Interview nerves are close to universal, and "just relax" is close to useless as advice. What actually helps is a combination of genuine preparation (which removes a lot of the uncertainty driving the anxiety in the first place) and a few concrete techniques for the moments right before and during the interview itself.
Before the interview
Prepare specific answers, not just general familiarity with your background — uncertainty about what you'll say is a major driver of nerves, and a real structure for your key answers removes a lot of it.
Do a full run-through out loud, not just in your head — hearing yourself answer is a different experience than mentally rehearsing, and it surfaces where an answer doesn't actually flow.
Plan practical logistics (link, location, timing) the day before, not the morning of — removing small unknowns reduces overall anxiety load.
In the moments right before
A short walk or a few minutes of slow, deliberate breathing genuinely lowers physical anxiety symptoms — this isn't just folk wisdom, it affects heart rate and helps you think more clearly.
Reframe the interview as a two-way conversation, not a one-sided evaluation — you're also assessing whether this role and company are right for you, which shifts the power dynamic in your own head.
During the interview
It's completely fine to pause before answering a hard question — a short, deliberate pause reads as thoughtful, not unprepared.
If you lose your train of thought, it's fine to say "let me start that over" and restart the point — interviewers see this constantly and it rarely registers as a real problem.
Bring a printed copy of your resume or notes if that's allowed — having something physical to reference reduces the pressure of holding everything in working memory under stress.
The single biggest lever, though, is genuine preparation — knowing you have real, structured answers ready for the questions most likely to come up removes a large share of the uncertainty that drives interview anxiety in the first place. That's the specific gap KrackerAI is built to close: a full report of likely questions and grounded model answers, built from your actual resume and the job description, so you walk in with real answers rehearsed rather than hoping you'll think of something in the moment.