- Interview process
- Pre-interview research
- General behavior questions
- Principles
- Methods: give structured answers
- Interview preparation grid
- Know yourself
- Career development
- Work-life balance
- Teamwork
- How soon are you ready to make a move
- How do you deal with conflicts
- Tell me about a time you failed? How did you deal with the situation
- Have your suggestion being adopted
- Describe your idea boss
- What will you do if you are 100% that your boss is wrong
- How do you finish an impossible task
- Have you ever did more than required
- How do you compare yourself to your peers
- Belbin's team roles
- Others
- Questions to ask at the end
- Stories about technical experience
- HR screening level: Do you meet the base requirements
- first filter by resume key words, then make sure you meet a base standard
- Junior engineer level: Could I work with you - might be direct mentor/peer
- genuiely interested in them, could be friends after working
- Hiring manager level: management
- will be able to hit goals without a lot of supervision, how much efforts do I need to get this person productive
- Senior manager level: culture fit and leadership potential
- will this person stick long enough with the company and become a leader
- Company's site: culture, product set, and mission for asking specific questions
- Recent news: medium-to-large companies' strategic moves, how will my role support those goals
- Interviewer profile: interviewer's linked profile, blog, twitter
- Do not take it personal. Everything should be related to the job.
- Be specific, not arrogant: Arrogance is a red flag. To make myself sound good without be arrogant, I need to be specific by giving just the facts and letting the interviewer derive an interpretation.
- Limit details: Stay light on details and just state the key points. When possible, try to translate it or at least explain the impact.
By examing the most common user behavior and applying the Rabin-Karp algorithm, I designed a new algorithm to reduce search from O(n) to O(lgn) in 90% of cases. I can go into more details if you'd like.
- Focus on yourself, not the team: Interviews are fundamentally an individual assessment. Unfortunately, when you listen to many candidates, their answers are about "we", "us" and "the team". The interviewer walks away having little idea what the candidate's actual impact was and might conclude that the candidate did little.
- Nugget first: Starting your response with a "nugget" that succintly describes what your response will be about. This technique grabs your interviewer's attention and makes it very clear what your story will be about. It also helps you be more focused in your communication, since you've made it very clear to yourself what the gist of your response is.
Interviewer: "Tell me about a time you had to persuade a group of people to make a big change" Candidate: "Sure, let me tell you about the time when I convinced my school to let undergraduates teach their own courses. Initially, my school has a rule"
- S.A.R. (Situation, Action, Result): You start off outlining the situation, then explaining the actions you took and lastly describing the result.
- In most cases, the action is the most important part of the story. Unfortunately, far too many people talk on and on about the situation, but then just breeze through the action. Instead, dive in the action. Where possible, break down the action into multiple parts. For example, "I did three things. First, I .." This will encourage sufficient depth.
| Common questions | Project1 | Project2 | Project3 |
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| Challenges | |||
| Mistakes/Failures | |||
| Enjoy | |||
| Leadership | |||
| Conflicts | |||
| What you'd do differently |
- What the interviewer is really asking:
- What is your career plan
- Why are you interested in their company
- First, it gives interviewers a general idea of your background – whether you are an experienced engineer, a new grad or a series entrepreneur and so on. More importantly, it provides information about why you are relevant to the job.
- Key points:
- Step 1. What you are interested in
- Step 2. Your current role
- Step 3. Past and onwards
- Step 5. Future. Why you are interested in role, position, company
- Key points: How your strengths will help you be an independent worker and a team player.
- My Answer:
- From the personality perspective, there is a book called "Strengths Finder 2.0" and it offers a set of online assessment.
- One of my dominant strengths is focus. I thrive in environments where goal-setting discussions are commonplace and clearly defined objectives are agreed upon. By nature I am industrious and persistent and I am always able to stay on track with little supervision.
- The other of my dominant strengths is learning and sharing. I love learn new things, make presentations and share what I learned with others. In the future, I could become the software engineer who is really great at public speaking.
- From the professional perspective, in the future, I plan to find a specific area where I can become an expert such that I am always the problem solver and stopper in that area. In addition, after settling down on the position, I hope that I could learn more domain knowledge and have more understanding on the product side, rather than just being a software engineer.
- From the personality perspective, there is a book called "Strengths Finder 2.0" and it offers a set of online assessment.
