Facebook second phone interviews
In my first phone screening the interviewer and I had a really good 35 minute discussion about development and my knowledge, he seemed genuinly interested in some of my previous work he had taken a look at. For the first 3/4 questions I let him know I had already seen the solution during prep, so I either coded it quickly or ran through the approach. The 4th question was really easy and I absolutely bombed it, it was pretty embarrassing. I was sure it was going to be a no, but they've scheduled another phone screening with an engineering manager from the same team. Will they target what they think my weakness might be based on my first interview? or will it just be a blind interview pretty much the same as the first? I'm an Australian and the on-site is in the US, not sure if that matters or not when it comes to rounds of screenings.
My guess is they think you might have had a brain fart which caused you to bomb that question but they aren’t sure so they want to interview you again to make sure.
Do you specifically tailor second screenings based on the feedback from the first screening? Or do they just look for another individual opinion?
Possibly. I might say something like: “I got good problem solving signal so try to focus on coding signal instead” or “candidate struggled on a problem involving pointers. Given their background it’s understandable that they might not have done much pointer manipulation. In the follow up, let’s do problems that don’t involve pointers”
If it's a typical interview, the second interviewer does not even get to see the feedback from first interviewer, except the list of coding/system design questions you were asked.
Pretty much all international candidates need to do 2 phone screens
Two things: - All international candidates go for two phone interviews before onsite. - The second interview is completely independent of the first one unless there were very obvious markers on your first one. The goal of interviewing is not to find your weaknesses but capitalize on your strengths.
Thanks for the info, that's exactly what I wanted to know. And I do appreciate that sentiment, I probably need to start thinking about it that way myself.
Exactly what BingBang said. They’re looking for your “super powers,” literally their term for hiring. They acknowledge your weakness but aren’t out to get you. After finding your strengths they look to see if you’re a cultural fit.
My guess is, since it's a big investment in terms of time and money to get you to the valley from Australia, they might just be making doubly sure that you are a right fit for the role.