BQ questions

Background
- Tell me about yourself - under a minute personal and professional
- Level of expertise in area - ML/CV/NLP/Infra/etc
- Career - decisions made and impact / why leaving
- Experiences - how much ownership for each project
Interests - passionate
- Why interested in x?
- What interests you about this position?
- What do you hope to learn in new job?
- What made you excited to work?
- Explain a paper you really liked
- What have you done that you’re most proud of?
Communication
- How well you communicate but also whether you can adapt to the communication style
- Tell me a time you had to give constructive criticism
- Tell me a time you received critical feedback
- Have you ever disagreed with your manager? how did you address that?
- How would your coworkers describe your communication style?
- What was the most ambiguous project you’ve been part of? how did you handle it?
- What kind of managerial style would bring out the best in you?
Personality
- How would your colleagues describe you?
- If you were interviewing a potential teammate, what traits would you look for?
- If you needed a partner to solve a programming problem, how would you describe your ideal partner?
- If you could go back to five years ago, what skill would you learn?
- Tell me about a time when you faced a seemingly insurmountable challenge and how you overcame it?

Questions to ask your interviewers

Mission, vision values, competitors, future plans, challenges they are facing, possible career path, policies you should know about, internal hierarchy, and existing corporate politics

HBR career chicken soup

How to Respond When Someone Takes Credit for Your Work

Do:
- Give yourself time to calm down and assess the situation
- Be clear about your contributions whenever you get an opportunity
- Ask colleagues to mention your name when the idea or project comes up in conversation
Don’t:
- Feel like you need to get credit for every single thing you do
- Presume that the person had malicious intentions — credit stealing is often an accident
- Make any accusations — instead ask the person questions to try to figure out why it happened
The Right Way to Bring a Problem to Your Boss
- Describe the problem. Provide a general overview of the problem, and show the specific impact it has on your work and the company’s goals.
- Identify your solution or approach. Explain how you’ve already tried to solve the problem and what you’ve learned from those attempts. Recommend a specific approach, along with alternatives, to provide your manager with options.
- Explain the implications. Consider the impact that your proposed solution will have on yourself and others, including your manager.
- Discuss the benefits. Focus your conversation on concrete examples of your idea’s benefits. The specific features of the solution, or how it will be implemented, are less important at this stage.
- Accept responsibility for the outcome. Demonstrate your commitment to ensuring success.
How to Disagree with Someone More Powerful than You

Do:
- Explain that you have a different opinion and ask if you can voice it.
- Restate the original point of view or decision so it’s clear you understand it.
- Speak slowly — talking in an even tone calms you and the other person down.
Don’t:
- Assume that disagreeing is going to damage your relationship or career — the consequences are often less dramatic than we think.
- State your opinions as facts; simply express your point of view and be open to dialogue.
- Use judgment words, such as “hasty,” “foolish,” or “wrong,” that might upset or incite your counterpart.

