Interview cheat sheet: what to keep beside you on the day

What to put on the sheet

Keep the sheet to one side of A4 or a single phone screen. If it is longer than that, you will not glance at it naturally and it becomes a crutch rather than a prompt.

Divide it into four boxes: stories, numbers, role facts, and questions to ask. Each box should be scannable in under five seconds.

• Stories: three to five STAR-format bullet points, each two lines maximum
• Numbers: every metric you can attach to your work, formatted exactly as you will say them aloud
• Role facts: the job title, the hiring manager's name, one sentence on what the team does, and the company's most recent public milestone
• Questions to ask: five questions ranked so you use the best ones if time runs short

How to write your STAR stories

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result. Interviewers in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia all use behavioural questions built around this structure, so your stories need to fit it.

Write each story as four short phrases, not full sentences. You will expand them when you speak. The sheet is a trigger, not a script.

Pick stories that cover the most common themes: leading without authority, handling conflict, failing and recovering, delivering under pressure, and influencing a decision. One story can cover more than one theme if the result is strong enough.

• Situation: one phrase, e.g. 'Q3 launch slipping by two weeks'
• Task: one phrase, e.g. 'coordinate three vendors across two time zones'
• Action: two to three phrases, e.g. 'daily standups, shared tracker, escalated one blocker to VP'
• Result: one number-led phrase, e.g. 'shipped on time, zero scope cuts'

The numbers section

Numbers are the fastest way to make a story credible. Interviewers hear vague claims all day. A precise figure stops them and makes your answer memorable.

Format each number the way you will say it. If you write '$2.3M' but you always say 'two point three million dollars', write the spoken version so you do not stumble.

Include numbers even when they feel small. Saving a team four hours a week across ten people is 2,000 hours a year. Say that.

• Revenue or cost figures: 'grew ARR from $800K to $1.4M in 12 months'
• Time saved: 'cut report generation from three hours to 20 minutes'
• Scale: 'managed a portfolio of 47 enterprise accounts'
• Team size: 'led a cross-functional group of nine across engineering and design'
• Percentage change: 'reduced churn by 18 percent over two quarters'

Questions to ask the interviewer

Most candidates prepare weak questions or none at all. Strong questions signal that you have thought about the role beyond the job description and that you are evaluating them as much as they are evaluating you.

Prepare five and rank them. You will usually get time for two or three. Put the most important one first in case the interviewer says 'we only have a couple of minutes left'.

1. What does success look like in this role at 90 days and at 12 months?
2. What is the biggest challenge the team is working through right now?
3. How does this team make decisions when there is disagreement?
4. What has made people successful in this role historically, and what has caused people to struggle?
5. What are the next steps in your process and when should I expect to hear back?

How to use the sheet during the interview

For a video call, open the sheet in a second window or print it and place it just below your webcam so your eyes do not drop too far when you glance at it. Looking slightly down reads as thinking, not reading.

For an in-person interview, place the sheet face-up on the table at the start. Most interviewers will not comment. If they do, say 'I prepared some notes so I can give you accurate figures.' That is a positive signal, not a red flag.

Do not read from the sheet. Glance at it between questions to pick your next story or to check a number before you say it. Keep eye contact when you are speaking.

Real-time help if you blank mid-interview

Even with a cheat sheet, some questions catch you off guard. Break-In Bad's interview assistant listens to the interviewer's questions and shows suggested answers only you can see, even on a shared screen. It works alongside your cheat sheet rather than replacing it: the sheet handles your prepared stories and numbers, and the assistant covers unexpected questions.

The assistant is available through the Break-In Bad platform and uses the facts from your resume and application so the answers it surfaces are grounded in your actual experience, not generic advice.