Interview Preparation Worksheet

A 37-year-old senior data analyst at a retail company interviews poorly. Not because she lacks accomplishments — her work record is strong — but because under pressure she defaults to vague summaries instead of specific stories. In two recent final-round interviews she lost to candidates she believes she outperforms in actual capability. She came to coaching to stop underperforming in rooms where it matters. The Interview Preparation Worksheet produces four STAR stories she can retrieve under pressure because they're written down, rehearsed, and loaded with specifics — the structure that prevents blanking.

Frame this as building a retrieval system. 'The problem isn't that you don't have stories. The problem is that under pre...