't be a bad thing.

4. Posture and politeness

Any decent article on doing your best at interviews will tell that a good posture does wonders for your professional image. It also helps you stay focused in the interview. It's simple to do and has some influential results.

As an interviewer, I often look at people's posture as an extra element to their personality. If they are slouching then perhaps they are also sloppy with their work. If they're too relaxed then perhaps they don't take their work seriously enough. It's one of the subliminal elements to an interview that gives the interviewer an overall picture of your attitude and behaivour.

A professional attitude often comes with a professional image.

As a general rule, my advice would be:

• sit up straight
• don't scratch, pick, poke or peel - that's for your own time in a bathroom somewhere
• keep your hands on the arm rests or lightly on the table except when you are using them to explain
• maintain eye contact, making sure you share the eye contact with all interviewers expecially the person asking the question
• don't slouch, lean forward or slump - it looks very unprofessional

Above all, use your common sense. No one can prescribe a posture that will fit all interviews because each situation is different. By following some of the tips above and using your brain you will look professional and give the interviewer the impression that you are taking this opportunity seriously.

Standing along side a good posture is good manners. Don't say 'what?', 'hey' or anything else you might expect to hear in your local pub. This is an interview so you need to use the manners your grandma would expect. Don't swear, insult the interviewer or the company or go into a story about how your partner left the toilet seat up last night.

You'd be amazed how many people I've interviewed think it's ok to say 'crap', 'bugger' or 'bollocks'. Although the debate is still out on whether these are official swear words, you don't need to use them. Doing so just makes you look unprofessional.

You also don't need to go into your personal problems. We all go through tough times or have something that gets on our nerves but an interview is not the time or place. I interviewed a girl once who started crying because she'd had an argument with her boyfriend the night before. It wasn't good. An employer wants to be assured that you are fit for the job and that means being able to come in everyday, regardless of what's happening at home, and do your job well. If you can't get through an hour long interview, how will you get through a full working day? It just raises doubts and that doesn't help your chances at all.

Be courteouis, polite and maintain a professional posture. Very simple but effective ways of helping to convince an employer you are the person for the job. They are also simple ways to stay focused, and by staying focused you control the situation and the nerves.

5. Do you believe in fate?

My final tip is to try to realise that you can't fight, change or alter what's going to happen. You will go into that interview and hopefully you'll put your best foot forward. After you leave the interview room, the selecters will talk about your interview and your application in conjunction with the rest of the applicants. And then they'll make a decision.

Hopefully that decision will go your way and you'll be starting a new job soon. But then again, maybe it won't. As you and I both know, sometimes things just don't go our way. It's annoying but it happens.

At the end of the day - all you can do is your best. If you've done that then you sit back safe in the knowledge you gave it a good shot. Like the best sporting teams, one day you'll might be beaten by someone who is just better. One day you might beat someone else.

Try your best and keep the fingers crossed. The rest of it is out of your hands.

I find that by appreciating the fact that all I can do is my best, I feel calmer and more confident at interviews. I think I'm suited to the job and I hope the interviewers will think that as well. But I can't control their thoughts or feelings so I'm not going to worry. My best is my best and I hope that's enough.

Goodluck - and for more career related articles please follow my blog.