Process:
- I personally like the prep process described for behavioral interviews in Cracking the Coding Interview - Gayle Laakmaan, so I would recommend finding a copy of that and reading through it (in particular do the prep grid and then practice having someone ask you a random behavioral question and tying that to one of your grid entries on the spot)
- If you don’t want to read the book (although I would recommend you do), this can serve as a starting point
Random General Thoughts on Behavioral Interviews (these are accumulated from random people/experiences and will almost certainly have changed by the time you read this, but keeping these around just in case they’re helpful to anyone):
- The interviewer just wants someone they can confidently say yes to because they want the interview process to be over as much as you do. Your job is to make it as easy for them to say yes as possible. That means don’t leave things implied, just say them outright (e.g. “…and I think this story shows one of my strengths which is that I’m detail oriented”)
- You want to create a narrative that you’re perfect for the job
- E.g. the job is for a company that really values robust coding practices, then figure out how to answer questions with stories that highlight how detail-oriented you are/etc. Of course, you want to keep a look out for what jobs you’ll actually like as well, but for just getting the job
- ^It’s best to set that up by looking through your 3 projects that you can use to answer every question (as I did in Behavioral Interview Prep and is described in Cracking the Coding Interview - Gayle Laakmaan), and then tie each of those to your narrative
- Every single question is an opportunity to hammer home your narrative and make it easier for them to say yes to you, there are no free questions (e.g. “what’s your biggest weakness” isn’t a question that you just have to survive, it’s a chance for you to turn it into a strength like “my passion for a project really influences how effective I am at working, so for projects I’m not aligned with I don’t do as well. But, as a result of this I’ve learned I thrive in places I can take an active role in shaping product direction, and when I feel like I have a say in where things are going and I’m confident in product direction I excel.“)
- That example answer is also a good example of how you should be interviewing companies even as they interview you. If you actually think about your biggest weaknesses/etc, what job/company/work do you imagine will play to your strengths and buffer against your weaknesses? During your interviews you should see if the company/role you’re interviewing for actually fits well with who you are and what you want.