Have three STAR stories memorized cold. Can recite them perfectly to my laptop camera. Put an actual interviewer in front of me last week and my brain just discarded all of it, ended up rambling something half-formed about a project from two jobs ago. Not sure if it's an eye contact thing or a stakes thing but it happens every time.
This is why I stopped practicing alone entirely, roped a coworker into doing fifteen minutes of behavioral questions over lunch once a week. Way more awkward than the mirror but that awkwardness is basically what the real interview feels like too.
Recording myself answering out loud helped more than mirror practice ever did, hearing the rambling back is a lot more humbling than seeing it.
Something that helped me bridge the gap: doing mock interviews with an actual stranger instead of only solo prep. The nerves in a real back-and-forth conversation are just a different animal than reciting alone.
Try recording yourself answering out loud to just your phone camera with no notes in front of you. Closer to the real pressure than reciting from memory.
I think it's a stakes thing, not an eye contact thing. Doing a couple of low stakes mock calls with a stranger helped me more than any amount of mirror practice.
