I did well in tech rounds, did not get offer
We talked to some recent SWE, PM candidates & Technical recruiters (Thank you for your time !) and we could see a clear pattern where some technically solid candidates who had done a lot of amazing tech work could not clear the loops for FAANG companies like Google and Facebook. Why? In short – You did not do as well as you thought in the behavioral rounds.
Let’s start with a common Assumption/ Mistake: Since you did a lot of work, and you clearly understand what the work was, you feel that you are good and covered on the behavioral interviews.
Wrong! You need practice on how to phrase it, which words to use which not (so that you can amplify the right signals), how to up-level and down level it appropriately. This practice needs to be with professionals who can coach & guide you, NOT with peers – as that might work to your disadvantage in giving you false sense of confidence. Below we reveal our simple 5 step approach for the behavioral interviews.
- Research: Do your research on the Company, the specific job, your interviewer(s). Your best friends on this step are going to be Google, Bing, Glassdoor, and company’s social media pages. Same way, the LinkedIn page of your interviewers are going to help you understand a lot about them.
- Introspection: Do your research on yourself. Why should they hire you? How do your goals and values align with that of the company? What specific skills make you a great fit for the specific job? Write down your core competencies with very specific examples where you demonstrated them.
- Interview Expectations: Understand from the recruiter what to expect in the interviews. Their goal is to get you placed so utilize that mutual alignment.
- Prepare: At least 5 stories in the S.T.A.R format. The stories should showcase you Impact with the metrics. E.g. My work led to a X% improvement in ‘xyz’ metric leading to a net increase of XX in this vector. Most candidates we talked to thought they had it, but either the impact was missing or the amount of time they spent on each was dis-proportionate.
- Practice: Mock interviews provide you with an environment where you are able to word the stories right, get judged on the quality and format without getting penalized. You get expert feedback in the end, with written notes. It makes a world of difference.
Don’t forget to have a few questions ready for the interviewers. Our seasoned mock interviewers are standing by to help you!