Background: I've always been a high performer, absolutely qualified for any role I apply for, and I have interviewed 100's of candidates as an interviewer. But I am a terrible interviewee. I practice and prepare, but my nerves KILL MEEEEEE in this dynamic. Like, mind blank no thoughts say lot of word bad. Which seriously only happens to me when being interviewed. It's so frustrating. As I'm sure many of you can relate, these nerves get worse in a panel interview, or during a final interview, or with an interviewer the vibes feel off with. And then even worse on top of all of that when it's at a company you reeeeally want to join.

This interview, scheduled for 60m (but only lasted 30m), started 10m late due to technical issues on the company's side, so I was already feeling frantic. I like to schmooze hard at the start of an interview to find common interest and relax, and we did somewhat, but the transition out of it felt super abrupt.…