Lessons Learned on the Job Interviews Part 2

What are recruiters looking for at the behavioral interview stage?

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The vast majority of leadership interviews I was in were what has become the norm in the tech industry: storytelling. I can’t tell you how much PTSD I have over the phrase “tell me about a time when …”. The idea is that an experienced manager can (a) demonstrate that experience by recollecting tales from a storied career, and (b) knows to emphasize the parts that the interviewer wants them to emphasize. At the beginning of my job search, I would fail miserably at the second part with the mind-reading, because I didn’t realize there was a hidden agenda to the question.

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So they would ask me to tell them about a time when I promoted someone, and I’d literally tell them about such a thing and move on. When in fact, they also wanted me to tell them about my philosophy (a.k.a framework) around promotions, and maybe even around career development in general, and emphasize how that’s an important part of a manager’s job, etc, etc. And because of that, my pass rate in the second round (where behavioral interviews would often take place) fell to 54%, and was my lowest. And that’s after I cracked the code. It helped when reviewers would nudge me in a certain direction, but that didn’t happen often, and certainly not with Big Tech, where the rubric is king.

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If you’re interested in seeing examples of this tactic, watch some videos on ExponentTV (and paying for Exponent is probably a great return on investment as well) to get a better sense of the kind of answer interviewers are looking for. And make a list of stories you can cycle through quickly, on the spot. The answers are supposed to be given in the STAR format.

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What are some examples of questions you’ve received?

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Tell me about a time when…

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1. you had to manage someone out
2. you had to deal with a difficult employee
3. you had a disagreement with a peer
4. you promoted someone
5. your project was late
6. you failed
7. you dealt with a DEI issue
8. you motivated your team
9. you affected change without using authority
10. you were part of a large undertaking

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Which of these questions is the most common, and how does one navigate it?

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One prevalent theme was essentially #6 above, and that was also something I wasn’t quite sure how to answer. It felt like the old joke to me, about the interviewer asking what the candidate’s greatest weakness is, who replies that he works too hard.

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But the reason people ask this is twofold: first, because experience implies failure, since no one has a perfect batting average. And so the idea is that if you’re able to talk about a time you’ve failed, you’re more likely to be an experienced leader. Second, being able to talk about failure in a way that shows humility is important in that it demonstrates some good leadership qualities such as empathy, the ability to learn from mistakes, and the ability to turn things around.

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And this is why getting good at interviewing and storytelling is so important. It’s not enough to merely have those qualities; you have to realize when you’re being subtly prompted to reveal them and do so tactfully. But again: it is a skill that can be learned.

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What does the technical interview typically consist of?

Of my nine technical interviews, five were design questions — and one of those was a take-home exercise. Another two were presentations of a project I’d done in the past, and the last two were coding challenges.

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One of the coding challenges consisted of two leetcode-type algorithmic/data structure questions. There’s nothing to be done about this except grinding on leetcode until that part of the brain that lay dormant since your CS college courses have sprung back awake. Yes, it has nothing to do with anything in a real job, but such is life.

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The design questions generally ask you to design a system you’ve likely dealt with before: a search engine, a messaging service, a URL shortener. Here, it’s important to start at a high level — the main components and connections — make sure you’ve covered enough there (and take hints in the form of questions from the interviewer) and then go a level lower and talk about technologies, protocols, tradeoffs, and so on. Anything to make the interviewer feel comfortable that you have the technical chops to design things. Again, Exponent has some great videos to give you an idea of what a good one looks like.

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What are things you wish you had known at the onset?

1. It will likely be a multi-month process due to the speed at which most companies operate; I would prepare for roughly 3 months
2. The best thing to get your resume noticed is to make use of your network
3. When you do have to cold apply, writing a paragraph to the recruiter is worth the investment
4. A polished, short, beautiful resume is worth the investment
5. Optimizing your LinkedIn profile for recruiter searches is worth the investment
6. Feedback about why you were rejected is an endangered bald eagle: rare to come across and wondrous to behold
7. Practicing storytelling for the behavioral interview, and looking for the question behind the question, are both crucial
8. Practicing leetcode is needed for many interviews at Big Tech companies
9. Good PowerPoint skills might come in handy
10. There are lots of mock interviews available to watch — both behavioral and design — and they help a lot
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This post was originally posted here.
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