Interview tips, as a working reference
Six sections you can work through in order, or open at the one you need. It is deliberately specific about which preparation changes an outcome and which only feels like work — most interview advice is confident about both and honest about neither.
On this page
- 01What to research, and what to skip
- 02The twenty-four hours before
- 03Answering with a structure
- 04Questions worth asking them
- 05Remote and panel interviews
- 06Afterwards
Every heading below is linkable, so nobody you send this to has to scroll for the part you meant.
What to research, and what to skip
Research has sharply diminishing returns, and most guides do not say where the cliff is. Two hours of the right reading is worth more than a day of the wrong kind.
Worth the time:
- What the company sells, and who pays for it. If you cannot say this in one sentence, keep reading.
- The job description, line by line — most interview questions are visible in it.
- Two or three things you have done that map onto those lines, with numbers where you have them.
- Who is interviewing you, and what they do. A hiring manager and a peer want different answers.
Rarely worth the time:
- Memorising the leadership team, unless you are meeting them.
- The funding history, unless you are asking about runway — in which case ask directly.
- Rehearsing answers word for word. Recited answers sound recited, and the first unexpected follow-up removes the script.
The twenty-four hours before
At this point new material rarely helps. The job is to remove the things that go wrong for mechanical reasons.
| Do this | Changes the outcome | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Confirm the time, the timezone and the joining link | Yes | The most common avoidable failure, and the least forgivable one. |
| Re-read your own resume | Yes | You will be asked about a line you wrote two years ago and have not thought about since. |
| Prepare two questions to ask | Yes | Section 04. Having none reads as indifference even when it is nerves. |
| Test the camera and microphone you will actually use | Yes | Not a different device. Ten minutes of a broken microphone is ten minutes of your slot. |
| Learn the interviewers' career histories in detail | No | Knowing their role is useful. Knowing their last four jobs is unsettling if it surfaces. |
| Rehearse answers word for word | No | It costs you the ability to answer the question you were actually asked. |
Answering with a structure
Most people do not fail behavioural questions because their work was weak. They fail because the answer arrives without a shape, so the interviewer cannot tell what the person actually did.
A structure fixes that, and STAR is the common one: Situation, Task, Action, Result. The value is not the acronym — it is that it forces the two parts people skip: what specifically you did, and what changed as a result.
Worked example
Question. Tell me about a time you disagreed with a decision.
Situation
We were two weeks from a launch and settlement failures were sitting at 3.1%.
Task
The plan was to ship and fix afterwards. I thought that was the wrong order.
Action
I wrote up the failure modes with the cost of each, took it to the lead, and asked for one week. I was explicit that it was my call to make the case and theirs to decide.
Result
We took the week. Failures went under 0.4% and the launch moved by five days. I was wrong about the cause twice before finding it.
The last sentence is doing real work. An answer where nothing went wrong reads as an answer that has been sanded down.
Questions worth asking them
The end of an interview is the one part you control completely. A good question is one whose answer would actually change whether you take the job.
- What does the first ninety days look like?Vague answers here are a real signal about whether the role is defined.
- Who was the last person in this role, and where did they go?Promoted, moved sideways, or left — all three tell you something.
- What is the part of this job people find hardest?Invites an honest answer without asking anyone to criticise their employer.
- What happens next, and by when?Practical, and it gives you a date after which following up is reasonable.
Remote and panel interviews
Both change the mechanics rather than the substance, and both have a small number of specific failure modes.
Remote
Look at the camera when you finish a point, not at the faces. Leave a beat before answering — latency turns a normal overlap into an interruption. Have the job description open off-screen; nobody minds, and it beats guessing.
Panel
Answer to the person who asked, then include the rest of the room before you stop. Write the names down as they introduce themselves. A panel is usually assembled from people with different concerns, so expect the same answer to be probed from two directions.
If an interview needs an adjustment — extra time, questions in advance, a different format — asking for it is normal and is routinely granted. Ask the recruiter rather than the panel.
Afterwards
Send a short note within a day if you want the job. Three sentences: thank them, name one specific thing from the conversation, confirm you are interested. A long follow-up does not improve on a short one, and a template one is visible from a distance.
If the date they gave you passes, following up once is reasonable. Following up three times is not, and it is remembered.
If you are rejected, asking for feedback is worth one message. Most companies will not give specifics — usually for legal reasons rather than unkindness — so treat a non-answer as a non-answer rather than a verdict.
Questions about this reference
How much should I prepare for a first-round screen?
Enough to answer “why this company” and “why this role” without hesitating, and to describe two pieces of your own work in detail. A first-round screen is usually checking that you are real, available and interested.
Is it acceptable to say “I don't know”?
Yes, and it is usually better than the alternative. Say what you do know, say how you would find out the rest, then stop. Interviewers are calibrated on bluffing and it is one of the easiest things to spot.
Should I ask about salary in the first interview?
Asking for the band is reasonable at any stage and saves both sides time. Negotiating the number before an offer exists generally does not help you.
Does any of this depend on the country I am in?
Some of it. Norms around salary questions, references and follow-up vary, and this page is written from a general perspective rather than a jurisdiction-specific one. Where a local convention conflicts with something here, the local convention wins.