For a scheduled interview, video or on-site, at any level. Assumes about a week of lead time; with less, do the phases in order and compress.

27 items · 7 essential reviewed 7 Jul 2026 .md .json

As soon as it's scheduled

Ask the recruiter for the format and the interviewer listA completely normal question, and it changes everything you prep: behavioral panel, technical screen, case study, and presentation all need different homework.
Reread the job description and mark the top five requirementsThese are your prep syllabus — every story you prepare should map to one of them.
Learn how the company makes moneyMain product, who pays, and how the role you're interviewing for helps. Talking about their business intelligently beats reciting their About page.
Read the company's last six months of newsLaunches, funding, earnings, layoffs, leadership changes. It feeds your questions and surfaces red flags before you're invested.
Look up each interviewerLinkedIn plus anything they've written or presented. Note one genuine point of connection per person — their team's work, a shared former employer, a talk they gave.
Find the market salary range for the rolePay-transparency postings, levels.fyi, Glassdoor. Decide your number now, before anyone asks — you negotiate worse improvising.

Story preparation

Write one STAR story for each top requirementSituation, Task, Action, Result — a sentence or two each, ending in a concrete number. Five to seven stories cover almost any behavioral interview.
Draft "tell me about yourself" as a 90-second arcPast, present, why this role — not a resume recital. It's nearly always first and sets the tone for everything after.
Prepare a failure story and a conflict storyBoth are near-universal questions. Pick real ones with a real lesson; "I work too hard" reads as evasion.
Prepare a two-sentence answer for gaps or short stints if resume gapsBrief, factual, forward-looking. Never badmouth a former employer — interviewers hear it as a preview of how you'll talk about them.
Write your "why this company" answer with specificsName the product, market, or problem that actually draws you. Generic enthusiasm is instantly detectable.
Write five or more questions to ask themGood ones: "What separates a good hire from a great one in this role?", "What's the hardest part of this job that isn't in the description?", "What would my first 90 days look like?" Never ask anything the website answers.
Rehearse your answers out loud, timedStories that read well often run three times too long spoken. Aim for under two minutes each; record yourself once — it's painful and it works.

Two days before

Confirm the time, time zone, and location or linkReply to the calendar invite to confirm. Time zone mix-ups are the classic remote-interview failure.
Do a tech rehearsal on the actual platform if video interviewCamera at eye level, light in front of you not behind, mic test, and the app updated so it doesn't force an update at start time.
Plan the route plus a backup if on siteAim to reach the building 15 minutes early and walk in 5–10 early. Scout parking or transit connections now.
Choose an outfit one notch above their dress code, and try it on
Print copies of your resume if on siteOne per interviewer plus a spare, with a notepad and pen.

Day of

Review your stories and questions once, then stopCramming past this point raises anxiety, not performance.
Silence your phone and close every app that sends notificationsOn video, close email and chat entirely — your eyes flick to notifications and interviewers notice.
Be warm to everyone from the lobby onwardRecruiters routinely ask reception and coordinators for impressions. The interview starts before the interview.
Note each interviewer's name and one specific thing they saidJot it between sessions — it's the raw material for thank-you notes that don't read like templates.
Close by asking about next steps and timelineIt signals interest and gives you a legitimate date to follow up on.

Follow-up

Send a tailored thank-you email within 24 hoursTwo or three sentences per interviewer, each referencing something specific from that conversation. Ask the recruiter for addresses if you don't have them.
Write down every question you were askedYour prep for the next round — and the next job hunt — compounds. Note which answers landed flat while you still remember.
Follow up once if their stated timeline passesOne polite nudge two business days after the date they gave you. Then let it go.
Keep interviewing elsewhere until you have a written offerVerbal offers evaporate. A live pipeline is also your only real negotiating leverage.

Tell us what’s going on — everyday words are perfect

Built only from the steps above — nothing new gets invented.

Sources & upkeep

All 0 sources are re-checked weekly. When one changes a fact this checklist asserts, the step is edited and the change is logged — the revision history is public.

Different situation? — it only selects from the steps above; nothing new is written.

Essential isn’t a shorter checklist — it’s the same one with the optional steps tucked away. Everything’s still a click away, and the essential marks stay put in anything you make from this, right down to the .json.

A helpful starting point, not professional advice — here’s why.