Mastering the Behavioral Interview: Insights from a Former Meta Hiring Committee Chair
Behavioral interviews are often underestimated by candidates, but they are crucial for assessing a candidate's suitability, particularly for senior engineering roles. Austin McDonald, a former senior engineering manager at Meta and hiring committee chair for iOS and Android, shares his expertise on navigating these interviews and showcasing your unique skills. This article provides insights into the evaluation process and actionable strategies to help candidates prepare effectively.
Why Behavioral Interviews Matter
Underpreparation is a Common Pitfall
Many candidates underestimate the importance of behavioral interviews, thinking a basic understanding of the STAR method is sufficient. However, a deeper understanding of how to communicate your experiences effectively is key to shining.
Developing Essential Engineering Skills
Mastering behavioral interviewing can actually improve your skills as an engineer. Reflecting on past successes and understanding what made projects successful allows you to repeat those positive behaviors in future endeavors. Unlike solely practicing coding interviews, this reflection can lead to more practical, day-to-day improvements.
Predicting Future Success
Companies use behavioral interviews to assess whether candidates have demonstrated behaviors and actions in the past that align with the requirements of the role. Past performance is a strong predictor of future success; therefore, these interviews help determine if a candidate will thrive in a new environment.
Impact on Leveling
Behavioral interviews play a significant role in determining the appropriate level for a candidate. While technical skills might appear similar between senior and staff engineers, behavioral interviews reveal differences in scope, leadership, and cross-functional collaboration.
Understanding the Evaluation Process
Identifying Key Qualities
Interviewers look for specific qualities and actions that indicate a candidate's potential for success within the team and company. These qualities often align with company values and reflect the behaviors needed to thrive in the specific role.
Common Signals Evaluated
Companies frequently evaluate candidates based on signals like:
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Initiative: The ability to identify and proactively address problems.
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Handling Ambiguity: The capacity to navigate uncertain situations and determine appropriate next steps.
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Perseverance: The determination to overcome challenges and difficulties.
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Conflict Resolution: The ability to effectively manage and resolve conflicts with others.
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Growth Mindset: A willingness to receive and act on feedback, as well as provide constructive feedback to others.
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Communication Skills: The ability to communicate effectively in writing and verbally, and to choose the appropriate communication method for different situations.
The Scale of Evaluation
Hiring managers assess these signals on a scale, considering the expected level of proficiency for the specific role. For example, the initiative demonstrated by a new engineer will differ from that of a staff engineer.
Addressing Subjectivity
While companies strive for objectivity in hiring, personal likeability can still influence decisions. Structured interviewing approaches, which focus on pre-defined signals, help to minimize bias and ensure a more fair evaluation process.
Presenting Your Experience Effectively
The Power of Your Stories
Candidates often underestimate the value of their experiences. By identifying and highlighting the interesting "nuggets" within your past projects, you can effectively showcase your skills and potential.
The Importance of a "Brag Document"
Creating a "brag document" (also known as a "Yay! document") that captures your accomplishments, tasks, and projects can be invaluable. It serves as a repository of experiences you can draw upon when preparing for behavioral interviews and writing your resume.
Framing Your Experiences
If you feel you haven't accomplished anything impressive, try to reframe your perspective. Consider these questions:
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Where did you make the biggest user impact?
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What measurable metrics did you improve (e.g., engagement time, revenue, cost)?
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What projects took a long time and involved complex challenges?
Picking the right project to talk about
Categorize the projects you've worked on based on:
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Personal Involvement
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Business Impact
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Scope
This categorization can help you identify the most compelling projects to discuss in an interview.
Structuring Your Responses
The STAR Method vs. the CARL Method
While the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) method is widely known, Austin prefers the CARL (Context, Action, Result, Learnings) method, particularly for senior engineers. The CARL framework encourages candidates to group the "Situation" and "Task" into "Context" and to include reflections on what they learned from the experience.
The Value of "Learnings"
The "Learnings" component allows you to demonstrate insight and wisdom gained from past experiences. It's an opportunity to discuss mistakes, challenges, and how you would approach similar situations differently in the future.
Being Open About Mistakes
Revealing weaknesses or mistakes, coupled with a clear demonstration of how you learned from them, can be a powerful signal. Authenticity and vulnerability can build trust with the interviewer.
Avoiding Common Pitfalls
Not Providing Enough Actionable Detail
A common mistake, especially among junior engineers, is failing to elaborate on the specific actions taken during a project. Focus on the repeatable actions and processes you employed.
Too Much Context
Providing excessive context can obscure the key actions you took. Interviewers are likely familiar with common project archetypes and only need enough context to understand the situation.
Making a Strong First Impression
The "Tell me about yourself" and "Tell me about your favorite project" questions are crucial for setting the stage. Use a three-part framework for "Tell me about yourself": 1. Briefly describe yourself and your areas of expertise, adding a personal touch. 2. List your accomplishments, emphasizing the business value you've delivered. 3. Express your future career aspirations and connect them to the role or company.
Effective Preparation Strategies
Focus on Value and Alignment
Rather than memorizing answers to specific questions, concentrate on understanding the value you've brought to past organizations and aligning your experiences with the company's values.
Targeted Question Preparation
Prepare detailed responses for these three common questions: 1. Tell me about yourself. 2. Tell me about your favorite project. 3. Tell me about a time you resolved a conflict.
Practice Extemporaneous Speaking
Record yourself answering practice questions to improve your ability to speak clearly and confidently. Seek feedback from friends or experienced hiring managers through mock interviews.
Strategic End-of-Interview Questions
Prepare thoughtful questions to ask the interviewer at the end of the interview. Focus on topics like product direction, technology choices, or the interviewer's management style.
Team Match Consideration
Team match meetings present a great opportunity to gather insights about team dynamics and leadership style, if possible, do a shallow research beforehand to be informed. The questions you ask can significantly influence the hiring manager's perception of your suitability for the team. Be ready to come prepared to take the lead on the interview.