- Goal: Trying to see how well you respond to a question that's intentionally meant to throw you off your game. They want to see how you react to a question meant to throw you off your carefully memorized path as well as gauge just how good you are at being self-critical and aware. It is an onion question.
- key points: A weakness I am solving, not too critical. Do you learn from those experiences? Do you have a hard time taking criticism without getting defensive?
- I hate confrontation and in the past. Sometimes I found myself compromise what I wanted or needed in order to keep the peace. This was a real problem, especially in team situations or when I was supposed to be leading a group because there are times when you need to tell people things they might not necessarily want to hear.
- Since then I've realized this is a weakness of mine and I've worked very hard to overcome it. Now instead of avoiding these situations, I take it as an opportunity to practice being more assertive. I take the time to listen to each side of the situation and make sure that if I have any comments or criticisms, I spoke out for myself. I want to gaurantee that my solutions are constructive ideas instead of peaceful patches.
- What the interviewer is really asking:
- What really motivates you
- Whether you are a team player
- How well can you do the job
- Key points:
- Why this achievement makes you proud
- What are the skills and qualifications that contribute to this achievement
- Talk about any team members
- My answer:
- During my internship in Finra, I built a permissions compliance system within three months. At the end of my internship, my system already run in production system. This was also beyond the expectation of my manager.
- I used Python Boto libraries to coordinate Splunk and many AWS services including IAM, CloudTrail and S3. I developed my program in Linux servers and it is also the first time I work with version control systems.
- In order to deploy the system in production environment, I needed to work closely with other department and many team members. To guarantee that I will finish building the system within three months, I have daily standup meeting with my manager to guarantee that I am always on the right track.
- Key points:
- To identify your skills and see how well you manage a project/situation
- To see what kind of approach you use in dealing with challenges
- To recognize your decision-making skills, planning abilities, and budgeting techniques
- To see if the company would benefit from you.
- During the interview:
- Explain the project briefly and concisely; you wouldn’t want the interviewer to lose interest. It’s better if you keep your answer short and simple, but make sure that you have included in your explanation all the things that can build up your character.
- Don’t make it sound like you’re bragging about your achievements or successful projects: Establish your skills and abilities without going overboard or sounding arrogant.
- Give the interviewer an indication of how you manage tasks. Explain your general approach to handling challenging projects.
- I am most interested in learning Clojure, Node.js and Go.
- Reasons that I am interested (but not crazy) in Clojure.
- Clojure is a JVM reboot of one of the oldest languages Lisp. It also has great modern concurrency features. Clojure provides a hybrid of functional programming and mutable state, which makes it suitable for a large pool of problems. Learning Clojure is just like learning one of the oldest and newest language at the same time, ; )
- Clojure is not a really popular language in industry.
- Reasons that I am interested (but not crazy) in Node.js
- Node.js enables doing full stack development with one language. It will bring efficiency and a large pool of work forces to industry.
- However, I am not an advocator for programming in one paradigm. Programmers should feel free to use what fits the job most. In addition, syntactically Javascript is kind of ugly. I am not sure I want to do every web development project in Javascript.
- Reasons that I am interested (but not crazy) in Go
- Go is invented as a C++ replacement for doing system-level programming. It has been used in more and more projects (Docker) and companies (Uber).
- However, Go does not have as broad applicable scenarios as Node.js.
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- Importance to improve raw productivity
- Importance to communicate well
- key point: 1. Passion about the technology. Passion about products. Great work-life balance. Great career promotion opportunities. 2. Technical competency. In a word, I could learn a lot of things and make a lot of contribution here at XXX.
- Why you believe that you will bring more values to the job and company than it will cost the company to hire you, and give examples. If the company has discussed four critical tasks that need to be tackled, and you have the experience and talent to do them, confidently review the skills you are bring with you which will successfully accomplish your goals.
- Relate past experience, which represents success in solving problems, which may be similar to those of the prospective employer. “As my record indicates, I have made a meaningful contribution to my previous /present employer and I will be able to bring the same experience to your company.” OR “My qualifications and experience gives me the necessary skills and abilities to make a meaningful contribution to your company.”
- key point:
- Limit on negatives: The top management has changed, and their philosophy is not one I agree with. The company is downsizing and future growth no longer looks positive.
- Focus more on positives that motivates you: What I enjoyed most about my present situation is working directly with ....That part of my job provides me with a lot of challenge and gives me the personal satisfaction of knowing my talent is being used to the company's advantage.
