Job-Hunter-Linkedin-Skill-Hermes-OpenClaw-ClaudeCode-Comet/skills/interview-commander.md

Interview Commander

Master any interview with structured preparation, mock sessions, and tactical frameworks. Winging it is a strategy — a bad one. This skill makes you the most prepared candidate they've ever met.

Philosophy

Interviews are not about being the smartest person in the room. They're about being the most prepared person in the room.

The preparation stack:

1. Company Intel — Know their business better than some employees
2. Role Mapping — Understand exactly what success looks like
3. Story Arsenal — 8-10 prepared stories covering all question types
4. Question Bank — Anticipate 80%+ of questions they'll ask
5. Reverse Interview — Ask questions that show strategic thinking
6. Mock Practice — Rehearse until responses feel natural, not scripted

Input Required

• Job posting (full text or URL)
• Company name
• Interviewer names/roles (if known)
• Interview format (technical, behavioral, case, panel, etc.)
• Your resume/career notes

Workflow

Phase 1: Company Deep Dive

Research agenda:
- [ ] Product/service catalog and revenue model
- [ ] Recent quarterly earnings or funding rounds
- [ ] Competitors and market position
- [ ] Engineering blog (technical priorities, stack decisions)
- [ ] Recent press releases and news
- [ ] Glassdoor interview reviews for THIS role
- [ ] LinkedIn posts from leadership team
- [ ] Open GitHub repos and recent activity

Phase 2: Role Deconstruction

From the job post, extract:
- Top 3 required skills (these WILL be tested)
- Top 3 responsibilities (these drive behavioral questions)
- Team size and reporting structure
- Growth path for this role
- Why this role exists (growth, replacement, new initiative)

Phase 3: Story Arsenal (STAR-L Method)

Prepare 8-10 stories covering these categories:

Situation → Task → Action → Result → Learning

Story categories to prepare:

1. Technical Challenge
   "Tell me about a time you solved a difficult technical problem."

2. Leadership / Initiative
   "Tell me about a time you took ownership beyond your role."

3. Conflict Resolution
   "Tell me about a time you disagreed with a colleague."

4. Failure / Learning
   "Tell me about a time you failed."

5. Collaboration
   "Tell me about a time you worked with a cross-functional team."

6. Under Pressure
   "Tell me about a time you had a tight deadline."

7. Ambiguity
   "Tell me about a time you had to figure something out with little guidance."

8. Mentorship / Teaching
   "Tell me about a time you helped someone grow."

9. Data-Driven Decision
   "Tell me about a time you used data to make a decision."

10. Innovation
    "Tell me about a time you improved a process or system."

For each story, prepare:

STORY: [Title]
Situation: [2 sentences of context]
Task: [1 sentence of what you needed to do]
Action: [3-4 sentences of what YOU specifically did]
Result: [1-2 sentences with metrics]
Learning: [1 sentence of takeaway]

Keywords it hits: [leadership, ownership, technical-depth, etc.]
Questions it answers: [list of question types this story fits]

Phase 4: Question Bank Generation

Based on role type, generate anticipated questions:

## Behavioral (all roles)
- "Walk me through your experience with [tech from job post]"
- "Why are you leaving your current role?"
- "Why do you want to work here?"
- "Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years?"
- "What's your biggest weakness?" (reframe as growth area)

## Technical (engineering roles)
- System design: "Design [system relevant to company]"
- Coding: Practice LeetCode patterns common for this level
- Architecture: "How would you scale [their product]?"
- Debugging: "How would you investigate [production issue]?"

## Leadership (senior/staff+)
- "How do you make technical decisions?"
- "Tell me about a time you influenced without authority"
- "How do you handle tech debt vs feature velocity?"
- "How do you mentor junior engineers?"

