Hard to Fire

Soft Landing · Chapter 12 · Evidence Before Performance

The Interview Preparation Diagnostic

A ten-criterion preparation inventory completed before every interview. It shows where you're prepared and where you're exposed, so the remaining time goes to gaps instead of work you already know.

Output: One completed ten-criterion diagnostic and one dated action for every repairable gap.

Time: 30 minutes per interview

TotalTotal unresolved
Scored0 / 10
GapsGaps unresolved
Dated actions0 / 0 actions
Criteria ready0 / 10 ready

The diagnostic still has an unresolved score, evidence record, or gap action.

Next: name the interview, date, stage, and format.

Interview record

Name the decision before you score the preparation. Otherwise the grid becomes another beautifully maintained drawer of office supplies.

Use the source scale once

Score each criterion 24 to 48 hours before the interview. Spend the remaining preparation time only on items scored 1 or 2. Don't waste time polishing 3s.

1You haven't done the work.
2You've started, but there are gaps.
3You're ready.

Blank scores stay unresolved. A total appears only after all ten scores are explicit. The math doesn't promote a gap into readiness.

The ten criteria

1. Company Research

Priority 1

What ready looks like: You can name the company's top three priorities, its most recent challenge or opportunity, and something specific that connects to the role. You've used the Chapter 10 AI Research Protocol and cross-checked the key facts.

Blank score stays unresolved.

2. Role Clarity

Priority 2

What ready looks like: You can state, in one sentence and in your own language, what problem this role solves. If you can't explain why the role exists, you're not ready to explain why you should fill it.

Blank score stays unresolved.

3. Departure Narrative

Priority 3

What ready looks like: You can deliver the Chapter 8 Professional narrative cleanly and briefly, without bitterness, defensiveness, or the word 'honestly.' You've practiced it aloud and checked that the words stay stable.

Blank score stays unresolved.

4. Outcome Statements

Priority 4

What ready looks like: You have three specific results prepared, quantified only when the number is supportable. Each makes your decision, contribution, evidence, and boundary visible and is concise enough to invite a follow-up.

Blank score stays unresolved.

5. Behavioral Stories

Priority 6

What ready looks like: You have five stories for conflict, failure, leadership, stakeholder management, and a tight deadline. Each has a concise setup, a decision, and a specific outcome, quantified only when supportable.

Blank score stays unresolved.

6. Questions for Them

Priority 5

What ready looks like: You have three to five specific questions. At least one names a verified company challenge, at least one asks about team dynamics or success, and none could be answered by reading the posting.

Blank score stays unresolved.

7. Salary Readiness

Priority 7

What ready looks like: You've researched the market rate using multiple sources, set a target range, and can say it without apologizing, hedging, or anchoring to prior salary. You've checked current official sources for jurisdiction-specific rules.

Blank score stays unresolved.

8. Logistics

Priority 8

What ready looks like: You know the address, floor, greeting contact, parking, and travel time with traffic. Your outfit and resume copies are ready, and you've planned a safe arrival buffer for the format and location.

Blank score stays unresolved.

9. Interviewer Research

Priority 9

What ready looks like: You've reviewed current, legitimately public professional information about the participants, separated public fact from inference, and avoided irrelevant personal research.

Blank score stays unresolved.

10. Emotional Readiness

Priority 10

What ready looks like: You can deliver the truthful opening and participate without changing facts, breaching a boundary, or assigning the interviewer an emotional role. Prepared outcome evidence stays available when rejection has bruised confidence.

Blank score stays unresolved.

Preparation order

Company evidence, role mandate, Professional narrative, outcome statements, and questions come first. Then work behavioral examples, compensation, logistics, participant research, and emotional readiness. The order controls preparation time. It doesn't erase a lower-priority gap.

Interpretation boundary

The total doesn't predict an offer and isn't a clinical or legal readiness score. Review every 1 or 2, then repair what can be repaired and name the uncertainty that can't.

Emotional Readiness is one of ten criteria, not an override that cancels the other nine. The diagnostic doesn't ask you to perform youthfulness, extroversion, or body-language theater.

Reschedule for an inability to participate, not ordinary nervousness. A request may be granted or denied.

Completion test

Score all ten criteria, record evidence for every score, and give every 1 or 2 a route, one action, and a date no later than the interview.

Monday Move

Put the interview on the calendar, score all ten items once, and work the first real gap. A polished 30 can still lose the role. This isn't a crystal ball. It's a gap list with a calendar.

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