Interview Day Checklist

How to use this resource

Use this the day before and the day of the interview. Do not add new study topics here; reduce volatility.

Day before

• Confirm time zone, meeting link, tools, and contact person.
• Prepare your environment: power, network, camera, microphone, notebook, water.
• Review your target role thesis and two strongest project stories.
• Review the six-phase response loop and your top three recurring mistakes.
• Stop heavy practice early enough to sleep.

Thirty minutes before

• Close unrelated applications and silence notifications on every connected device.
• Open only the permitted editor, meeting link, role notes, and blank scratch area.
• Test the actual microphone, camera, screen share, and coding environment.
• Put the schedule, recruiter contact, and backup dial-in where they remain available if the main device fails.
• Review one response loop and one recovery rule; do not review a new topic.

Day of

• Join 3 to 5 minutes early.
• Keep a blank scratch area for assumptions, tests, and follow-ups.
• Clarify before solving.
• Summarize every major transition.
• Reserve time for validation.
• After each round, write down prompts, misses, and follow-up topics.

Between rounds

• Capture four facts: prompt, major decision, one miss, one follow-up.
• Reset water, posture, tools, and the next-round page.
• Do not conduct a full postmortem or search for the previous answer.
• Release the previous round with one sentence: “That sample is complete; the next round starts clean.”

If something breaks

State the problem early and neutrally. Preserve the work already visible, use the confirmed backup path, and record the timing impact. Do not hide a failing connection, inaccessible tool, or misunderstood accommodation until the round is nearly over.

After the loop

Save factual notes before memory blends rounds together. Separate thank-you follow-up from performance analysis. Rest before deciding that one awkward moment defines the entire loop.

The expanded remote, in-person, and round-specific versions are in Appendix L — Day-of Checklists.