4 ms·

> Google now relies ... “behavioral interviewing,” such as asking people to describe a time they solved a difficult problem. Is it just me? I feel like I've al

> Google now relies ... “behavioral interviewing,” such as asking people to describe a time they solved a difficult problem. Is it just me? I feel like I've always had good reviews but I struggle to answer questions like these in interviews.

burkaman 8y ago
It is hard, but it's very common and pretty easy to prepare for. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect candidates to have stuff like this ready to go.
majormajor 8y ago
Hopefully there's a different bar for different roles. If you're someone who's been a technical manager for 5 years, and I'm asking you about, say, a time you had to give (or receive, for that matter) negative feedback, then if you've never had to do that I might question the breadth of your experience and readiness a bit. I think the key here is to be very specific about the type of situation you're looking for, and to ask a bunch of them to get a broad look at the person's experience.
maxxxxx 8y ago
" describe a time they solved a difficult problem." I actually like this type of question either as being interviewer or the interviewee. At least it allows me to demonstrate the thought process I put into a problem I actually encountered instead of talking about stuff I never had the need to do like a lot of algorithmic stuff.
- CobrastanJorji 8y ago
  I like them as an interviewee, but as an interviewer I find that they can be very challenging to grade in a consistent way. The upside to "invert a binary tree" type questions is that it's a lot easier to put together a rubric (although the downsides are myriad).
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    As an interviewer I also like to follow the thought process. I have had candidates who could solve a lot of questions pretty quickly but as soon as the question deviated a little from the regular path they were completely lost and had no ability to adapt. I am really happy with stories that follow a path like "Tried A, didn't work because of X, then tried B, didn't work because of Y, then tried C and things came together".
bluGill 8y ago
If you are not prepared you will struggle. If you ever interview with me, be aware that I'm only allowed to asked from a pre-selected list of this type of question. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE spend time thinking about your situations the day before! I expect to come with about 5 scenarios in mind that you can then twist to be the answer to the questions I ask. Come up with some situations in advance, you don't want to have to think of them on the spot. (actually you will have to think them up on the spot, once you get past the first question you will relax and be able to think on your feet better - for some questions a new situation will then occur to you on the spot) I know you had to work with a difficult person in the past, remember something that happened. Don't make that person look too bad - you don't want to come as bitter so select a different situation if that might happen. I know you had to make a decision without enough information. I know you had to do something controversial. When I'm interviewing I'm only allowed to write down and consider The Situation/Task, your Action, and the Result. (This is called the STAR system, there are other variations) If you can make sure I clearly understand each that is to your benefit, though I will ask clarification questions to get that.
- Blackstone4 8y ago
  Completely agree with you. Preparation is key. I'm not sure why I struggle to answer these questions. Maybe I could be better at telling stories. On the other hand, I feel like it could be more to do with my ability to talk about myself. For example, when asked of my major achievements and challenges, I think of scenarios where we over came problems as a team. I think more in "we" than "I". I feel like many of these questions are looking for answers in the form of "I did all these amazing things". Further to that, maybe I just don't rate myself as much as I should do. In the past, interviewers who spend the time to go deep have historically said something along the lines of "wow, you've done all this. Why didn't you tell me earlier". I had one person say "It's like getting blood out of a stone". So maybe I need to be more self-promotional. Gotta back yourself right?
  - bluGill 8y ago
    We vs I is an interesting question. If the company really values teams, then saying we and pointing out your place on the team is better than successfully convincing them that you did it alone. Beware of this though. Some companies will say they value teams, but the reality is they do not. Others value it so highly they hide that, lest you hide that you don't work well with teams but need the job enough.

burkaman 8y ago

It is hard, but it's very common and pretty easy to prepare for. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect candidates to have stuff like this ready to go.

majormajor 8y ago

Hopefully there's a different bar for different roles. If you're someone who's been a technical manager for 5 years, and I'm asking you about, say, a time you had to give (or receive, for that matter) negative feedback, then if you've never had to do that I might question the breadth of your experience and readiness a bit. I think the key here is to be very specific about the type of situation you're looking for, and to ask a bunch of them to get a broad look at the person's experience.

maxxxxx 8y ago

" describe a time they solved a difficult problem." I actually like this type of question either as being interviewer or the interviewee. At least it allows me to demonstrate the thought process I put into a problem I actually encountered instead of talking about stuff I never had the need to do like a lot of algorithmic stuff.

CobrastanJorji 8y ago
I like them as an interviewee, but as an interviewer I find that they can be very challenging to grade in a consistent way. The upside to "invert a binary tree" type questions is that it's a lot easier to put together a rubric (although the downsides are myriad).
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  As an interviewer I also like to follow the thought process. I have had candidates who could solve a lot of questions pretty quickly but as soon as the question deviated a little from the regular path they were completely lost and had no ability to adapt. I am really happy with stories that follow a path like "Tried A, didn't work because of X, then tried B, didn't work because of Y, then tried C and things came together".

bluGill 8y ago

If you are not prepared you will struggle. If you ever interview with me, be aware that I'm only allowed to asked from a pre-selected list of this type of question. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE spend time thinking about your situations the day before! I expect to come with about 5 scenarios in mind that you can then twist to be the answer to the questions I ask. Come up with some situations in advance, you don't want to have to think of them on the spot. (actually you will have to think them up on the spot, once you get past the first question you will relax and be able to think on your feet better - for some questions a new situation will then occur to you on the spot) I know you had to work with a difficult person in the past, remember something that happened. Don't make that person look too bad - you don't want to come as bitter so select a different situation if that might happen. I know you had to make a decision without enough information. I know you had to do something controversial. When I'm interviewing I'm only allowed to write down and consider The Situation/Task, your Action, and the Result. (This is called the STAR system, there are other variations) If you can make sure I clearly understand each that is to your benefit, though I will ask clarification questions to get that.

Blackstone4 8y ago
Completely agree with you. Preparation is key. I'm not sure why I struggle to answer these questions. Maybe I could be better at telling stories. On the other hand, I feel like it could be more to do with my ability to talk about myself. For example, when asked of my major achievements and challenges, I think of scenarios where we over came problems as a team. I think more in "we" than "I". I feel like many of these questions are looking for answers in the form of "I did all these amazing things". Further to that, maybe I just don't rate myself as much as I should do. In the past, interviewers who spend the time to go deep have historically said something along the lines of "wow, you've done all this. Why didn't you tell me earlier". I had one person say "It's like getting blood out of a stone". So maybe I need to be more self-promotional. Gotta back yourself right?
- bluGill 8y ago
  We vs I is an interesting question. If the company really values teams, then saying we and pointing out your place on the team is better than successfully convincing them that you did it alone. Beware of this though. Some companies will say they value teams, but the reality is they do not. Others value it so highly they hide that, lest you hide that you don't work well with teams but need the job enough.