You definitely want to have a couple of warmup interviews to get back into practice, into shape. So queue up your "practice" companies first and save the ones you really want for later.
You can keep this shape up to some extent by doing a lot of interviewing of candidates at your current job. It really helps you understand what interviewers are looking for, what they expect, how a good interview should feel and flow.
But there are just some things you don't practice until your own interviews. So you'll want to have your answers to questions, and stories, and narratives all planned out. And make sure you practice them out loud, multiple times, until it's flowing naturally and easily.
And I just accept ahead of time that I'll fail 60% of the interviews that I apply for that I'd be perfect for. Sometimes things click and sometimes things don't. So make sure you've got warm leads and schedule your first rounds at an appropriate number of companies.
You can keep this shape up to some extent by doing a lot of interviewing of candidates at your current job. It really helps you understand what interviewers are looking for, what they expect, how a good interview should feel and flow.
But there are just some things you don't practice until your own interviews. So you'll want to have your answers to questions, and stories, and narratives all planned out. And make sure you practice them out loud, multiple times, until it's flowing naturally and easily.
And I just accept ahead of time that I'll fail 60% of the interviews that I apply for that I'd be perfect for. Sometimes things click and sometimes things don't. So make sure you've got warm leads and schedule your first rounds at an appropriate number of companies.