How do I stop my voice shaking?

Slow the first sentence, breathe out longer than you breathe in beforehand, and keep water nearby. A shaky first line that settles is normal and rarely counts against you.

Should I admit I'm nervous?

One brief, light acknowledgement is fine and often humanising. Repeating it turns into an apology, which is what actually costs you.

Job interviews

How to sound confident in an interview

Interviewers do not measure how you feel. They read four signals: whether you answer the question directly, whether you claim your own work, whether you can be quiet, and whether you can say "I don't know" without panic. Nerves are compatible with all four.

Last updated 4 September 2026

Phrases that quietly undercut you

Cut these from rehearsed answers

"I was lucky enough to…" → "I led…"
"I only did the smaller part" → "My part was X, and it mattered because Y."
"Sorry, that was a long answer" → say nothing; just stop.
"I'm probably not the most technical person, but" → delete entirely.

Claim your work without inflating it

"We shipped it" is honest and invisible. "I owned the migration plan and two engineers ran it with me" is honest and creditable. Precision about your scope reads as more confident than either bragging or self-erasure, and it survives follow-up questions.

Learn to be quiet

After your answer, stop. If the interviewer takes a note, let them. Filling that silence with extra examples is the most common way strong candidates talk themselves back down. Practise the three-second stop until it feels normal.

A ten-minute warm-up

1Minutes 0-3Speak your "tell me about yourself" answer out loud twice. Voice warm, brain primed.
2Minutes 3-5Say your three questions for them aloud.
3Minutes 5-8Longer exhales than inhales. This lowers heart rate more reliably than big breaths in.
4Minutes 8-10Sit up, water within reach, notes closed. Do not reread anything new.

Common questions

How do I stop my voice shaking?: Slow the first sentence, breathe out longer than you breathe in beforehand, and keep water nearby. A shaky first line that settles is normal and rarely counts against you.
Should I admit I'm nervous?: One brief, light acknowledgement is fine and often humanising. Repeating it turns into an apology, which is what actually costs you.

Practise the four signals under pressure

Run an interview and check where you hedged and where you kept talking.

Practise an interview

Free, with no payment details and no locked features.