The interview preparation checklist

Interview nerves come mostly from uncertainty, and most of the uncertainty can be removed with preparation. You cannot know what they will ask, but you can know your own stories cold, understand the company well enough to ask good questions, and have the logistics handled so the only thing you need to think about on the day is the conversation.

The week before

• Re-read the job description and the exact resume version you sent. You will be asked about things on it.
• Research the company: what it sells, who it sells to, how it makes money, what has changed recently. Fifteen minutes on the website, a recent press release and the careers page is usually enough.
• Look up your interviewers. Their background tells you what they are likely to care about.
• Prepare six to eight stories from your experience that each show a different strength: solving a hard problem, handling conflict, leading without authority, learning something quickly, recovering from a mistake, delivering under pressure.
• Structure each story as situation, action, result, and keep each to about ninety seconds when spoken aloud.
• Write down three questions you genuinely want answered about the role, the team and the next twelve months.

Practise out loud

Reading your stories is not the same as telling them. Say each one out loud at least twice, ideally to another person or into a voice recorder. You will discover which ones ramble, which ones lack a clear result and which ones you do not actually believe. Cut or fix those. If you are using an AI tool to generate likely questions, use it for exactly that: a list of questions to rehearse against, not a script of answers to memorise.

The day before

• Confirm the time, time zone, location or video link, and the names of the people you will meet.
• Test your camera, microphone and connection if the interview is remote. Decide where you will sit and what is behind you.
• Plan your route and arrival time if it is in person, with a buffer for things going wrong.
• Lay out what you will wear and anything you need to bring: a copy of your resume, a notebook, a portfolio.
• Stop preparing by early evening. Last-minute cramming makes you tired, not better.

The hour before

Eat something, drink water, and read your summary and your three questions one more time. Have the job description and your resume open or printed. Then put them aside. The goal in the last few minutes is to arrive calm and curious, not to retain one more fact.

During the interview

Listen to the whole question before you answer. If you are unsure what is being asked, say so and ask. When you give an example, finish with the result; many good answers trail off before the part that matters. It is fine to pause and think. It is fine to say you do not know and explain how you would find out. And it is fine to take brief notes, especially of the answers to your own questions.

Afterwards

• Within a few hours, write down the questions you were asked and how you felt about your answers. This is the most valuable preparation material for your next interview.
• Send a short thank-you note the same day or the next morning. Reference one specific thing from the conversation.
• Update your tracker: move the application to the right stage, note the next step and the date you were told to expect a response.
• If you do not hear back by that date, follow up once, politely.