Grokking the Behavioral Interview

List of Experiences
- Time when you felt a huge sense of accomplishment or success
- Time when you fixed something that wasn’t working
- A time when you had to make a challenging decision
- A time when you had to influence a leader or team
- Times when you got surprised by something or had overlooked something
- Times when you removed barriers or came up with a creative solution
- A time when you failed but learned
- A time when you had to defuse an escalating situation
The STAR technique
- **Situation **:
  - describe a specific situation, such that the interviewer understand the circumstances
- Task :
  - what were you asked or expected to do and why?
  - what was driving you (and/or your team) to complete this project?
  - what were your responsibilities in that situation?
- Action :
  - describe the actions taken
  - prioritize what you did, what your contribution was and how those things were impactful
- Result :
  - describe the outcome.
  - what happened, how the event ended, what was accomplished, and what you learned.
Answer the question that was asked
- Interviewer should have questions they need to ask inorder to assess specfic characteristics, it’s best to let them lead.
- Answer the question and be concise first and elaborate later if asked to say more.
- Listen all the way to the end of the question before begining a response. Avoid jumping in with an answer to the question you thought they were asking, and being wrong.
- Using simple language and avoiding jargon. Interviewer wants you to demonstrate that you can talk to any team member in the organization, not just those with specialized expertise.
Get information
- I am not following the question, can you ask it in another way?
- Can you tell me a bit more about what you want?
- Do you mean……?
- I can give you an example of a time I missed a deadline, is that what you’re asking?
- I can tell you about my experience leading a remote team, is that a good example?
If an interviewer or panelist starts talking during your response, stop talking for a moment. They are likely trying to give guidance or manage expectations. Before you resume, ask, “shall I continue?”
Avoid talking in absolutes
- I’m always on time → I prefer being on time whenever possible.
- I’m never insensitive → I work hard to give feedback in a constructive way that considers personal feelings.
- That’s everything that happened → Those are the examples I can recall right now.
Control the pace
Spotting a behavioral question
- openings:
  - Tell me about a time when…
  - Can you share a situation when…
  - What do you do when…
  - Give me an example of…
  - Describe a…
- Common hangups
  - “Greatest”, “proudest”, “worst”, “best”, “biggest”, “most significant”, “fastest”
  - listen past these descriptors and make sure that you hear what the interviewer actually wants
  - If the situation you choose isn’t the “biggest” or the “worst”, you can introduce your answer by saying something like; “this failure wasn’t the biggest in terms of loss of business, but it had a significant impact on me because it revealed a blind spot.”
- Small talk
  - What do you like to do in your free time?
  - What book are you reading right now?
  - Seen any good movies lately?
  - Are you a sports fan?
  - Do you have any exciting trips planned?
Parsing Prior Experience Questions
- Tell me about a time when you experienced failure.
- What was the last project you led, and what was its outcome?
- Give me an example of a time that you felt you went above and beyond at work.
- Describe a time when your work was criticized, how you responded, and what happened as a result.
- Have you ever been on a team where someone was not doing their part? How did you handle it?
- Tell me about a time when you had to give someone difficult feedback. How did you handle it?
- How do you handle working with people who annoy you?
- What was the most difficult period in your life, and how did you deal with it?
- Give me an example of a time you did something wrong. How did you handle it?
- Tell me about a time when you had to deal with conflict on the job.
- What assignment was too difficult for you, and how did you resolve the issue?
- Give me an example of a difficult decision you had to make. How did you come to that decision?
- Give an example of an idea you implemented.
- Describe a mentor who has impacted you in a positive way.
- Was there a person in your career who really made a difference? In what way?
- Tell me about your proudest achievement.
Response
- I > We
Parsing hypothetical questions
- Questions start with:
  - Imagine
  - If
  - Put yourself in the position of
  - If you could have
  - It’s 2050 and
  - You’re in charge of x, y, z and
- Resist the urge to ask specifics for hypothetical situation questions. Instead, state specifics as assumptions. I am going to assume that the team is co-located…
- Sample Questions:
  - Your team is giving a presentation in two hours and one member just called in sick. What do you do?
  - If you had to choose between a work environment that was always in chaos and one in which nothing ever changed, which would you choose?
  - If you inherited so much money that you never had to work again, how would you spend your time?
  - If you could create a fictional company to make the world a better place, what would that company do?
  - Imagine that you are the product manager for a consumer device that just launched, but 20% of the devices are breaking in the first week from normal use. What do you do?
  - Describe how you would handle a situation if you were required to finish multiple tasks by the end of the day, and there was no conceivable way that you could finish them.
Values-Based Questions