- “Due to economic cut-backs...” OR “Reduction in the work force due to economic problems…” OR “To obtain a position that offered more opportunity and challenge”. Do not cast any negative shadows over your employer or boss, no bridge burning parties or you might as well get up and leave now. You should have a legitimate reason that takes little conversation like health reasons or family issues.
- key point: clear goals, self-improvement, Combine your development with company's development.
- Team perspective: Currently within my team I am the implementor, basically carrying out the directives of someone else. In five years, I hope I could be the major contributor and initiator of the team who comes up with ideas and take most responsibilities.
- Personal perspective: Learn more about XXX technology.
- Career growth
- You can easily say that you are looking for a change in role and wanted more growth, or even that your position was getting stagnant. This might be an acceptable reason for quitting your job, but this by no means gives you leeway to criticize your job.
- Looking for challenges
- One of the most common and simple reasons is that your job was at a standstill and you wished to seek newer avenues and greater challenges.
- Restructuring
- Relocation
- Enhanced Education
- Workplace distance
- What the interviewer is really asking:
- How do you manage multiple projects
- How easy it would be to manage as an employee
- How organized you are
- Whether you can stay focus under pressure and deadlines
- Key points:
- How you specifically manage your time
- Demonstrate that you are easy to manage
- Work-life balance is important
- My answer:
- First, I usually write down a list of things I need to do under each category of project.
- Then I estimate how long each of them will take. For really big tasks, I will break it into a list of small tasks.
- Next, I will prioritize them. If there are too many deadlines, I will meet up with my manager/teammates to discuss which ones are more important.
- I am ready to accept an offer from your company immediately. However, I don’t want to leave my current position abruptly without letting my supervisor and coworkers know the status of my work. I would like to give my current employer 2 weeks notice. However, I would be able to start learning your software and operating procedures in the evenings during that time.
- Similar questionns
- Tell me about a team project when you had to work with someone difficult.
- Tell me about a time you had a conflict at work.
- Give an example of a time you had to respond to an unhappy manager/customer/colleague.
- Tell me about a time that you disagreed with a rule or approach.
- Key points: Do not take it personal. Discuss the difference. Figure the best solutions for team/company.
- Steps
- Talk with the other person
- Ask the other person to name a time when it would be convenient to meet.
- Arrange to meet in a place where you won't be interrupted.
- Focus on behavior and events, not on personalities.
- Say “When this happens …” instead of “When you do …”
- Describe a specific instance or event instead of generalizing.
- Listen carefully
- Listen to what the other person is saying instead of getting ready to react.
- Avoid interrupting the other person.
- After the other person finishes speaking, rephrase what was said to make sure you understand it.
- Ask questions to clarify your understanding.
- Identify points of agreement and disagreement.
- Summarize the areas of agreement and disagreement.
- Ask the other person if he or she agrees with your assessment.
- Modify your assessment until both of you agree on the areas of conflict.
- Prioritize the areas of conflict.
- Discuss which areas of conflict are most important to each of you to resolve.
- Develop a plan to work on each conflict.
- Start with the most important conflict.
- Focus on the future.
- Set up future meeting times to continue your discussions.
- Follow through on your plan.
- Stick with the discussions until you’ve worked through each area of conflict.
- Maintain a collaborative, “let’s-work-out-a-solution” attitude.
- Build on your success.
- Look for opportunities to point out progress.
- Compliment the other person’s insights and achievements.
- Congratulate each other when you make progress, even if it’s just a small step. Your hard work will pay off when scheduled discussions eventually give way to ongoing, friendly communication.
- Talk with the other person
- Follow-up: What if you cannot persuade your colleagues although you try a lot?
- If this thing is on my priority list, I will insist on my idea. Put my idea into practice quickly and verify it is right or not. If after fast prototyping and I found my idea is proved to be wrong, I will correct my errors.
- What the interviewer is really asking:
- Whether you could actually identify times that you could do better
- Whether you learn from those past mistakes to become a better employee.
- Key point:
- Step 1. Pick a time that you failed in a situation where is understandable you could run into trouble.
- Step 2. Take responsibility for any part you played in that situation.
- Step 3. Elaborate on all efforts you spend to overcome the problem.
- Step 4. Prepare for the lesson you have learned and plan to prevent future failure.
- My answer:
- In my undergraduate study I once led a five person team and participated in a robotics competition. We decided to build something really cool - a self-balancing unicycle robot.
