Hard to Fire

SOFT LANDING · CHAPTER 12 · FIVE MINUTES BEFORE MEMORY REDLINES THE MEETING

The Post-Interview Debrief

A structured five-minute reflection completed immediately after every interview. It captures what worked, what broke, what you learned, and what to change before the next round.

Output: One six-question debrief separating candidate evidence, observable employer process, unresolved questions, and continued interest.

Time: 5 minutes

QuestionsOpen
InterviewOpen
InterestOpen
Company folderOpen
StatusOpen

The debrief still has an unresolved interview fact, question, or save location.

Next: record the interview, date, and stage.

Interview record

Answer while the interview is still in your body, not just your memory. Don't polish. Don't overthink. Capture.

Evidence boundary

Candidate evidence and employer process stay separate. This is a debrief, not an offer horoscope.

  • Follow-up questions, stakeholders, reference requests, and timelines don't predict an offer.
  • Posture, warmth, facial response, and perceived energy aren't a success score.
  • Private remarks aren't verified company-wide facts.

The six questions

1. What evidence did the process produce?

Capture, don't grade

Record follow-up questions, requested examples or work samples, clarified scope, introduced stakeholders, reference requests, and any named next-step owner or dated timeline.

Answer unresolved.

2. Where did your evidence break?

Capture, don't grade

Record where you rambled, lacked support, misunderstood a question, received a request to wrap up, or couldn't answer.

Answer unresolved.

3. What questions surprised you?

Capture, don't grade

Record an unexpected question verbatim when possible. It identifies a tested topic and preparation gap, not motive.

Answer unresolved.

4. What did you learn about the company?

Capture, don't grade

Record attributed facts about mandate, team, budget, constraints, role history, process, and decision rights. Label inference separately.

Answer unresolved.

5. What would you do differently?

Capture, don't grade

One thing. Not ten. Name the single change with the largest expected effect before the next conversation.

Answer unresolved.

6. Are you still interested?

Capture, don't grade

Answer before relief from a good performance buys back warning signs you noticed in the room.

Answer unresolved.

Save the record

Completion test

Answer all six questions, record one preparation change, choose continued interest, and save the debrief in the company folder.

Monday Move

Five minutes now saves an hour of reconstruction later. Memory is a talented editor with terrible version control.

This tool stays in this browser with LocalStorage until you clear it.