The Talk-Show Frame

Walk in as the host, not the guest.

A guest sits and waits for the next question. A host has questions of their own, is curious about the person across the table, and talks the way they would talk to anyone. The same conversation, a different chair.

Here is what that looks like the night before.

The night before

1. Write three questions you want answered. Not "what does success look like in this role." Something you are curious about. What are they trying to fix by hiring for this seat? What happened to the last person? What does their week look like?
2. Pick one and say it out loud, now, as if you are in the conversation. Notice what your voice does. Ask it again until it sounds like you asking a friend.
3. Drop the technical terms you were planning to use to prove you belong. Talk about the work in plain language. If you can explain it to someone outside your field, you understand it.
4. Remember who is across the table. The person with the big title, at the big company, is thinking about what they are going to eat for lunch. They are not the judge you have built them into.
5. Sort what you can control from what you cannot. You can control your three questions, your sleep, and whether you move your body in the morning. You cannot control their mood, the other candidates, or the decision. Write the second list down, then put it down.

The morning of

Move your body first. A walk, a run, ten minutes of anything. When your body is moving you are not thinking, and you want to arrive having not spent the morning rehearsing the miss.

Then read your three questions once and leave the paper at home.