(Transcript)

Hey, this video is for two people: for the engineering folks who say: “I have a behavioral interview tomorrow. What's everything I need to know in less than 10 minutes?” and also for the engineers who want a summary of what to expect from this behavioral course.

Theory

Theory #1: If you want to make it to the Staff or principal level or above, it's not coding that’s gonna get you there. It’s behavioral. As well as system design. Behavioral rounds are more likely than coding rounds to result in a downlevel.

Theory #2: The question they ask isn’t the question they want the answer to. “Why Netflix?” doesn’t mean “Why would you like to work at Netflix?” It actually means, “Tell me a story that demonstrates what you know about Netflix and how you can help.”

Theory #3: The more junior you are, the easier it is to meet the minimum threshold for passing a behavioral round. Basically, the more junior you are, the less you have to do.

Also, junior candidates are more likely to get “pushed over the line to hire” for a strong behavioral round, even when they don’t check every technical box. This usually happens because they showcase a high level of coachability. Coachability is a combination of an eagerness to learn, openness to feedback, and behavior change based on feedback you received. Basically, if you do something, and I ask you to do something different, how different is your second attempt from your first?

Theory #4: More senior engineers tend to be more comfortable talking about tradeoffs. Anytime in a behavioral round, especially for questions centered around technology and solving problems for the business, it’s never a bad time to outline why you didn’t do something and why you did something else. It’s an opportunity to show your expertise: tradeoffs allow you to flex your tech chops the way it happens in executive meetings. Staff and Principal engineers are well-versed in talking about tradeoffs.

Theory #5: Prep for a behavioral round based on how a company measures culture fit. Companies measure culture fit in 2 ways. 80% of companies are like Microsoft; they have a “culture unfit test”-- they are purely looking for red flags. These behavioral rounds are less rigorous: show you can own the work, be friendly enough (relative to their culture), and that’s it. The more rigorous culture screens are with the 20% of companies like Amazon. They have a list of specific traits and measure your levels of those specific traits. At companies like Amazon, you must demonstrate their specific traits to be a culture fit.

Common mistakes

Common mistake #1: Rolling into a behavioral interview without doing any prep. These rounds are just about talking about my past projects. I did those projects! I don’t need to prep. Unfortunately, a lot of candidates think that way. And it’s a common reason for rejection. Rolling into a behavioral round cold might work if you’re junior or mid, but at the senior+ level the chances of success are quite unlikely.

Common mistake #2: The most common dealbreaker is, “Kevin didn’t know anything about us, and he didn’t seem to care.” That doesn’t mean you need to manufacture enthusiasm! It means you have to show signal that you “get them” and that you’re interested. The questions you ask the interviewer are a massive opportunity for this.

Common mistake #3: Many candidates don’t focus enough on their individual contributions. The solution is to say “we” much less than you say “I.” Eighty percent of your words should be about your work (aka “I”).

Common mistake #4: Most candidates, by far, talk too much. Set yourself apart by being lean. A great way to be lean is to use an alternative to the STAR framework. BLUF (bottom line up front) is where you share the most important information upfront. Think of it as starting with a 1-2 line summary (points for including metrics/impact) before diving into more details. This showcases the senior skillset of “shielding your stakeholder from unnecessary information.”

Common mistake #5: Being too scripted comes with heavy penalties, especially the more senior you are. It’s better to deviate from your prepared speech but still capture the core message rather than get every word right from it and then lose points for being too scripted. Instead of practicing a script, practice hitting key points.

Common mistake #6: Most candidates don’t mention enough metrics and impact. Prepare 5-10 numbers for them. No one remembers (or has access to) data sets from past companies. Your numbers need not be precise. Your best guess is good enough.

Common mistake #7: Most candidates are unaware of the two kinds of behavioral questions, each deserves a different approach. Business-focused and people-focused. Business-focused questions for engineers are opportunities to share about technical challenges, significant accomplishments, and bottom-line impact. People-focused questions are not. Instead, they are opportunities to share about failures, learn from your mistakes, interpersonal conflict, and frameworks/habits/tools that help you make better decisions next time. Business-focus questions must describe the scale and/or the complexity of your work.

High impact tips

Tip #1: When you’re improvising, it’s easier to work off tactics so you don’t “just wing it.” When improvising on a technical/business question, use the tactic of “improvise about tradeoffs.”  What were the possible solutions? How did you decide on the implemented solution over the other possible solutions?  What would have happened if you chose the other solution? It’s also a good idea to delve into a description of the most tricky technical challenge on this specific project you didn’t prepare for. Particularly a challenge that you didn’t anticipate when starting the project.

Tip #2: Assume the “tell me about a time when…” A real-life example shows more signal than a hypothetical one. However, sometimes the question won’t ask for a real example. So if they say, “How do you prioritize projects?” assume they said, “Tell me about a time you had to prioritize projects.”

Tip #3: You can push back: Reframe the question, say, “I don’t have an example for that,” or clarify before diving in. You can change the structure of the prompt you were given: “Hey, I don’t have that exact example, but how about this instead?”

Tip #4: Practice! Practice with our AI interviewer. Practice with peers. As an Exponent member, you get unlimited peer practice sessions. Practice with mocks with our on-platform coaches. Practice with companies you’re less keen on. Pick what works for you and your budget, and how much time you have, and practice!

Key takeaways

Check out the next few lessons, where we break down each of these theories, ways to avoid common mistakes, and high impact tips in detail. See you soon.