Job interviews
How to prepare for a job interview
Good interview preparation is narrow. Research three things about the company, build five answers with evidence in them, rehearse out loud twice, and prepare three questions. Everything beyond that is anxiety management dressed up as work.
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Research: three things, not thirty
- What the team actually ships or owns — from the job description, their blog or a recent product change.
- One specific thing you can react to: a launch, a pricing change, a public problem in their market.
- Who is interviewing you and what they are likely to care about.
Build five answers with evidence
- 1Tell me about yourself60 seconds, ending on why this role now.
- 2Your strongest piece of workOne number, and your specific decision inside it.
- 3A failureWhat you changed afterwards. No blame.
- 4A conflictHow it resolved, and what you would do earlier next time.
- 5Why usThe specific thing from your research, plus what you would want to work on.
Rehearse out loud, not in your head
Say each answer aloud twice, timed. Silent rehearsal reliably overestimates how good your answers are, because the version in your head has no filler words and never loses its thread. Two spoken run-throughs will change more than an hour of note revision.
The day before and the hour before
- Day before: one easy full run, then stop. No new material.
- Confirm logistics — link, time zone, name of the person, phone number.
- Hour before: read your five answers once, then speak your opening 30 seconds out loud so your voice is warm.
- Have your questions written down where you can see them.
Three questions worth asking
Questions that are not on the careers page
- "What does the person in this role do in their first 90 days that makes you glad you hired them?"
- "What is the part of this job people underestimate?"
- "How does this team decide when something is good enough to ship?"
Common questions
- How long should I prepare for an interview?
- Three to five focused hours spread over several days, including at least two spoken run-throughs. Cramming the night before mostly raises anxiety.
- Should I write my answers word for word?
- Write the first sentence and the result, not the whole answer. Full scripts sound recited and break badly when the question is phrased differently.
- What if I have no experience?
- Use coursework, volunteering, side projects or part-time work, and keep the same structure: the situation, what you decided, what changed. Interviewers score decisions, not job titles.
Do your two spoken run-throughs here
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