Prepare for Interview Questions

Guidance for students preparing for an internship interview.

This recruiting season is winding up. Met a lot of great students. I always give out my contact information, but students rarely follow-up. One did and asked for help with interviewing. Apparently she’s applied scores of times, been interviewed a half dozen times, and received no offers. Her questions about interview questions inspired this article.

This article answers the questions:

Why do interview questions vary so wildly?
What is the interviewer looking for?
How can I predict the questions I should be prepared for in an interview?
How do I prepare to answer behavioral questions?

Why do interview questions vary so wildly?

Not all interviewers are good at interviewing.

The interviewer’s training varies wildly. Most hiring managers have never been explicitly trained to interview. So, there’s a LOT of bad interviewing.

The interviewer’s focus varies wildly. For most hiring managers, interviewing is a small part of their whole job. They have other responsibilities that feel more important and urgent. Their ”real” work is always very pressing. Before you know it you’re out of time. The interview plan may be the result of a couple hasty internet searches.

Most of the interviewing advice on the internet isn’t from people doing it for their job. Fewer still are doing it well. These are the poor articles that procrastinating interviewers find. Garbage in, garbage out.

I can’t predict all of the poor questions you might be asked. I’m only going to talk about the kinds of questions I use. Research shows competency based behavioral interview (CBBI) questions are effective. That’s my jam.

You still might want to be prepared to answer brain-teasers, or silly questions like,

Do you play a musical instrument? (All the good engineers I’ve ever known played an instrument)
If you were a color, what would you be?
Why are man-hole covers round?

What is the interviewer looking for?

Each interviewer should be looking for evidence that you have already successfully done the job they are hiring for.

Alternatively, they should be seeking evidence that you have already mastered the essential parts of the job—altogether or separately. They analyze the job, identify the essential skills (or ”competencies”), and formulate questions around them.

When they say, “tell me about a time when you had to pay particular attention to detail,” they’re showing they believe attention to detail is an important part of the job. Make sure your answer recounts a true story of a time when you already demonstrated mastery of ”attention to detail.”

What is the CBBI question formula?

Behavioral questions have some pretty standard parts that make them easy to spot:

Optional context statement
Request for examples
State the skill

I’m sure there are more, but this gives you the gist. For example, rewriting the attention to detail question

Context statement: “Web developers have to make sure every detail is right before signing off on their work.”
Request for examples: “Tell me about a time when you”
State the skill: “ensured the accuracy of your work when it really mattered.”

So, putting that all together, you’d get: Web developers have to make sure every detail is right before signing off on their work. Tell me about a time when you ensured the accuracy of your work when it really mattered.

Notice the introductory context statement is likely to lock your mind into thinking about examples from Web Development, but that isn’t necessary. The skill I’m asking you to demonstrate exists outside of that context, too. You just need to connect with the skill I’m looking for: attention to detail when it counts.

Why are there sometimes a lot of follow-up questions after I’ve given my answer?

Before asking any interview question, I already have in mind the skill I am looking for. Furthermore, I think I know what it looks like when done well. For example, when asking about attention to detail, I think you need to have a system for tracking details. I think you need to refer back to that list of details over and over until you’re confident they are all met. I think you need to automate the checking of as many of those requirements as possible so that your code will survive in our continuous delivery environment.

Because I know what success looks like, I’ll first listen carefully and take copious notes. Then I will ask redirecting questions to probe out your answer:

“How did you know all of the requirements were met?”
“Who gave you the requirements?”
“How did you keep the customer involved while working on their project?”

Most of the time, I’m looking for direct evidence of the existence or absence of the skill I’m focused on. Sometimes I’m just interested in your answer and can see it taking me to other skills I’m interested in establishing evidence around.

Why do the questions sometimes seem to be looking for opposite answers?

Often, questions will oppose one another. That’s because the demands of work are in tension and we need to decide which takes priority in each situation. After asking about attention to detail, I may ask about a time when you improvised a solution when time really mattered. Speediness often conflicts with thoroughness. I want both. So don’t double down on perfectionism in your answer.

How can I predict the questions I should be prepared for in an interview?

Again, interviewers vary wildly. If they are asking behavioral questions based on the requirements of the job, then just read the job description to find the competencies they’ll be looking at. I can’t help you with the odd ball questions.

What are the job requirements?

In general, they should be in the job posting. Sometimes that isn’t available, or is too general.

To be a Web Development Intern you need some of the following:

Excellent programming skills in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Attention to detail, both requirements and testing your solutions
Clear communication skills, both giving and receiving communication
Effective contributing to a group decision
Track record of sticking to the group decision

There are more, but this is a good starting point.

Note: I don’t assess programming skills with behavioral questions. Instead, I program with you on a simple problem. Preparing for knowledge based tests and demonstrations is a whole different ball game. (See also: My Current Favorite Interview Problem Memoize; paper-code helps you interview)

Given the five requirements and the formula for CBBI questions, you should be able to anticipate the kinds of questions you will be asked.

You don’t really need to write out all the questions, you just need enough experience with the CBBI format to see:

they are asking for facts from the past, not hypotheticals,
what skill they are probing for

What is one question I should prepare for regardless of the job?

You should always come prepared to answer, “Tell me about yourself.” It is an easy question to warm up on, both for the interviewer and the candidate.

Don’t mistake it for chit-chat. The interview has started and the answer counts.
Prepare an answer that highlights your professional journey to this point, here today.
Don’t talk about your cats and miscellaneous hobbies.
Don’t reveal information that would stress your interviewer out. Don’t talk about things the interviewer doesn’t want to know because it exposes them to being accused of making an illegal decision.
Feel free to briefly talk about why this company in particular is attractive to you – not the money, the mission.
Feel free to briefly tell how you think your past results have demonstrated you are a good fit for the job.

How do I prepare to answer behavioral questions?

The foundation of your preparation is ready familiarity with the results you yourself have achieved in the past. If you are up to speed on your own strengths and results you can answer even silly questions in a way that plays to your strengths.

Pick out job requirements from the listing, your own analysis of the job, or the five competencies I listed earlier for Web Development jobs. Put them in priority order. Ask yourself, “when have I delivered convincing results in this area?”

In your answers, don’t limit yourself to on-the-job experiences. (This is particularly powerful for someone that hasn’t yet broken into the industry.)

For example, if they ask you to talk about when you paid close attention to detail, your answer doesn’t have to be at a job. It could be in school, in a volunteer group, anywhere.

I personally care more about job-related experience, so go there if you have it. And so many people are bad at answering the question with real examples of past results that a well thought out example from elsewhere in your life will probably still be among the best answers.

I hope these thoughts are helpful for you. If you have the money, I recommend Manager Tools’ Interview Series and First Job Fundamentals products. I’m not affiliated with Manager Tools, just a fan.

If you are a student living somewhere from Provo, UT to Rexburg, ID looking for a Web Development internship let me know if you’d like a mock interview. It wouldn’t be as long as a real interview. It would be closer to 30 or 45 minutes. I’ll review your resume, ask you at least one CBBI question and probe through your response. We’ll finish with feedback on how well you demonstrated the skill I was looking for.

Of course, all of your comments are welcome at questions@ManagerJS.com.