Think of this as your pre-flight checklist. Five minutes before the interview, run through this list to center yourself and avoid last-minute panic.
1. Story bank
- 5–8 STAR stories ready (conflict, mistake, leadership, pressure, ambiguity, impact).
- Each tagged with at least two signals (e.g. ownership + collaboration).
- 90–120 seconds per story, practiced out loud.
2. Company research
- Know their product: sign up, click around, feel the pain points.
- Know their users: consumer vs enterprise, global vs local.
- Know their stack (check job description, engineering blog, LinkedIn posts).
- Prep 1 insight: “I noticed X in your product; curious how the team thinks about Y.”
3. Questions to ask
- “How does this team measure success?”
- “What does growth look like for engineers here?”
- “What’s one challenge the team is facing right now?”
4. Tech & setup
- Stable internet, charged laptop, quiet space.
- Zoom/Meet tested, notifications muted.
- STAR notes open in a small doc for quick glance.
Pro tip
Treat yourself like an athlete on game day. Warm up your voice, hydrate, and walk in with 2–3 strong stories top of mind. Everything else flows.