# Interview Preparation > Interview Preparation - Skill: `handsomeboy990/interview-preparation` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 4 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add handsomeboy990/interview-preparation` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/handsomeboy990/interview-preparation/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: Handsomeboy990 (https://skillmd.com/u/handsomeboy990) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/handsomeboy990/interview-preparation --- # Interview Preparation An interview tests whether the CV's claims survive a conversation. Preparation turns each true claim into an answer the candidate can give under pressure, drills the questions the role will actually ask, and rehearses the hard ones honestly. It is a rehearsal, not a reassurance session, and its value is the honest one. ## 1. Build the answer bank from real experience ``` stories the candidate's real experiences that each demonstrate something a role values: a hard problem solved, a conflict handled, a failure learned from, a result delivered structure a clear form the candidate can recall under pressure: the situation, what they did, the result, and what they learned; the form keeps a nervous answer from wandering true every story is something the candidate actually did; a fabricated story collapses under a follow-up question, and interviewers ask follow-up questions reuse one strong story often answers several questions from different angles; map which stories cover which competencies ``` ## 2. Drill the questions the role will ask ``` behavioural the "tell me about a time" questions for the competencies this role values; matched to the answer bank technical the real technical ground the role covers, at the level it expects; drilled honestly, including the ones the candidate finds hard role the questions specific to this company and role, from company-research: their stack, their domain, their known challenges why "why this company, why this role, why leaving": prepared with the same true specifics the cover letter used, so the story is consistent ``` ## 3. Rehearse the hard questions honestly ``` gap "you do not have experience with X": the honest bridge, the same one the profile and cover letter use, said in the candidate's own voice failure "tell me about a failure": a real one, what was learned, no disguised-humblebrag ("I work too hard"), which interviewers see through salary what to say when asked, aligned to the candidate's stated floor from the configuration, never a number the candidate did not choose weakness a real, non-fatal weakness with a genuine mitigation, not a strength in disguise ``` ## 4. The candidate's own questions ``` prepare real questions for the interviewer that show the candidate engaged with the role and the company, from company-research signal good questions (about the team's real challenges, how success is measured) signal seriousness; generic ones ("what is the culture like") signal none diligence the candidate is also assessing the employer; the questions surface what the candidate needs to know to accept an offer ``` ## 5. The mock, run realistically ``` realistic ask the actual hard questions, including the ones the candidate hopes to avoid; a mock that only asks the easy ones prepares nothing followups press with the follow-up questions a real interviewer asks: "why did you choose that", "what would you do differently", "walk me through it" feedback honest feedback on where an answer wandered, overstated, or would not survive a follow-up; the point is to find the weak answers now iterate re-drill the answers that failed until they are true, tight, and follow-up-proof ``` ## 6. Prohibitions - Never prepare a fabricated story or example; it collapses under follow-up. - Never coach the candidate to claim experience they do not have. - Never give a salary answer that contradicts the candidate's stated floor, or invents one they did not choose. - Never prepare a fake weakness ("I care too much") or a humblebrag failure. - Never run a mock that avoids the hard questions. - Never send the candidate in without their own real questions prepared. ## 7. Protocol 1. Read the profile, the role, and company-research. 2. Build the answer bank: real stories in a recallable structure, mapped to competencies. 3. Drill the behavioural, technical, role-specific, and "why" questions. 4. Rehearse the gap, failure, salary, and weakness questions honestly. 5. Prepare the candidate's own real questions for the interviewer. 6. Run a realistic mock with follow-ups; give honest feedback. 7. Re-drill the answers that would not survive a follow-up until they hold. ## 8. Auto-critique Score from 0 to 5: answer bank built from real experience in a recallable structure, questions drilled match what the role will ask, hard questions rehearsed honestly, salary aligned to the stated floor, candidate's own questions prepared, mock realistic with follow-ups, weak answers found and re-drilled. Threshold: no axis below 3, average at least 4. Preparing a fabricated story, or a salary answer the candidate did not choose, caps the score until corrected, per career-core. ## 9. Interfaces - Upstream: `career-core` for honesty, `career-profile` for the material and the gap, `job-search` for the role, `company-research` for the role-specific questions and the register. - Downstream: the prepared answers feed a stronger `career-profile` and future applications; a post-interview reflection updates the profile. - Lateral: `self-critique` for the hiring-manager role pass on the answers. ## 10. Note on the honest gap The single most valuable preparation is the honest answer to the gap the role exposes. A candidate who can say "I have not done X; here is the closest thing I have done and how fast I would close the gap" is more convincing than one who bluffs and is caught. Preparation makes that honest answer fluent, which is what turns a real gap from a disqualifier into evidence of self-awareness.