How not to choke under pressure during an interview

In the world of professional sports you often hear about someone "choking" down the stretch.  A missed shot in regulation in basketball, a missed field goal in football in OT, or a strikeout in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the bases loaded.  What always drives me crazy in those situations is when the announcers focus only on the "choke" and not everything leading up to that moment at the end where things went terribly wrong.

Case in point is Rory McIlroy's meltdown yesterday afternoon at the Honda Classic.  He was poised to win if he could simply post even par on Sunday.  Which shouldn't be difficult considering his first three rounds were all under par.  He had a bad stretch in the middle of his round and it let to him being down one stroke on the final hole.  He had a great drive and hit a magical fairway wood from 245 yards out to give himself a chance to win the championship if only he could make the eagle putt.  As fate would have it, he missed that putt and it was quickly pointed out that he just lost the opportunity to win.  What they didn't spend a lot of time talking about right away was what went so terribly wrong for the twelve or thirteen previous holes.

Candidates do this oftentimes in the interview process.  They get down to final stages with an employer, maybe even to offer stage, and then something doesn't quite go their way.  Instead of looking at it from a broader perspective and see what might have gone wrong at step two or three, many choose to focus on how things unraveled at the end.  And as you can imagine, usually put the blame on someone else.

Instead of finding yourself in a similar unenviable position, here are some thoughts to better handle the period of time leading up to the possibly "choke":

1) Make a game plan and stick to it.  Rory likely just let nerves get the best of him yesterday at the Honda Classic.  I am certain he and his coach have spoken on multiple occasions how to handle the adrenaline of those situations.  He simply forgot his game plan and didn't execute.  On the same token, if you have been talking about a particular start date or salary range during an extended interview process, don't suddenly change at the 11th hour to see what leverage you can make.  It will fail more often than not.

2) Take a deep breath.  This may seem too simple, but it makes all kinds of sense.  If you see the finish line ahead during an interview and you get too nervous, the employer will sense that from a mile away.  Slow down, remind yourself why you're there in the first place, and finish strong.

3) Don't worry about what anyone else is doing.  I guarantee you that Rory was looking at the leaderboard during the last 3-5 holes, and it affected his play.  Sometimes when nearing the offer stage a candidate will speak with multiple decision makers.  Instead of over-thinking who might have more power or changing your story with each person, just focus on what makes you a good employee and possible match.  The rest will take care of itself.

The most ironic part about yesterday's "meltdown" for Rory was that when it was all said and done he was quoted as saying it wouldn't have been deserving had he won anyway on that final putt.  This loss will hurt for some time, but the best thing Rory could do is forget about it and move on.  Same goes if for some unfortunate reason you do lose in the final stages of an interview.  But with proper planning and execution of a game plan, hopefully you will find yourself hoisting the trophy (or offer) when the sun sets.

Have you ever heard of someone choking during the final phases of an interview to lose the opportunity?  Or have any good ideas to prevent it from happening in the first place?