OMO your assistance please

Interviews often start with an "ice breaker" - something like "tell us something about yourself". They will be expecting answer about you and your life experiences, e.g. where you were born, went to school, uni, family (maybe), work history...... just something that you know about to relax you and get you talking.

As others have said, know a little bit about the company that you're applying to, history, key business areas, etc.

If it's a job in a team of people, you might get asked about your understanding of "teamwork" and why you would fit in. Lots of stuff about this on the 'net.

If your prospective role is a technical one or which requires specialist knowledge, make sure that you are up to speed not only about what's current but what might be on the horizon.

But, as others have said, relax and be yourself. Remember that they don't actually want to trip you up; candidates that are nervous and clam up make everyone, interviewers and interviewees, feel very awkward.

DON'T RAMBLE UNNECESSARILY!! Speak at a normal pace and volume, pause from time to time, etc. Breathe!!

DO NOT TELL THEM ANYTHING THAT ISN'T TRUE!!

[Heorot]

It's said that you can lose an interview within the first 9 seconds. Certainly when I was interviewing, my reaction was coloured within that timespan. Do I like or dislike the person. In addition to the technical requirements of the job, the interviewer is assessing whether you will fit into his team.

When you walk in, try to be relaxed, smile, look the interviewer in the eye and give a firm handshake, not limp and certainly don't try to break the interviewers hand. If you do the above, you have avoided losing the interview before you start.

[TamSV]

Just be yourself. After establishing knowledge and skill levels, the biggest part of an interview is basically finding out if you're a ****** or not.

If you've got an experienced interviewer then pretending to be something you're not will be an indicator that you're going to be their next HR nightmare. OTOH if you have an inexperienced interviewer, and they buy your BS, then you might find yourself in a job that doesn't suit you - but suits the person you pretended to be at interview.

Your CV basically consists of your RAF career so you will be stereotyped by that to some extent. Whatever your rank was at the end of your career adds another layer to that.

If asked to list your strengths it's worth bearing those preconceived notions in mind if you think you have attributes that fit the positive side of the stereotype or dispel the negative.

If asked to list your weaknesses it's good to come up with something that you've recognised but also point out how you have dealt with it (e.g. I used to have a problem with time management so now I keep a strict diary and to-do lists - that kind of thing). Don't list any unresolved weaknesses and, whatever you do, don't say you don't have any - only sociopaths actually believe that.

If your nerves do come to the surface then give an apology and explain you're nervous because this is your first interview for 25 years. That should go down OK. I've always preferred inexperienced interviewees. If I look at a CV with 15 different jobs on it then that person has possibly attended up to 100 interviews and they've become quite good at projecting a positive first impression - to the point that it doesn't mean anything.