FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions
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Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions
#2>Please don’t take the Michael Scott approach and turn this into a backhanded compliment (‘My biggest weakness is that I care too much’). I’d highly recommend giving an honest answer, and one that is as specific as possible and not handwavy. This shows that you’re self-aware and are able to independently identify areas for personal growth
I disagree. People should be aware of the downsides to their strengths when they exist. One can be very creative but with the cost of a very scattered focus. One can drill down extremely deeply on problems but have trouble knowing when to move on.
Then again I think this whole exercise in telling people what managers want to hear in an interview is pointless, subjective ego masturbation.
What if your greatest weakness comes off as a false red flag? What if you know there's a high likelihood that they'll take it as such even though you're an above average fit for the position? Of course the manager wants an honest answer - this is the ideal answer from the manager's perspective, but piss poor advice for a candidate. Personally, I can't imagine putting an interviewee on the spot like that for such a poor, noisy signal.
Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions
#3>Please don’t take the Michael Scott approach and turn this into a backhanded compliment (‘My biggest weakness is that I care too much’). I’d highly recommend giving an honest answer, and one that is as specific as possible and not handwavy. This shows that you’re self-aware and are able to independently identify areas for personal growth I disagree. People should be aware of the downsides to their strengths when the…
What is the point in even asking this question? What kind of answer do they expect?
Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions
#4>Please don’t take the Michael Scott approach and turn this into a backhanded compliment (‘My biggest weakness is that I care too much’). I’d highly recommend giving an honest answer, and one that is as specific as possible and not handwavy. This shows that you’re self-aware and are able to independently identify areas for personal growth I disagree. People should be aware of the downsides to their strengths when the…
Exactly. Telling interviewees that what interviewers want to hear is "honest answers" sounds like the advice of somebody so deep in manager land they've become out of touch with the fundamentals of human interaction. The beginning of a business relationship is no different from the beginning of any relationship: You can be perfectly honest without being so frank about your flaws that you create a bad impression. The question is pointless bullshit that does nothing but arbitrarily pare down your candidate list for lack of anything more germane to distinguish them by. And it sounds poignant, so it's easy to convince yourself of its genius.
Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions
#5>Please don’t take the Michael Scott approach and turn this into a backhanded compliment (‘My biggest weakness is that I care too much’). I’d highly recommend giving an honest answer, and one that is as specific as possible and not handwavy. This shows that you’re self-aware and are able to independently identify areas for personal growth I disagree. People should be aware of the downsides to their strengths when the…
What is the point in even asking this question? What kind of answer do they expect?
To be honest I basically feel the same for all of these behavioural questions. Bar the ones that ask specifically what you have contributed in previous roles.
Stuff like "Why are you leaving your previous company" has no good answers. The linked article says as much by saying "stay positive and avoid the negative" if there are no negatives or direct benefits you seek to achieve by moving then you wouldn't be interviewing, so they are basically advising you lie as it's the only "correct" answer.
When I have done hiring in the past I have generally just thrown out all of this nonsense and avoided sourcers/recruiters because everyone currently in hiring uses filters I don't agree with (education, resume etc) and don't sufficiently understand filters I DO care about (open source contributions, specific projects/teams within previous companies).
Then when it comes time to actually interview I am only interested in how well they can do 2 things. a) build stuff b) work with my team. b) is still fuzzy but atleast I have a more solid idea of what that might entail and can get a good feel by talking to the person and a) is pretty objective. Don't need any coding tests just need to talk to them about what they have built, how it works in sufficient detail and their opinions and thoughts on some sufficiently deep technical topics.
This mightn't scale as well but it sure beats all the nonsense and waste of money sources/recruiters/HR incur in the hiring pipeline.
After I find someone I want then and only then do I take their resume/etc to HR. Never let them act as a filter as they drop great people all the time and give me a stream of "good on paper but completely useless" people that have zero culture fit.
I couldn't care less IF or WHERE you went to university. If you learnt to build stuff at university, great, basement of your parents place, great, on a bench in the park while you were homeless trying to get this job, also great. Don't care how you learnt it only that you can.
Just like I don't give a rats ass if your resume doesn't have a single buzzword or anything in it. If it looks like you have worked on relevant stuff or at relevant places that is good enough.
This approach is all that has worked for me for getting genuinely good people, it takes time and effort but your team is worth it.
Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions
#6>Please don’t take the Michael Scott approach and turn this into a backhanded compliment (‘My biggest weakness is that I care too much’). I’d highly recommend giving an honest answer, and one that is as specific as possible and not handwavy. This shows that you’re self-aware and are able to independently identify areas for personal growth I disagree. People should be aware of the downsides to their strengths when the…
This question sends a message "I'm a boss, you're a rank-and-file employee. Now, when we've made it clear, do a little self shaming."
Imagine addressing this question to a senior lawyer that you need to sort out some complicated situation. I guess, the lawyer would be first stunned for a second and then insulted that he's being treated like a kid.
Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions
#7>Please don’t take the Michael Scott approach and turn this into a backhanded compliment (‘My biggest weakness is that I care too much’). I’d highly recommend giving an honest answer, and one that is as specific as possible and not handwavy. This shows that you’re self-aware and are able to independently identify areas for personal growth I disagree. People should be aware of the downsides to their strengths when the…
What is the point in even asking this question? What kind of answer do they expect?
“In 1921, tired of hiring college graduates that didn’t know as much as he did, Thomas Edison made up a giant trivia questionnaire to administer to inbound applicants. According to Mental Floss, questions included “Who invented logarithms?” and “Why is cast iron called Pig Iron?”
...
“To summarize, almost 100 years ago, an aging, eccentric, and incredibly brilliant inventor decided one day that he didn’t like hiring kids that weren’t his equals in knowledge. He devised a scheme off the cuff to indulge his preference and we’re still doing that exact thing about a century later.”
Excerpt From Developer Hegemony Erik Dietrich
To answe your question, the “soft skills” questions are no different then riddles. They are an arbitrary set of questions that instead of being defined by technical folks are instead created by HR people. It’s an arbitrary barrier to entry that allows HR to rank candidates.
Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions
#8>Please don’t take the Michael Scott approach and turn this into a backhanded compliment (‘My biggest weakness is that I care too much’). I’d highly recommend giving an honest answer, and one that is as specific as possible and not handwavy. This shows that you’re self-aware and are able to independently identify areas for personal growth I disagree. People should be aware of the downsides to their strengths when the…
This question sends a message "I'm a boss, you're a rank-and-file employee. Now, when we've made it clear, do a little self shaming." Imagine addressing this question to a senior lawyer that you need to sort out some complicated situation. I guess, the lawyer would be first stunned for a second and then insulted that he's being treated like a kid.
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Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions
#9Rather than studying how to be a good doormat (oh, I meant, how to master the behavioral interviews), it's a much better use of time to read the G. Morgan's "Images of Organization".
Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions
#10>Please don’t take the Michael Scott approach and turn this into a backhanded compliment (‘My biggest weakness is that I care too much’). I’d highly recommend giving an honest answer, and one that is as specific as possible and not handwavy. This shows that you’re self-aware and are able to independently identify areas for personal growth I disagree. People should be aware of the downsides to their strengths when the…
The question is really testing whether you can tell someone what they want to hear while making it seem like you’re being honest, which is a very useful skill both for internal politics and customer interactions.