Guides
After you apply
Tracking, follow-ups, interviews, offers and pay.
Answer any tell me about a time question
The four-part shape for a story in an interview, why the result needs a number, how long each part takes, the five stories that cover most questions, and two worked examples.
Answer the salary question
Where the number comes from, how to give a range that does not cap you, what to say at the screen and in the form, and the places where the law makes them tell you first.
Decide on the offer
What to read in the letter, how to value bonus and equity, the five questions that predict whether you will be glad in a year, how long to take, and how to accept or decline well.
Did the interview go well
The signs that mean something, the signs that mean nothing, why you cannot tell from the room, and what to do in the week after instead of reading the tea leaves.
Follow up without being a pest
When to follow up, who to write to, the three-sentence email, the one after an interview, and the point where a follow-up turns into a nuisance.
How long until you hear back
The timelines by stage and by employer size, what silence means at each point, when to follow up, and when to move the application to closed and stop waiting.
How many jobs to apply for each week
The number that comes out of the arithmetic, why volume fails, the hour each tailored application costs, and the weekly target that produces interviews.
Negotiate the offer
Why nearly every offer has room, the one ask that works, the script for the call, what to trade when the base will not move, and the two mistakes that lose an offer.
Run a mock interview that helps
Why saying answers out loud changes them, how to run a mock with a friend or alone in forty minutes, what to grade, and how to use the recording.
The thank-you email that gets read
Sent the same day, four sentences, one of which is specific to the conversation. A template, a full example, the panel version, and the mistakes that undo it.
The twelve questions you will be asked
The twelve questions that come up in nearly every interview, what each one is really asking, the shape of a good answer, and which of your five stories answers it.
Three questions to ask them
Twenty questions that only this company can answer, grouped by what you need to know, which three to pick, and the ones that cost you the room.
Track every application you send
What to record for every application, which four numbers tell you what to change, and a free tracker that keeps them for you.
What a background check looks at
What employers verify, who runs it, how long it takes, what fails it, what the law gives you when it does, and what to tell them first.
What to do after a rejection
The three kinds of rejection and what each one tells you, the one email worth sending, the ask for feedback that sometimes works, and how to keep the row from stopping the search.
Why you want to work here
The question is a reading test. One fact about the company, one about the work, and one about you, in forty seconds. Where to find the facts, and the answers that fail.
Your interview prep checklist
The four hours before an interview, in order: the posting, the company, your five stories, the questions you will ask, and the logistics that go wrong.
Your phone screen and your video interview
What a phone screen asks and how long it lasts, the video setup that takes ten minutes, the failures that happen in the first minute, and the one-page notes to keep off camera.
Your strength and your weakness
One real strength with a number, one real weakness with what you do about it, the answers that fail, and six examples of each that pass.
Your tell me about yourself answer
The question that opens most interviews is not about you. It is about whether you can talk for ninety seconds without a map. Here is the map.