Do NOT voluntarily bring up your back problem for use as a sob story.

If they do ask you why you didn't do anything for a year, you can tell them about your back problem. But make sure to find something constructive you did in that in that time period, or at least make the recovery sound like you gained something positive about it... character building, etc. etc.

Nothing you can do about references... unless you want to put down character references, but only from people who are professionals. Ie. You have friends that are lawyers, doctors, VP, CEO etc.

Other than that... for the interview itself, you have to start strong. Be confident, be sure of what you're saying, if you don't have the experience, be honest but always tell them you're a quick learner and that you always challenge yourself.

Confidence, not arrogance, will go an incredibly long way and will often make up for some deficiencies in skill/experience. However, you can't be talking BS because they'll find out if they hire you... then subsequently fire you. :P

Good luck!

PS. Get your suit pressed, make sure your shirt is ironed, tie is done up right. Make sure you're well groomed and do a mirror check before you go in.

dude i was scared of interviews too
ive probably done 7-8 interviews over the past few months and FINALLY got over that nervousness and landed a job
in fact i landed 2 jobs and had to turn down 1
i can do 100 interviews right now and nail every one of them lol
you just gotta prep urself for all possible questions
prep and study ur responses over and over and over again
there r plenty of tips online for those stupid behavioral questions

need to explain gap in employment? make up some bs on how u went to work for ur family or something
need references? ask a friend
employers dont like to hear sob stories whether its true or not
they like to hire pppl who seem excited, positive etc etc.

Okay so I'm gonna get some sleep and think about it and prep when I wake up.

I think I got a good story for why I was not working/school for a year so that's covered.

My next major concern is my lack of references.

Does it have to be all professional references or can I have like 2 professional and one personal?

Right now I'm helping my friends out with their start up business so I can use one of them as a reference. Other than that............. :(

I can't use a fellow teacher when I was teaching English as one can I?

You could use two Pro and one personal... it's basically what I do. Mainly because I've had quite a few jobs but don't put down the really old ones or ones I didn't work at for long. Ie. people may not even work there anymore etc.

You could fudge it a bit and say that the fellow teacher was a supervisor ... or just tell them to say that you're a really good employee, leader, etc etc etc

I have a co-worker who was in a situation similar to yours. I believe he's nearing 30 now, but basically, he was unemployed for quite some time (something like 4-6 years i believe) and that was more or less because of problems with his shoulder (an injury of some sort)

Our work environment is a kitchen so you can imagine how straining that would be on him, but he's always had a positive outlook on the whole thing and tries hard. Because of how much effort he puts in, our Chef keeps him around and is flexible on how often he's scheduled.

In your situation, I'm pretty certain you can do well with some determination and try to not worry about the pain too much.

In regards to school, even tho you've been away from it all for a while and you feel like you've forgotten, you'd be surprised at how fast you'll remember everything just by taking a look at the work infront of you.

Good luck with the interview tomorrow, and don't give up!

Keep us posted :)