Tackling the behavioral interview.
The purpose of this interview is to evaluate the candidate's communication skills, self-awareness, conflict-resolution approach, leadership skills, work-style and alignment with company-culture. This is mostly to assess the seniority of the candidate, and more importantly, to weed out candidates who raise red-flags (e.g., dishonesty).
Be prepared with the following:
- A 2-minute summary of your career.
- Why you want to join the company.
- Why you chose to leave the current/previous one.
- Your strengths and weaknesses.
- What you find interesting in your current role (or in your field).
- How you manage your time, schedule tasks, and handle deadlines.
- The details of a project that you worked on that aligns with your interests, including the journey and key challenges you faced along the way.
- An example of a past conflict with a colleague, and how you resolved it.
- An example of a past failure/mistake, and how you handled it.
- An example of a criticism that you got, and how you received it.
- An example of being proactive or taking initiative, especially when the path ahead was unclear.
- Don't be dishonest! Be genuine.
- Don't portray yourself as perfect. Be open about your limitations and making mistakes.
- A great video by Jackson Gabbard, which was recommended by a Meta recruiter. Most of the points covered in this video are not covered above.
- A great article by Lior Neu-ner, on how behavioral interviews are evaluated at Meta.