When is a screen a test? Every time, if your interviewer is good at their job.

I was reminded of this recently, when I had a first interview with a company I hadn’t spoken with before. Going into this first round, I did the exact thing you should never do when facing the unknown. I made assumptions about the interview based on prior interviews that I had been through. The first screen is never terribly technical, right?

Halfway through this interview, I was sweating about how the interviewer was going deeper than surface-level, finding myself rambling and trying to put together official-sounding textbook answers to his questions. Was it bad that he asked this type of question? Of course not. But it was bad that I went in not expecting it. That was totally on me.

I kept my composure and leaned on my years of experience to pull me through, and I impressed the recruiter enough to be moved on to the second round. After the first interview, I realized that I needed to make a significant change to my preparation for the next interview.

This time, I put together a set of questions that seemed to be possible, or even likely, then practiced answering those questions. I assumed nothing this time, and looked deeper into my technical background. I found myself studying my own resume like I was getting ready to take an AP exam on The History of Jason. While I was brushing up on what makes me unique, I decided to apply that approach to the next round’s interviewer. I found him on LinkedIn and studied up on his work background and job history.

It turns out that each interview serves not only as practice, but also as recon for the future rounds. Go in ready to discuss anything in your resume, and pay close attention to what the interviewer is telling you. This company was looking for someone who had solid fundamentals as a backend developer, and who could speak from authority and with confidence. I brought that confidence into my second interview, where I felt great and answered everything that came my way.

Every interview tells you what you need to know about the next one. Pay attention and learn.