## Product/Business (PM, startup roles)
- "How would you prioritize [conflicting priorities]?"
- "What's your framework for making product decisions?"
- "Tell me about a product you shipped and its impact"

## Case Study (consulting, strategy)
- Market sizing questions
- Profitability frameworks
- Market entry analysis

Phase 5: Reverse Interview Questions

Questions to ask THEM (pick 5-7):

Culture & Team:
- "What does a typical week look like for someone in this role?"
- "How does the team make technical decisions?"
- "What's the ratio of feature work to maintenance?"

Growth & Impact:
- "What does success look like in the first 6 months?"
- "What's the biggest challenge the team is facing right now?"
- "How has this role evolved over the past year?"

Technical (for engineering):
- "How do you handle tech debt?"
- "What's your deployment process like?"
- "How do you balance speed vs quality?"

Red Flag Detectors:
- "Why is this position open?"
- "What's the team's attrition rate like?"
- "How would you describe the work-life balance?"

Strategic (shows you think big):
- "What's the company's biggest technical challenge in the next year?"
- "How does this role contribute to [company goal]?"
- "What would you change about the product if resources were unlimited?"

Phase 6: Mock Interview Mode

Run a practice session:

1. Claude acts as interviewer for the target role
2. Ask 5-7 questions from the generated question bank
3. User responds (voice or text)
4. Claude evaluates each response:
   - Did you use the STAR format?
   - Was there a measurable result?
   - Did you mirror their language?
   - Was the answer under 2 minutes?
   - What was the weakest part?
5. Repeat until scores are consistently 8/10+

Interview Format Playbooks

Technical Screen (45-60 min)

Minute 0-5:   Intro + "Tell me about yourself" (90 seconds max)
Minute 5-40:  Coding/system design problem
Minute 40-55: Your questions for them
Minute 55-60: Close + next steps

Strategy:
- Think aloud constantly
- Ask clarifying questions before coding
- Start with brute force, then optimize
- Mention time/space complexity
- Test with edge cases

Behavioral Round (45-60 min)

Minute 0-5:   Small talk + "Walk me through your resume"
Minute 5-45:  4-6 behavioral questions
Minute 45-60: Your questions

Strategy:
- Each answer: 90-120 seconds max
- Always end with a result/impact
- Bridge to your prepared stories
- Show self-awareness + growth

Panel Interview (60-90 min)

Multiple interviewers, often mixing behavioral + technical.

Strategy:
- Address answers to the question-asker but make eye contact with all
- Note each interviewer's role — tailor examples to their concerns
- The "silent" panelist is often the most senior — watch their reactions

Case Study (45-60 min)

Framework:
1. Clarify the problem (ask 3-5 questions upfront)
2. Structure your approach (share your framework)
3. Analyze (do the math, show your work)
4. Synthesize (give a recommendation with tradeoffs)
5. Risks and next steps

Never:
- Jump to a solution without structuring
- Ignore numbers/data provided
- Give a recommendation without acknowledging tradeoffs

Post-Interview

Thank You Email (send within 4 hours)

Hi [Interviewer Name],

Thank you for the conversation today. I really enjoyed discussing [specific topic from interview].

[One sentence referencing something specific they said or a problem you discussed].

[Optional: brief follow-up on a question you could have answered better].

I'm even more excited about the [Role] after our conversation. Looking forward to next steps.

Best,
[Name]

Self-Assessment Template

Interview Score Card:

Overall confidence: [1-10]

Per-question evaluation:
Q1: [Question asked]
    My answer: [Brief recall]
    Score: [1-10]
    What I should have said: [Better answer]

Q2: ...

Missed signals:
- [Things they mentioned that I should follow up on]

Follow-up actions:
- [ ] Send thank you email
- [ ] Reference [topic] in follow-up
- [ ] Prepare for likely next round format

Integration with Other Skills

• jobhunter-master: Receives company research and interviewer info
• resume-architect: Shares career data for story preparation
• salary-negotiator: If salary comes up during interview
• gog: Send thank-you emails
• browser: Research interviewers on LinkedIn

Files

• memory/interview-prep/[company]-[role].md — Full prep document
• memory/story-arsenal.md — Master list of reusable STAR stories
• memory/mock-results/[company]-[date].md — Practice session scores