- All of us do not have prior experience in robotics. The duration of the competition was three months. We needed to build everything from scratch including hardware, electronics and software. Building a self-unicycle was far more challenging than we could ever expect. It was a too complex system for us.
- But we learnt a great lesson from that. Never set a too fancy goal for myself, start from something simple and gradually optimize it. We should not under-estimate challenges along the way. Instead, the right strategy is to take small steps but iterate as fast as possible. In this way, we could make sure we are continuing in the right direction and stay motivated to work because we always have achievable and challenging goals.
- Key point: 1. Communication skill: How you can logically, reasonably and professionally 2. Evidence research and hard working: How do you collect information, ask opinions from experts
- Did you ever work with a person who could combine his/her talents with yours and others to create synergy
- Key point: 1. Depends on the scenario. In a casual chatting, informal meeting 2. If my boss does not like other people challenging him, then I will go with his ideas. For the specific part I feel he is wrong, I will let the fact speak for me and before implementation, ask if I made some changes, will it be fine? In this way, I will avoid conflicts and simultaneously get the job done.
- Key point: pressure handling. Prioritize
- Key point: Self-motivated. Independent problem solver. Initiate
- Be confident about your capabilities, but know you have room to grow. You may want to note individual contributions as well as team contributions.
- Action oriented roles
- Shaper
- Shapers are people who challenge the team to improve. They are dynamic and usually extroverted people who enjoy stimulating others, questioning norms, and finding the best approaches for solving problems. The Shaper is the one who shakes things up to make sure that all possibilities are considered and that the team does not become complacent.
- Shapers often see obstacles as exciting challenges and they tend to have the courage to push on when others feel like quitting.
- Their potential weaknesses may be that they're argumentative, and that they may offend people's feelings.
- Implementer
- Implementers are the people who get things done. They turn the team's ideas and concepts into practical actions and plans. They are typically conservative, disciplined people who work systematically and efficiently and are very well organized. These are the people who you can count on to get the job done.
- On the downside, Implementers may be inflexible and can be somewhat resistant to change.
- Completer-Finisher (CF)
- Completer-Finishers are the people who see that projects are completed thoroughly. They ensure there have been no errors or omissions and they pay attention to the smallest of details. They are very concerned with deadlines and will push the team to make sure the job is completed on time. They are described as perfectionists who are orderly, conscientious and anxious.
- However, a Completer-Finisher may worry unnecessarily, and may find it hard to delegate.
- Shaper
- People oriented roles
- Coordinator
- Coordinators are the ones who take on the traditional team-leader role and have also been referred to as the chairmen. They guide the team to what they perceive are the objectives. They are often excellent listeners and they are naturally able to recognize the value that each team member brings to the table. They are calm and good-natured, and delegate tasks very effectively.
- Their potential weaknesses are that they may delegate away too much personal responsibility, and may tend to be manipulative.
- Team Worker (TW)
- Team Workers are the people who provide support and make sure that people within the team are working together effectively. These people fill the role of negotiators within the team and they are flexible, diplomatic and perceptive. These tend to be popular people who are very capable in their own right, but who prioritize team cohesion and helping people get along.
- Their weaknesses may be a tendency to be indecisive, and to maintain uncommitted positions during discussions and decision-making.
- Resource Investigator (RI)
- Resource Investigators are innovative and curious. They explore available options, develop contacts, and negotiate for resources on behalf of the team. They are enthusiastic team members, who identify and work with external stakeholders to help the team accomplish its objective. They are outgoing and are often extroverted, meaning that others are often receptive to them and their ideas.
- On the downside, they may lose enthusiasm quickly, and are often overly optimistic.
- Coordinator
- Thought oriented roles
- Plant
- The Plant is the creative innovator who comes up with new ideas and approaches. They thrive on praise but criticism is especially hard for them to deal with. Plants are often introverted and prefer to work apart from the team. Because their ideas are so novel, they can be impractical at times. They may also be poor communicators and can tend to ignore given parameters and constraints.
- Monitor-Evaluator
- Monitor-Evaluators are best at analyzing and evaluating ideas that other people (often Plants) come up with. These people are shrewd and objective, and they carefully weigh the pros and cons of all the options before coming to a decision.
