[phobosanomaly]

Somehow I feel like you're right, but when I think about it I can't really think of why. What is actually different?

The only major distinction I can come up with is that part of a job interview is seeing if you fit well with the culture of the company.

[juancn]

You know what they will ask in an exam before hand. The scope is somewhat limited.

I also think that these types of complaints about the difficulty of a job interview have to do with tying your self-esteem to the outcome of it.

A failed job interview is like a date, you both (the company and the interviewee) are trying to see if the relationship has a chance to be successful.

If the interview went south, there's a decent chance that you wouldn't have been happy at that job.

[pseudalopex]

School interviews and licensing exams stop early in your career.

[phobosanomaly]

I can think of one exception, which is certain consulting firms (eg. Booz), where you may have to constantly interview to get on new projects when you wrap the prior one up.