santifer--career-ops/modes/interview/plan.md

Mode: interview/plan — Interview Prep Planner

Given a job description and interview date/time, build a structured, time-blocked preparation plan tailored to the candidate's specific gaps.

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Inputs

1. Job description (required) — paste inline or provide URL
2. Interview date and time (required) — to calculate hours available
3. Interviewer name and role (if known) — shapes depth and tone of prep
4. Round type (if known) — screening, technical/domain-specific, design/case study, behavioral panel
5. CV at cv.md + article-digest.md (if present) — read for experience, skills, proof points
6. Profile at config/profile.yml + modes/_profile.md — read for narrative, archetypes, and targets
7. Story bank at interview-prep/story-bank.md — existing STAR+R stories
8. Question bank at interview-prep/question-bank.md — existing gaps (if file exists)

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Step 1 — Fit Assessment

Read CV and JD. Produce a two-column assessment:

Strengths to anchor on: experience, titles, domain, proof points that directly match the JD.

Gaps to close: skills, tools, or experience called out in JD that are absent or weak in CV. Rank by likelihood of being tested in this specific round type.

Be honest. A gap is a gap — flag it clearly so prep time goes to the right places.

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Step 2 — Round Intelligence

Identify what this round is actually evaluating based on:

• Interviewer role (manager = communication + passion + fundamentals; practitioner = depth + judgment)
• Round label (screening, technical/domain, design/case study, final)
• JD signals (what they emphasize)

Recruiter screen:

• Box-checking: fit, comp alignment, logistics, communication
• Not a technical test — depth questions come in the HM and later rounds
• Likely: background pitch, "why us/why this role", comp expectation, timeline, one logistical question
• Treat this as the easy checkpoint; use prep time to build the foundation for what comes after

Hiring-manager screen:

• Communication, passion, fit — plus leadership philosophy and judgment
• Fundamentals of the core skill in the JD — not deep internals
• 1–2 behavioral stories
• Likely: background, "why us", one core concept from the JD, one leadership story, forward-looking situational question

Technical / domain deep-dive with a practitioner:

• Depth in the core skill from the JD (e.g., runtime internals for engineering, modeling choices for data, valuation methods for finance)
• Applied scenarios from the role's day-to-day
• Live exercise or worked walkthrough possible
• Stories used as evidence, not the main event

Design / case study panel:

• Full solution — constraints, components, tradeoffs, failure modes
• The quality dimensions the JD emphasizes (e.g., scalability, compliance, measurability)
• Senior-level: set constraints, ask clarifying questions, drive the conversation

Calibrate the plan to the round. Over-preparing depth for a screening wastes time and creates the wrong mindset.

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Step 3 — Build the Time-Blocked Plan

Calculate hours available from now until interview time. Divide into blocks:

Before sizing the blocks, check interview-prep/question-bank.md (if it exists). Any question marked 🔴 from a prior round is a proven gap — it gets a dedicated block regardless of how the CV-vs-JD analysis ranks it. Real performance data outranks inferred risk.

Template (adjust block sizes based on total hours available):

Block 1 — Lock your narrative (first, always)
  - Write out your background timeline explicitly
  - Prepare "why this company" with a specific connection to your history
  - Prepare your strongest proof point story (30-second version)
  - Time: ~15% of available hours

Block 2 — Priority domain topic (highest-risk gap first)
  - One topic per block — don't mix
  - For each: concept → your story hook → likely follow-up questions
  - Time: ~25% of available hours

Block 3 — Secondary domain topic
  - Second-highest-risk gap
  - Time: ~20% of available hours

Block 4 — Behavioral stories
  - Map existing stories to likely question types
  - Practice the 2-minute verbal version of each
  - Prepare the Reflection for each — the senior-candidate differentiator
  - Time: ~15% of available hours

Block 5 — Company research
  - Product pages relevant to the role
  - Connection between your history and their specific domain
  - 3–4 sharp questions to ask them
  - Time: ~10% of available hours

Block 6 — Practice run (if time permits)
  - One question per likely topic — out loud, timed
  - Time: ~10% of available hours

Block 7 — Buffer + rest
  - Stop studying 60–90 minutes before the interview
  - Cramming in the last hour adds noise, not signal
  - Time: remaining

Adjust block sizes based on gap severity and round type. If it's a screening, Block 4 (behavioral) and Block 5 (company research) are more important than deep domain blocks.

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Step 4 — Priority Quick-Reference

At the end of the plan, produce a one-page quick-reference the candidate can skim 15 minutes before the interview:

## 15-Minute Pre-Interview Review

**Your anchor sentence:** [one sentence that captures why you're right for this role]

**Top 3 things to remember:**
1. [most important message to leave the interviewer with]
2. [most likely question and your first sentence of the answer]
3. [the connection between your history and their domain]

**Your questions to ask:**
1. [question 1]
2. [question 2]
3. [question 3]

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Step 5 — Save Output

Save the plan to interview-prep/{company-slug}-{role-slug}.md if a file doesn't exist, or append a ## Prep Plan section if it does.

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Rules

• Calibrate to the round. A screening prep plan looks very different from a design-panel prep plan. Don't default to maximum depth for every interview.
• Gaps first. Time is finite. The candidate's strengths don't need prep — their gaps do.
• 🔴 gaps from the question bank take priority over inferred gaps. Real performance data beats CV-vs-JD analysis. If the candidate already knows they struggle on a topic, don't bury it.
• One topic per block. Mixing topics in a single block reduces retention.
• Always include rest time. A rested candidate outperforms a cramming one.
• Never generate fake company intel. If you don't have research, say so — don't invent culture claims or technical details about the company.
• Never invent claims for the candidate. The anchor sentence and pre-interview talking points in the quick-reference (Step 4) must be grounded in what the candidate actually has — cv.md, article-digest.md, or the story bank. Don't draft claims that depend on experience or metrics the candidate doesn't have. If a claim appears in interview-prep/retracted-claims.md, never include it.