Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions

beseen.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 69 posts

Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions

#41

Post by keyboardbarista »

mewpmewp2 wrote: post #33
barry-cotter wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As someone who has social anxiety and depression I don't think I can be honest with a lot of these questions. You’re not supposed to be honest. No one expects you to be honest. Everyone knows everyone knows it’s a game. It’s like the algorithm and data structure interview; it shows preparation and intelligence to be able to answer the questions well, whether your answers are based on a real event or pure fiction. I…

Yet managers, advice columns and books keep spouting the "honest" part. But I guess if one believes those columns one is too naive and therefore not qualified for the job. It is actually a bit similar when girls say they want a "sweet, nice and caring" guy. But there are people who think they should follow those rules, fail and become resentful towards society for teaching them wrong things. This is just an observati…

Ignore barry-cotter. People do expect you to be honest. It's not a trick question, and there is no clandestine cabal of hiring managers who only want to hire people who play a secret interview game well.

> It is actually a bit similar when girls say they want a "sweet, nice and caring" guy.

In my experience, many women really do want nice, sweet, caring guys. It's just easy for men to think those are the only traits that matter, and that it's also fine to be timid, boring, insecure, clingy, and passive.

Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions

#42

Post by will_pseudonym »

wwweston wrote: post #17

"What's your biggest weakness?" "Well, I tend to think about things that may be interesting and even have implications for work at hand for a given organization, but may turn out to be impolitic. For example: to what degree do behavioral interview questions either resemble on the job activity, or correlate with performance? If that degree is small, what's the real function of behavioral interview questions? Now, I'm…

Since the article references The Office, I must mention that this response:

Q: "What's your biggest weakness?" A: "Fire"

...seems like _such_ a Dwight Schrute saying (but he would be saying it unironically).

Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions

#43

Post by adamredwoods »

shaggyfrog wrote: post #11

Hearing “What’s your biggest weakness?” from an interviewer should be a strong red flag for a candidate that they don’t know what they’re doing. Not only is it a manipulative question, the response is basically meaningless if the candidate knows the game, because you’ll get back a scripted answer. Those who don’t know the game and answer honestly will only hurt their chances at getting the job. The only question I th…

I like to turn the question around, something like, what do I want to learn more about, and even phrase my response like that (Well, one thing I am learning more about is ____).

Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions

#44

Post by hyfgfh »

mewpmewp2 wrote: post #12

As someone who has social anxiety and depression I don't think I can be honest with a lot of these questions. My real weakness would be inability to connect with people and constant fear of doing something wrong or being terrible at what I do. I usually think up some random weaknesses that I consider irrelevant and speak about those just to prove that I can be self aware. Also I think very big portion what I am sayin…

Yeah..

> What are your weakness? Crippling depression... I mean... I am an perfectionist...

Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions

#45

Post by detaro »

keyboardbarista wrote: post #37
tigen wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's funny is apparently these managers know and want a scripted ("rehearsed") answer. It's a mating dance.

In my experience they don't. They want to know if you're a reasonable, self-aware person who can communicate effectively. Let's say you name a reasonable weakness that can easily be improved upon and that doesn't spell disaster for your ability to do your job. And let's say they reject you. Either they're a terrible company to work for, or they have a huge mistake in their interview process. In the former case you do…

> Let's say you name a reasonable weakness that can easily be improved upon and that doesn't spell disaster for your ability to do your job.

To the recipient, that is equally likely the rehearsed answer, because from high school on your told to think of one to reply to that question that fits into what your interviewer probably thinks is reasonable.

And there's the entire thing where some people answering truthfully would tell the interviewer things the interviewer isn't legally allowed to ask about, which is always a lovely strategy for running an interview.

Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions

#47

Post by throwawayrj »

I wish somebody also tells the Giant eCommerce retailer's leadership principles interview. That one is the weirdest interviews I have ever attended to this date and I am confident nothing else can top that.

The HR emphasised a lot on preparing those 12 leadership principles and how it is really important for succeeding there. I walked into a room where a person on the other end of video conferencing started pounding me "tell me about a time" questions and whenever I started answering something genuine, he stopped me and said "No, No, No, you are supposed to answer from one of the 12 points that our dear lord CEO likes".

It honestly felt like a cult.

Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions

#48

Post by hobbio »

barry-cotter wrote: post #27
mewpmewp2 wrote: post #12

As someone who has social anxiety and depression I don't think I can be honest with a lot of these questions. My real weakness would be inability to connect with people and constant fear of doing something wrong or being terrible at what I do. I usually think up some random weaknesses that I consider irrelevant and speak about those just to prove that I can be self aware. Also I think very big portion what I am sayin…

> As someone who has social anxiety and depression I don't think I can be honest with a lot of these questions. You’re not supposed to be honest. No one expects you to be honest. Everyone knows everyone knows it’s a game. It’s like the algorithm and data structure interview; it shows preparation and intelligence to be able to answer the questions well, whether your answers are based on a real event or pure fiction. I…

If you have a firm background and not depending on the job to save you from death by hunger, then you can enjoy the luxury of being honest.

Interestingly, being honest will make you bold and empower to ask questions about sensitive issues you really care about in a job.

Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions

#49

Post by joshuamorton »

6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #30
joshuamorton wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would they? Lots of law firms advertise when not to use them, and will often refer you to other, better options.

But you don't go to a lawyer and ask what they don't do. You ask whether they can solve your specific problem.

And you don't (often) hire full-time employees to solve a specific problem. They may work in a domain, but you don't hire someone to solve a specific problem.

Re: FAANG hiring managers share how to answer behavioral interview questions

#50

Post by keyboardbarista »

detaro wrote: post #45
keyboardbarista wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience they don't. They want to know if you're a reasonable, self-aware person who can communicate effectively. Let's say you name a reasonable weakness that can easily be improved upon and that doesn't spell disaster for your ability to do your job. And let's say they reject you. Either they're a terrible company to work for, or they have a huge mistake in their interview process. In the former case you do…

> Let's say you name a reasonable weakness that can easily be improved upon and that doesn't spell disaster for your ability to do your job. To the recipient, that is equally likely the rehearsed answer, because from high school on your told to think of one to reply to that question that fits into what your interviewer probably thinks is reasonable. And there's the entire thing where some people answering truthfully…

The stereotypical rehearsed answer is the Michael Scott one, where you dodge the question by actually naming a strength and pretending it's a weakness.

In my experience working at places full of smart, talented, ambitious people looking to fill a role with a similar caliber of person: don't do that.

Post reply on HN