What do you expect from a behavioral round in the tech interviews ? I had interviews with about four different companies in the last two months and I am very sure that all the tech rounds like system-design, coding etc were very great with all the companies. But get a “regret” email thereafter. I sent an email to them asking for a feedback so that I can improve upon for the future. But no response for that. So I suspect that I may have faltered in the behavioral round. In two companies I provided two different instances where I talked and discussed the issue among my peers in other group during our break room chats etc amicably without any escalation. It involved in minor changes to the processes on both the sides. Maybe it looks like it did not go well. In the next two companies, I said : in my 30+ years in the software industry I did not have any conflict with anybody in my career. Any minor irritants were resolved amicably. I get along well with everybody ( by the way it is true ). Looks like this too did not go well. So, is not having any conflict in 30+ years of working looked as a negative trait ? One of my colleague opined that it may reflect that I am not aggressive or no ambition to grow ? Is it true and why ? I am an example of having an ambition to grow technically and still get along well with all. Or should I treat it as some sort of age-related rejection and accept the reality and stop looking for a change ? By the way I still love to be an IC and code still. I want a change desperately to maintain my sanity. Please no flaks and be polite in your responses. TC : 180
What do you expect from a behavioral round in the tech interviews ? —— Trust me , they themselves don’t know . On that day what seems right is what it is .
I'm not a hiring manager, just a senior engineer, but let me try my hand here. I'm assuming, given your yoe, you are interviewing for at least the senior level. The thing that determines your level is your behavioral round. Conflict here doesn't mean getting into a fist fight or angry at each other, it just means a difference in opinion. A good example for a senior engineer would be when others disagreed with you on the design of a project, but you were able to convince them/compromise and get on common grounds. This shows a) project ownership scope that's expected of seniors, and b) the ability to de-escalate and focus on the task at had. I'm sure you have plenty of stories like that one, just need to frame it as such. Look up "Meta" the Amazon Principal Engineer on YouTube. He explains this well.
First, low number of interviews may have just given you a bad sample. Second, it does kind of sound weird. Office politics happens. There are differences of opinion. I think what you’re saying *sounds* wrong to interviewer even though you’re trying to say the right thing. It sounds like you’re either perfect, a doormat, or totally innocent to real conflict. I think you may be just preternaturally chill. Just change “minor irritant” to “conflict” and call it a day. The last possibility, the ageism masquerading as something else, might also be the case. Hard to know. Hopefully, it’s just that you haven’t talked to the right people yet. They’re out there, looking for you.
It’s difficult to help without actually taking to you. From what you wrote though it sounds like it may be difficult for interviewers to get an idea of what it’s like to work with you. 30 years and you can’t give details about how a disagreement was resolved other than “it was resolved amicably” and “I get along with everybody”? They’re not looking for drama, they’re looking for how you interact with others and how you resolve people problems. In all that time you never had a disagreement on process or direction or anything?
Disagreements are there. Obviously,yes, on many fronts. But nothing big time to get escalated to the higher management level etc. etc. so you mean “ disagreement “ and “ conflict “ are used interchangeably? Those low level disagreements gets resolved within the first level management chain itself. So what else more are they expecting then ?
So it’s a semantics issue. Interviewers aren’t necessarily looking for big issues that needed escalations. Again they’re asking you to tell them how you handle situations where a disagreement or conflict needs to be resolved. In the interview that would be your time to say “I haven’t had any big conflict that needed intervention from management, but here is a situation where a colleague and I disagreed about X.” Then you talk about it and how you resolved it. Communication of these things show your understanding of social dynamics, level of emotional intelligence, and how you might work in a team. If you don’t give interviewers insight then they don’t have much to go on so you’re either unknown or some may consider it a yellow flag.
Interviewers are looking for a narrative. Give them one. They aren’t looking for people who either have or have not had conflict. These questions aren’t binary. They want a story.
So, sort of essay writing as in high schools ?
KNUJ50 means they want to assign “you” in all your many facets to a type of person with which they are familiar, an archetype. The purpose of answering questions from a consistent point of view, a “story”, is to allow the interviewers to make the mental connection, “Oh this guy is a perfect exemplar of ___ employee with which we are familiar.” And we all know that stories require some sort of protagonist and conflict, whether interpersonal or otherwise. So, if your answers don’t give these guys something to grab that they recognize, then they just scratch their heads like, “Who is this guy?” In that sense, the conflict behavioral question may be a distraction; sort of a backup question people ask when they can’t quickly get rapport with you.
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Depends on company and role. We look for ability to manage conflict, engage with stakeholders/internal clients and discuss trade offs, use data driven approaches to decision making, etc The answers you gave I can’t really tell how they would apply. The 30 years no conflict i would discard. It doesn’t help me answer how you would actually work within a team