Interview Preparation Kit

TL;DR

Produces a structured interview preparation document tailored to a specific role and company. Includes a categorized question bank, STAR-method response scaffolds, company research checklist, talking points aligned to job requirements, and post-interview follow-up templates. Works for job interviews, client discovery calls, and stakeholder meetings.

When to Activate

• User mentions "prepare for interview", "interview prep", "preparar entrevista", or "mock interview"
• Input contains a job posting, role description, or upcoming meeting context
• Request involves practicing answers, researching a company, or building a question bank
• User asks for STAR-format response help or follow-up email templates

Do NOT activate for resume writing (cv-enhancement), salary negotiation strategy, or job search planning (those are separate skills).

1. Context Analysis and Role Mapping

Extract and organize from the user's input:

Field	Source	Evidence Tag
Role title	Job posting/user	[EXPLICIT]
Company name	Job posting/user	[EXPLICIT]
Interview type	User/inferred	[EXPLICIT] or [INFERRED]
Key requirements	Job posting	[EXPLICIT]
Nice-to-haves	Job posting	[EXPLICIT]
Culture signals	Job posting/web	[INFERRED]
Interviewer details	User provided	[EXPLICIT] or [OPEN]

Role-Requirement Alignment Matrix

Map the candidate's likely strengths to each listed requirement:

Requirement	Candidate Evidence Point	Confidence	Gap?
5+ years experience	Specific role/project	High/Med/Low	Y/N
Leadership experience	Team size, scope	--	--
Technical skill X	Project, certification	--	--

Flag gaps explicitly — these become areas for proactive framing in answers.

2. Question Bank by Category

Behavioral Questions (8-10)

Questions probing past behavior as predictor of future performance:

• "Tell me about a time you handled conflict in a team."
• "Describe a situation where you failed and what you learned."
• "Give an example of leading a project under tight deadlines."

For each question, provide:

• Why interviewers ask it (the competency being tested)
• STAR scaffold (Situation, Task, Action, Result) with prompts
• Common pitfalls to avoid

Technical/Domain Questions (6-8)

Role-specific knowledge and problem-solving:

• Tailored to the job posting requirements
• Include both knowledge-check and scenario-based formats
• Note which requirements each question maps to

Situational/Hypothetical Questions (4-6)

Forward-looking scenarios:

• "How would you approach X if you joined tomorrow?"
• "What would you prioritize in your first 90 days?"
• Encourage structured thinking frameworks (prioritization matrices, stakeholder analysis)

Questions to Ask the Interviewer (5-7)

Strategic questions that demonstrate preparation and genuine interest:

• About the team structure and dynamics
• About success metrics for the role
• About current challenges the team faces
• About growth and development opportunities
• Avoid questions easily answered by the company website

3. STAR Response Framework

For the top 5 most likely questions, build complete STAR scaffolds:

Question: [specific question]
Competency tested: [what they are evaluating]

S — Situation: [context setting, 1-2 sentences]
T — Task: [your specific responsibility]
A — Action: [what YOU did, step by step — this is the longest section]
R — Result: [quantified outcome + lesson learned]

Transition: [how this connects to the role you are interviewing for]

Rules for STAR responses:

• Action section must use first person singular ("I did"), not "we"
• Results must include at least one metric or concrete outcome
• Total response target: 90-120 seconds when spoken
• Each response should map to a different competency

4. Company Research Checklist and Follow-Up

Pre-Interview Research Checklist

• Company mission, vision, and values — memorize the key phrases
• Recent news: funding rounds, product launches, leadership changes (last 6 months)
• Competitor landscape: who are the top 3 competitors and how does this company differentiate
• Interviewer background: LinkedIn profile, recent posts, shared connections
• Company culture signals: Glassdoor themes, social media tone, office/remote policy
• Financial health: public filings or known funding stage
• Industry trends affecting the company right now

Post-Interview Follow-Up Templates

Thank-you email (send within 24 hours):

