You have a week, a full-time job, and an interview at the end of it. Most prep advice assumes you have unlimited free time to disappear into studying. You don't. Here's a plan built around roughly 30 to 45 minutes a day, in an order that front-loads the things most likely to actually move the outcome.

Day 1: Fix the CV, not the answers

Before touching your answers, look at the document that got you the interview in the first place. Compare it directly against the job description: which required terms are missing, which bullet points describe duties instead of results, and whether anything might parse badly if it's read by software before a human sees it.

This step gets skipped constantly because it feels less urgent than rehearsing answers, but a CV with real gaps against the role undermines everything else you do this week. Fifteen minutes here is worth more than fifteen minutes of extra answer polishing.

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Days 2 to 3: Behavioural and HR rounds

Most interviews open with something in this territory: why this role, why now, tell me about a time you handled a difficult situation. These questions reward structure, a real situation, the action you took, the actual result, over polish.

Spend these two days picking three or four real stories from your career and practicing telling them out loud, from memory, not reading them off a page. Say them badly the first time. Fix what didn't land. Say them again. By day 3 they should hold together even when you're interrupted mid-story.

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Days 4 to 5: Technical or role-specific depth

Now shift to whatever your specific round actually tests, technical depth, a case walkthrough, portfolio questions, whatever applies to your role. This is the material that's hardest to fake and most tied to genuine competence, so it deserves dedicated days rather than being squeezed in alongside behavioural prep.

If you're not sure which technical areas the interviewer will probe, the job description is still your best guide, whatever it lists as required skills is what's most likely to come up, in some form, in this round.

Day 6: A full mixed run-through

By now you've practiced behavioural stories and technical depth separately. Day 6 is for running through a mixed session that jumps between both, the way a real loosely-structured interview actually does, rather than staying neatly in one category the whole time.

This is also a good day to notice which categories are still weak. A pattern of thin answers in one specific area, communication, technical depth, whatever it is, is far more useful to know on day 6 than to discover for the first time in the real interview.

Day 7: Light review and the day itself

No new practice today. Skim your CV, your notes on the role, and the stories you've already rehearsed. Trying to learn or drill something new the day of the interview usually adds nerves without adding real readiness, the work was supposed to happen on days 1 through 6.

If the interview is live over video, know in advance that you can have a quiet safety net running in the background, something that can surface a relevant point from your CV if an unexpected question catches you off guard, without it becoming a crutch you lean on instead of your own preparation.

Frequently asked questions

Is one week really enough time to prepare for an interview?
For most roles, yes, if the time is spent deliberately. A week of unfocused worrying accomplishes far less than a week with a clear plan: one day fixing your CV, several days practicing specific answer types out loud, and a final day of light review. It is a realistic timeline for a solid, not perfect, level of readiness.
What should I prioritize if I only have a few days, not a full week?
Checking your CV against the job description and practicing your answers out loud, in that order. Both take under an hour combined and address the two most common causes of a weak interview: a resume that undersells you and answers that sound worse spoken than they did in your head.
Should I prepare differently for a technical round versus a behavioural round?
Yes. A behavioural round is testing how you structure a real story, situation, action, result, while a technical round is testing depth of knowledge and problem-solving approach. Practicing the wrong type all week leaves you well-rehearsed for a round you may not even face on interview day.
What should I do on the day of the interview itself?
Light review only, no new practice. Skim your CV, your notes on the role, and the answers you have already rehearsed. Trying to learn or practice something new on interview day usually adds nerves without adding real readiness.