3. Control nervousness - it's natural to be nervous on an interview - just about everyone is. But you should take steps so nervousness isn't apparent. Doing mock interviews with friends or family members is a good way to increase your confidence. The more you're exposed to interviewing, less nervous you'll be about it.

4. Sharpen your wit - Interviewers often decide how smart someone is based on how witty they are. There is probably no real scientific formula for becoming more witty. However, people who are well-read tend to have quicker wits than those who aren't.

5. Be prepared - if you have researched company and industry ahead of time, and you have a good idea of how you can answer most of standard job interview questions they might ask (such as "Where do you see yourself in 2 years?), you'll be much more confident and your preparedness will show.

HELPING THE INTERVIEWER GET TO KNOW YOUR ABILITIES

Many interviewers will try to classify you based on broad information such as number of years of experience you have, where you went to college, which industries you worked in, etc. The reality is this information may or may not be a good predictor of whether you can solve their business problems, which is real reason why they are looking for a new employee.

As a job candidate, it is reasonable for you to want to know why company is looking to hire someone and what business problems they hope to solve with hire. The answer to those questions should help you relate to your own work experiences and hopefully give you an opportunity to talk about specific things you have done in past that have given you expertise in areas necessary to solve company's problems. If you offer interviewer your perspective as someone who has expertise with specific problems they want to resolve, and strive to provide them with helpful insights that they may not have considered before, you will stand out as a candidate.

For example, on books question, rather than answering question directly, you might try to engage interviewer in a conversation using their thought about books as a starting point, but transitioning to something you would prefer talking about. You could start off saying "You know, when I was a kid I loved those Hardy Boys mystery books. I've always enjoyed trying to solve mysteries whether they're in books or in an inefficient supply-chain system. At my last job, I was able to save company over $10 million by discovering cost inefficiencies that had previously gone unnoticed.."

When you're in an interview, it's always best to get as much information as possible before giving any information yourself. You don't want to come across as evasive. But you have a much better chance of giving answers person wants to hear if you know something about them, about job, what they're looking for, etc.

The best course of action in interviews is to steer clear of topics that could stir up controversy, such as politics and religion. An interview is a selling situation, so you may have to tailor your responses for occasion.

Here's another example for people you'd like to have lunch with: mentioning people like Frank Sinatra, Vincent Van Gogh and Leonardo Da Vinci would be better than mentioning people who are living today. Famous people who are currently living tend to be controversial. You're best off mentioning people who everyone likes or who people tend not to have strong negative feelings about.