When I was at ABC Foundation, there was a real focus on sharing information. We worked in teams of 8-10 people, each with a Lead. Leads reported up to managers that had two or three teams. The culture was very collaborative. Everybody worked on everything, so you got to know each other’s code and areas of expertise. If you discovered a new problem or way to do something, you were expected to add it to the KB. There was less reliance on tribal knowledge than there is at other places I’ve worked. There was no pressure to act like you know everything. If you had a question, you owned the question until it was answered, and then you were responsible for documenting the answer so others would have it. It wasn’t ok to just pose a question and be stuck if nobody responded. I got better at writing code other people could follow. My documentation really improved. We debated things and tested new ideas, but it wasn’t about something being right or winning an argument. It was about finding the best way to do something, which is really satisfying to me. If I were to join your company, I would hope to foster the same behaviors.
Asking Questions
- Always say yes if given chance to ask questions.
  1. Always have questions ready to ask the interviewer
  2. If during interview, you developed a good rapport and natural curiosity about the interviewer or something the interviewer said, ask that question
  3. Best method is to ask your interviewer questions that give them a chance to talk about themselves.
  4. Ask open-ended questions that elicit a response beyond yes or no
  5. No questions regarding compensation, hours, perks, titles etc.
- Only time you should forego asking question is when you feel the interviewer is anxious to end the interview. Say something like, I do have questions, but I can ask recruiter about them. thank you for your time.
- Example questions:
  1. What sort of tangible changes has this organization made in regards to promoting gender diversity?
  2. What are the most exciting projects you’ve worked on here?
  3. What do you like most about the organization?
  4. What would you change about the organization?
  5. How has the organization changed since you’ve joined?
  6. What do you like most about working here?
  7. Can you describe the organization’s overall management style and the type of person who usually does well here?
  8. What excites you the most about the organization’s future?
  9. If you could change one thing about the organization, what would it be?
  10. Does the organization have any traditions or rituals that you like?
  11. Where do you see the organization in three years and how would I contribute to that if I’m hired for this role?
  12. What is a challenge the organization is facing right now and how could I contribute to overcoming it?
  13. In what ways might this role change in the next year?
  14. What would the onboarding process be like for this role?
  15. What can you tell me about the position that isn’t in the job description?
  16. Do you expect to do more hiring in this group in the next six months?
  17. What surprised you about the organization after you started working here?
  18. What has allowed you to be successful here?
  19. How does the organization respond to failure?
  20. Tell me about your most successful employees. What do they do that really sets them apart?
  21. What haven’t I asked about that most candidates want to know?
  22. If you were interviewing with your organization again, what questions would you be asking?
  23. (If this is your future boss) How would you describe your management style?
  24. What’s your timeline for the next steps?
  25. Are there resources I could review in advance to get a head start on the learning curve?
1. What was the last project you led, and what was its outcome?
2. Give me an example of a time that you felt you went above and beyond at work.
3. Describe a time when your work was criticized, how you responded, and what happened as a result.
4. Have you ever been on a team where someone was not doing their part? How did you handle it?
5. Tell me about a time when you had to give someone difficult feedback. How did you handle it?
6. How do you handle working with people who annoy you?
7. What was the most difficult period in your life, and how did you deal with it?
8. Give me an example of a time you did something wrong. How did you handle it?
9. Tell me about a time when you had to deal with conflict on the job.
10. What assignment was too difficult for you, and how did you resolve the issue?
11. Give me an example of a difficult decision you had to make. How did you come to that decision?
12. Give an example of an idea you implemented.
13. Describe a mentor who has impacted you in a positive way.
14. Was there a person in your career who really made a difference? In what way?
15. Tell me about your proudest achievement.

Hiring Manager Interview

expect the unexpected
common questions
1. tell me about yourself
2. why should we hire you
3. how you like to be managed
questions for the hiring manager
1. prepare lots of questions
2. ask questions about them, their background etc
3. all positive
positivity
skill alignment
1. narrow down to 3 skills match with job
research
1. company / team need
brevity
1. 1 minute for common questions
2. more time for more complex questions
culture fit
1. (in manager’s head) could I lead / manage this person
interest / enthusiastic
1. engaged in conversation
honesty
learning mindset
1. focus not on the pain but what we learned
2. continued learning
proactivity
1. identify past history on this
problem solving
soft edges
1. avoid spikes / negative words / negative opinions on others / make excuses
slow down / thoughtful / restate question and articulate
body language - mirror the otherside
pitch and tone
respect / time / need
calculated risk
practice