What to do and what to avoid in a behavioral interview for software engineers and data scientists
10 min read · Mar 24, 2022
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Behavioral interviews have become an essential part of landing any job at a major tech company. You must not only prove that you can do the job, but you must also show that you would be a good co-worker and fit in well at a company if you wish to land an offer.
Because behavioral interviews are not technical, many candidates do not take the time to properly prepare for them, but you can easily lose your chances of getting a job by doing poorly in the behavioral interview.
To help with your preparation, this blog will look at the dos and don’ts of behavioral interviews. I will discuss how to make your answers more effective and what to avoid to prove to the interviewer that you are someone with whom they would want or love to work. Before we get started, remember that you can watch my video on this topic if you prefer watching to reading. Okay, let’s get started!
- Behavioral Interview Basics
- Do Your Research: Questions about the Company
- Emphasize Impact: Questions about You
- Show Multiple Attributes of Yourself: Situational Questions
- Don’t Be Blameful
- Don’t Talk About Perks and Compensation
- Don’t Ask Offensive Questions
- Conclusion
First of all, what is a behavioral interview? To put it simply, the behavioral interview aims to determine what kind of person you are. Companies don’t just want to know if you have the knowledge to perform a job, they also want to know what you are like to work with. The behavioral interview works to answer the latter question.
There are three types of questions that help the interviewer do this:
- Questions about the company
- Questions about you
- Situational questions
These three types of questions cover your experience, capability, and values. We…
