interview prep no. 55
How to Catch Up | Chime Delights | Prep Plans | Stress Reduction | LinkedIn Webinar | Product Sense Recording | Metrics for Success Recording | 10 Suggested Prompts
Thank you all for your patience. For paid subscribers, there are two recordings this week: one product sense and one product execution. This is a rare treat because I rarely record myself answering an execution question.
I finally sorted out my small business taxes this weekend and caught up so moving forward, I should be back to a normal schedule. For paid subscribers, you should get three recordings next week, if all goes well.
This Week’s Highlights
How to Catch Up Three Exercises
Product Sense Chime Delights
Prep Plans No One-Size-Fits-All
Stress Reduction Nose Breathing Trick
Get Your Foot in the Door Webinar on Using LinkedIn
Coach’s Recording Improving Grocery Store with New Twist
Coach’s Recording Metrics for Zoom
Suggested Prompt 10 Prompts to practice (5 Sense; 5 Execution)
How to Catch Up
When you can’t mock
I am still struggling with catching up. Starting a new job and still preparing for interviews is tougher than I anticipated. The biggest problem, I still don’t have a rhythm. But I am getting there. If you too have limited time, here are 3 things you can do to prepare for interviews when mocking just doesn’t happen:
Drills. Grab 10 prompts from a list (like this or this) and practice the things that trip you up the most. For me, given last week’s performance, it would be narrowing and then segmenting.
Record Yourself. Go ahead and record yourself answering to an imaginary interviewer. Wait 24 hours, and listen. (Why wait soo long? Claire Fry taught me you will frequently hear what you thought you said not what you actually said if you listen right after you record yourself).
Write It Down. Take one piece of paper. Mark out sections for: Strategic Setup, Segmentation, Pain Points and Solutions. Roughly write short-hand notes for what you would cover in each section. Only use one side of one piece of paper. (Yes, forced prioritization.) Use pen and paper. I don’t care how much you grew up using a computer, go old school. This is great practice for using a whiteboard and not over typing on “digital whiteboards”.
Note: These are NOT a proper substitute for going through a prompt in front of another human, but they do help you keep your practice going if you get overwhelmed, or your partner just ghosts you.
Now, if I follow my own rules, sometime over the next two weeks I need to complete the following:
10 Drills: For me it will be narrowing > segmentation. 1 or 2 hours of no TV at night and I will get it done.
10 Write out the Answers: 10 Product Sense Prompts. 2 per day at lunch and I can have it done in a week.
3 Recordings (imaginary partner): Add listening 24 hours later and this is the most difficult.
3 Recordings with Partner: I already have them scheduled for later in the week. So long as no one bails, those are in the bag.
If you are behind, what does your schedule look like?
Product Sense
Chime Delights
This is a reminder that you can practice product sense when you least expect it. In this case, I am going to tell you about the time Amazon Chime delighted me. I was on a video call and my signal degraded (as happens when traveling in the mountains), Chime automatically switched me to a phone call. (It let me confirm that was ok, but it took care of everything, including the code to join the conference call.)
Generally speaking, this delighted me because I find Chime often makes it impossible for me to trigger the phone option with the right code when I am late or in a hurry and need to jump on a conference call while in transit. I am always toggling back and for while squinting trying to manually enter a phone code. To have it delivered when I needed it most, without the hell of manually inputting it, after fighting to find it for almost all other meetings made me very happy.
To improve it, I would love the option to toggle over the instance my signal starts going wonky, but baby steps.
Although, I want to know why Google Meets, Zoom and Amazon Chime don’t ALWAYS make every link for the phone option automatically add the code. (I suspect the reason is related to fighting spam/fraud, you can only click on certain links that don’t work if the meeting has been forwarded or from the body of the meeting invite, but I still need to test out that theory. But I wish they would make it clear which links will remember the meeting code and which will not.)
That was a bit long-winded. But you see, I evaluated the customer delight but also considered why bulky processes might still exist.
Challenge: Note a moment this week when you are delighted by a product.
Prep Plans
Why there is no One-Size-Fits-All Process
TL;DR - Know yourself. If you suffer from anxiety and nerves, you might need to 1.5X or 2X your number of practice mocks. Never skimping on in-person practice. Or supplement your live mocks with written answers and drills.
This weekend, I was helping someone realize they needed more practice than they planned for. I was sharing the general rule of thumb. For example, 60 mocks for Meta and 80-100 mocks for Google minimum. Startups and others 30-ish.
Then, I realized many of the small factors that contribute to increasing that number. For example, I am clearly skilled at answering prompts when I am not nervous, but when I get nervous, I fall apart in the live interview. This means, my prep plan counts can look more like an inexperienced interviewer if I am chasing a dream company. Why? I compensate for my anxiety and nerves by over-practicing so I am less likely to get caught off guard.
Stress Reduction
Breathe through your Nose
TL;DR - Over time, the human jaw has changed, and we carry our tongue lower in our mouth, leading to mouth breathing and contributing to high-stress levels. If we hold our tongues at the roof of our mouth, it forces us to breathe through our nose. When we breathe through our nose, it triggers our parasympathetic system, which calms us down.
I learned this when I went to my dentist for a nightguard last week! I was told to read James Nestor’s Book: Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. While I still need to read the book, I have started to try and build the habit of holding my tongue on the roof of my mouth when I am not speaking, thus forcing myself to naturally breathe through my nose.
Resting your tongue on the roof of your mouth can also improve voice, speech, and posture. If you are stressed, join me this week in trying to become a nose breather.
Getting Your Foot in the Door
Keep Repeating Your Goal
Jobscan.co is running a LinkedIn profile webinar. I am going, you might want to join too. It will cover:
How to create an eye-catching headline to attract recruiters
The 4 essentials to include in your LinkedIn bio
The best way to use LinkedIn search to find "fresh" jobs
Tools to help you optimize your LinkedIn profile faster
When: Wednesday October 23, 2024 at 2:00pm ET / 11:00am PT
Where to register: Via this link (or the button below)
Will there be a recording available if I can’t make it? Yes! Just make sure to register and they will send you the video after our webinar.
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