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By Randall Kaplan
We can prepare excellent answers and still begin an interview struggling to find the entrance, connect to the call, or remember the interviewer’s name. By the time the first question arrives, some of our attention is already elsewhere.
In Prepare to Shine, I describe preparation as something that continues all the way into the room. Research matters. So does the condition in which we deliver it. The purpose of an interview preparation checklist is to remove avoidable problems so we can focus on the human conversation.
The most useful checklist follows the experience in the order it will unfold. It helps us see where an assumption still needs to become a confirmed detail.
Our preparation begins with the role and the people involved. We should understand the work, the company’s customers, and the responsibilities of the people interviewing us. Any important uncertainty can become a question rather than a guess.
We also need relevant evidence from our own experience. A few well-understood examples are more useful than a collection of impressive stories unrelated to the job. For each example, we should know what we owned, which decision we made, and what the result actually supports.
This is a good point to identify a difficult question we may face. A gap in experience or an unusual career move will not become easier to explain because we avoid practicing it.
An important meeting deserves a clear confirmation. The message can communicate warmth while checking the date, time, time zone, format, and location.
For an in-person interview, we should know the building entrance, check-in procedure, and a realistic route. For a remote interview, we should know which platform we’re using and whether anything must be installed beforehand.
We also need a way to reach someone if a genuine disruption occurs. Discovering that we only have an automated invitation is an unnecessary complication when a connection fails or a building is unexpectedly closed.
These details are easy to dismiss because they seem administrative. They matter because each one can consume attention at exactly the moment we need to be present.
Our practice should involve speaking aloud. An answer that seems concise in our head may become a long explanation when someone else is listening.
A coach or trusted colleague can ask a follow-up before we reach our planned ending. They can ask us to clarify a number or explain a decision in simpler language. That gives us practice returning to the question without becoming flustered.
Extreme Preparation® includes preparing for the conversation we might actually have. Interviewers may change the order, challenge an assumption, or spend most of the meeting on one experience. We should be ready to participate rather than wait for our preferred question.
The final rehearsal can end with our own questions. We need to practice listening to those answers too.
The night before gives us a chance to organize what we’ll need while there is still time to solve a problem. Clothing, materials, identification, transportation, and technology should not all become morning decisions.
For a video meeting, we can test the microphone, camera, power connection, and the actual position from which we’ll speak. A quiet room is less useful if notifications keep appearing or the laptop battery is almost empty.
We can then put the notes aside at a reasonable point. One more hour of searching may add less value than arriving able to think clearly. Our preparation should help us perform, and our physical condition is part of that performance.
Once we’re there, the checklist has done its job. Our attention belongs with the people in front of us.
We can greet them warmly, pronounce their names carefully, and listen to how they describe the meeting. If the plan has changed, we can adapt. If a question is unclear, we can ask for clarification before answering a different one.
Before the meeting ends, we should understand the next step and any material we’ve agreed to provide. Afterward, a short note about the discussion can help us follow through accurately.
The point of a checklist is not to make us sound rehearsed. It is to make our preparation dependable enough that we can be responsive. We’ve taken care of what we could anticipate. Now we can give the opportunity our full attention.
Randall Kaplan is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and executive coach. He’s a co-founder of Akamai Technologies and the founder and CEO of JUMP Investors, which has invested in more than 100 early-to-late-stage companies, including Google, Seagate, and Lyft. For 25 years, he’s coached hundreds of entrepreneurs, business owners, and executives. He created Extreme Preparation® to help people pursue their boldest ambitions, overcome the obstacles standing in their way, and change the course of their careers, businesses, and lives.
He also interviews some of the world’s most successful people, including Mark Cuban, Tony Robbins, Mike Tyson, David Solomon, and David Rubenstein, on his podcast In Search of Excellence, which has reached as high as #3 in Entrepreneurship and #10 in Business on Apple Podcasts.