From: The Girl Who Loves to Interview

I've always been the girl who loves to interview.

It started at Arby's. My first job, my first interview, and I was into it. I liked being asked questions and talking about what I was good at, what I enjoyed, and I liked getting a read on the person across from me. What would it actually be like to work there. That part never got old, even years later when the stakes got a lot higher than a drive-thru headset.

I've had interviews I’ve nailed and the kind where you walk out just know there is no saving it.

My favorite, is when I was asked about my Excel skills and could not stop saying, "you know, the formulas" while doing the wax-on, wax-off motion (#karatekid) with my hands. Thankfully, after what felt like hours, the interviewer had to gently interrupt me just to stop the loop. Not my finest moment.

Here's what I've learned since. An interview isn't a test you study for, it's a hunt. And most people aren’t ready for it.

The hunt

You apply for almost everything at first. That's normal, and it gets boring fast, so you have to track it. Every application logged somewhere, so when a recruiter calls out of nowhere three weeks later, you know exactly what role, what pay range, what you said in your questionnaire. That call will come, so you have to be ready for it.

Then comes the part that feels a little cringe. The cold calling. Texting a friend of a friend, sending a LinkedIn message to someone you've never met, or doing the classic Facebook stalking. You are looking for anyone currently at that company, or anyone who left recently and might actually tell you the truth. You want the inside details. Dress code, what the team does outside of work, what the vibe actually is. Not because you're being sneaky. Because you want to walk in already knowing if you'd fit, culturally, before they even ask.

The prep that makes it sound casual

Once you're scheduled for the interview, the real work starts. You go back through the job description and your own experience until the connection between the two feels obvious, not rehearsed. When someone asks "tell me about yourself and why you want this role," it should come out sounding like a conversation, not a script. You know the role, you know how the company is actually performing, and you know exactly where you'd add value on day one.

The questions that aren't vanilla

Everyone preps the standard questions. What's your biggest weakness, where do you see yourself in five years. Vanilla. I prep my own questions instead, and my favorite one is this: what do you celebrate around here?

That question sounds friendly. It isn't really about celebration. It's about what gets rewarded. If the answer is "we celebrated Dana for pulling an all-nighter to hit a deadline," that tells you that they are celebrating dedication over work life balance. I'd rather work somewhere that celebrates a job done well and a team that went home on time. So I ask the celebration question, and I listen for what it's actually telling me about what this company values, and whether I'm on board with that.

Same goes for asking your future boss what they like to do outside of work. You're not making small talk. You're finding out what it would actually be like to work with this specific person, not just inside this company.

The math that comes after

When the interview wraps, I always ask about timeline. Are they needing to fill this role yesterday or still vetting and figuring out how the role should even be structured. That answer tells you how long to expect radio silence, and it keeps you from spiraling every time your phone doesn't ring.

Then I add three days to whatever they tell me. If they say "I'm meeting with my boss Tuesday and will follow up after," I don't expect to hear anything until Friday, maybe Monday. That buffer has saved me a lot of unnecessary panic, and kept me from turning into the candidate who calls twice before Wednesday.

Six weeks later

I followed this exact process when I got laid off. Tracked everything, did the outreach, asked my real questions, did my math. Six weeks later, I had a job.

Today, I run The Reset Framework, and most days I get to watch my clients run this same process. Track the hunt, ask the real questions, do the math on the follow-up, and walk into a room already knowing if it's a fit, not just hoping it is.

Recovery, Reflection, Redesign

Most interview advice stops at the tactics. Nail the answers, land the offer, done. But the tactics only work if you know what you're actually hunting for.

Recovery is what let me approach the hunt from a steady place instead of a panicked one. Reflection is what turned "what do you celebrate" from small talk into a real filter for whether this company's values matched mine. Redesign is choosing the job that fit, not just the job that called back first.

If you want help building your own hunt, from the tracking to the questions that actually matter, that's exactly what we work through in the October 5 Rebuild With Purpose workshop.

More details on the October 5 Rebuild With Purpose workshop here.

FAQ

What's a good question to ask in a job interview? Skip the standard "what's your biggest weakness" and ask something like "what do you celebrate around here?" instead. It reveals what actually gets rewarded, not just what sounds good in a job posting.

How can you tell if a company's culture is a good fit before you accept the offer? Do the outreach before the interview. Find people who currently work there or recently left, and ask about dress code, team dynamics, and what leadership actually values. Then use your interview questions to confirm or challenge what you find.

How long should you wait to follow up after an interview? Ask the interviewer directly what their timeline looks like, then add three days to whatever they tell you. It keeps your expectations realistic and stops you from spiraling every time your phone doesn't ring.