- Monitor-Evaluators are critical thinkers and very strategic in their approach. They are often perceived as detached or unemotional. Sometimes they are poor motivators who react to events rather than instigating them
- Specialist
- Specialists are people who have specialized knowledge that is needed to get the job done. They pride themselves on their skills and abilities, and they work to maintain their professional status. Their job within the team is to be an expert in the area, and they commit themselves fully to their field of expertise.
- This may limit their contribution, and lead to a preoccupation with technicalities at the expense of the bigger picture.
- Plant
- What are your salary expectations for the job
- I’m more interested in finding a position that’s a good fit for my skills and interests. I’m confident that you’re offering a salary that’s competitive in the current market.
- When interviewers press further for a specific number
- Well, according to my research and past experience, my understanding is that XXX K per year is typical based on the role and requirements.
- What are you making now
- Since this position is not exactly the same as my current job, let’s discuss what my responsibilities at this company will be and work together to determine a fair salary for this position.
- Template one
Dear Mr./Ms. XXX: I would like to thank you again for the opportunity to interviewo for the XXX position with YYY company. Although I am disappointed that I was not choosen, I enjoyed meeting you and your colleagues and learning more about the company.
I am still interested in opportunities with YYY and would appreciate it if you would keep me in mind for future openings in your company.
Thank you again for your consideration.
Sicerely, ZZZ
- Template two
While it pains me to see this opportunity go, I want to thank you for getting back to me. I also want to thank you for taking the time to meet with me. It was such a pleasure > to meet you and your colleagues and learn about the organization. After spending the time talking with you and doing my research, I really do believe that the XXXX industry is where I want to work. I know that I am not in a position to ask for favors, but if you have a moment to spare I would love any additional feedback. Please do not feel obligated to answer this question, but if there was something you noticed, it will help me in my job search and I would be most appreciative.
I hope everything works out with you and your new intern/associate.
Sincerely, ZZZ
Thanks a lot for all your previous efforts in preparing me for the onsite interview at XXX.
During the past half a year I have been studying and interviewing a lot to be ready for the strict interview at XXX. Originally I prefer XXX. But Reason1, Reason2, Reason3. I think all these factors will affect my onsite performance. I really want to be a member of XXX and be at my best state for the onsite interview.
I understand that rescheduling a full day of interviews involves a lot of work and people's schedules being moved around. I also understand that available positions fill up pretty quickly at a highly competitive company like XXX. So I usually try to avoid rescheduling whenever possible. I really apologize for all the inconvenience and rework brought by me. I guaranteed that this is my first and last time asking for rescheduling the onsite interview at XXX.
If rescheduling is possible, I will be really appreciated and try my best to make all your efforts worth it. XXX
I will be looking forward to hearing back from you!
- Show passion
- The thing you like most about this company
- Onboarding process
- Daily life
- Why is the position open
- Who will I report to and what is his/her background
- What does a typical day or week look like for my position
- What brought you to the company
- What growth opportunities will there be for me
- What are the primary goals for my position and how will I be evaluated
- Who else will be on my team and who outside of my team will I work with frequently
- Ask about the next steps in the process and whether you can provide more information
- Where do you see this company in 3 years or 5 years
- What growth opportunities are available for a person starting in this position? Could you give me an example?
- What is the most important thing I can do to help your company during the first 60 to 90 days of employment?
- a story for each bullet point on resume
- Start with an overview: overview of the problem, solution, and your role - let interviewer go deeper
- Communicate clearly: test of communication skills and logical thinking
- Role in the project: identify what you are responsible for, and be prepared to give deeper details on that part. Demonstrate you worked well with your team
- Technical knowledge: did you make key design decisions, or did you just follow instructions? Make sure you come across as truly knowledgeable
- Have a copy of resume in front of you
- Do not just give "yes" or "no" answers. Limit initial explanation to short summaries and allow the interviewer to ask follow up questions
- Your tone of voice and word choice. Interviewers use voice to judge how believable you are. Posture really have impact on your mind
- Be prepared to ask some of your own questions. Show you are dedicated to the company
- Hold off on questions specific to salary and benefits until later interviews
- Take notes and write a follow up thank you email with details from the discussion. They might interview a couple employees
- Bring extra copies of your resume with you - for the interviewer and your own reference
- Show up 15 minutes early and have the interviewer's phone number for last minute changes
- Do extensive research on the company, interviewers and recent relevant news
- Research industry standards for your position
- Be enthusiastic and positive in your interview, even if it feels repetitive
- Express your genuine excitement to work for the company and the mission they're pursuing
- Whiteboard pen and erasers