• Reference a specific conversation point from the interview
• Reinforce fit for one key requirement discussed
• Express enthusiasm without desperation
• Keep under 150 words

Follow-up after no response (send after 5-7 business days):

• Brief, professional, forward-looking
• Add new value (share a relevant article or insight)
• Keep under 100 words

Trade-off Matrix

Decision	Option A	Option B	Recommendation
Preparation depth	Cover all question types	Deep-dive on top 5	Deep-dive — mastery beats breadth
Response style	Scripted answers	Bullet-point scaffolds	Scaffolds — sound natural, not rehearsed
Company research scope	Exhaustive	Focused on role context	Focused — show targeted knowledge
Questions to ask	Many prepared	3-4 strong ones	3-4 strong — quality signals preparation
Mock practice	Solo rehearsal	With a partner	Partner preferred — feedback loop matters

Assumptions and Limits

• Assumes the user provides the job posting or role description; quality degrades without it [EXPLICIT]
• Company research is based on publicly available information unless user provides internal context [INFERRED]
• STAR responses are scaffolds, not verbatim scripts — user must personalize with real experiences [EXPLICIT]
• Does not simulate a live mock interview with real-time feedback (that requires interactive session) [EXPLICIT]
• Interview norms may vary by culture and region; defaults to North American/European professional standards [INFERRED]

Edge Cases

1. No job posting available — Work from role title + company name only. Generate likely requirements from industry norms. Tag all inferences as [INFERRED] and flag lower confidence.
2. Client discovery call (not job interview) — Shift from "proving fit" to "understanding needs." Replace STAR with SPIN (Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-Payoff) framework. Adjust question bank to discovery-oriented probes.
3. Panel interview with multiple interviewers — Add section on managing multi-person dynamics: eye contact rotation, addressing the question-asker then the group, noting each interviewer's likely focus area based on their role.
4. Internal promotion interview — Adjust framing: leverage institutional knowledge as a strength, address "fresh perspective" concern proactively, reference internal metrics and relationships.
5. Second/final round interview — Include a section on building on first-round themes, escalating depth of responses, and preparing for culture-fit or executive-level questions.

Good vs Bad Example

Good

Role: Senior Product Manager at Acme Corp
Interview type: Behavioral + Case Study (Round 2)

Question: "Tell me about a time you had to make a product decision with incomplete data."
Competency: Decision-making under ambiguity

S — Led pricing redesign for SaaS platform serving 2,000 customers.
T — Had to decide between usage-based and tier-based model with only 60% of customer data analyzed.
A — Built a lightweight conjoint survey for top 50 accounts, ran 2-week pilot with both models on a cohort, synthesized directional signals.
R — Tier-based model won with 23% higher expansion revenue in pilot. Shipped to all customers, validated at scale within 90 days.
Transition — Acme's product decisions likely require similar speed-vs-rigor tradeoffs given your growth stage.

Evidence: [EXPLICIT] from job posting emphasis on "data-informed but action-oriented"

Bad

Question: Tell me about yourself.
Answer: I have 10 years of experience and am passionate about products.
(No structure, no specifics, no connection to role, no evidence tag)

Validation Gate

Before delivering the prep document, confirm every item:

• Context analysis completed with role, company, and interview type identified
• Role-requirement alignment matrix filled with gap identification
• Behavioral question bank of 8+ questions with competency labels
• Technical/domain question bank of 6+ questions mapped to requirements
• STAR scaffolds built for top 5 most likely questions
• Company research checklist populated with actionable items
• Questions to ask the interviewer (5+) that demonstrate preparation
• Follow-up email templates included (thank-you + no-response)
• Every inference tagged with [EXPLICIT], [INFERRED], or [OPEN]
• Edge cases reviewed against user context (interview type, round, format)

Reference Files

File	Purpose
references/star-framework.md	STAR method deep-dive with anti-patterns and timing guide
references/question-banks.md	Master question bank by competency category and seniority level
references/followup-templates.md	Email templates for thank-you, follow-up, and rejection response