Prepare Your Interview Questions In Advance
Interviewers usually expect employees to ask their own questions to show they’re prepared and highly interested in the role. Consider preparing some questions in advance and listening closely to the interviewer discussing the company to develop additional questions in the moment. You can ask questions about the corporate culture, growth opportunities within the organization or the next steps in the interview process.
Dress Appropriately For Your Interview
To make a good impression on the hiring team, take steps to dress appropriately when you meet. Try reviewing the companys website or social media profiles to research the employee dress code and use that to guide what you wear. In most cases, a business casual outfitsuch as dress pants with a professional shirtor a business formal suit will work best for interview attire.
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Does Everyone Get An Oxford Interview
Around 22,000 applications are received every year to apply to Oxford around 10,000 of them are considered for the schools three full-time positions. It would be impossible to interview everyone since we have so many more applications than places. Interviews are only granted to those on the shortlist.
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Practice Using The Star Method
There are also certain interview questions that require you to follow the ‘STAR’ method. This stands for situation, task, action and result. The specific questions are usually easy to spot, as they start with a sentence like, ‘Give me an example of a time when…’. You can begin by describing the situation, then explaining the task that you had to do. After that, you can state how you addressed approaching the task or challenge, before detailing the outcome and end results. They often form the basis of competency-based interviews, where employers ask several ‘STAR’ method questions consecutively.
Related:How to use the STAR interview technique in competency-based interviews
What Should You Do To Ace An Interview
To increase the chances of having a successful job interview, take the time to prepare before meeting with the hiring team. Think about the topics you are likely to discuss, ways to position yourself as a strong candidate and opportunities to make a positive impression on the hiring team. Include the following in your job interview preparations:
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Research: Learn as much as you can about the company and the position.
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Planning: Carefully consider what to wear and how to present yourself professionally.
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Practice: Reflect on the most effective ways to discuss common interview subjects.
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Facebook Behavioral Questions: Leadership
In addition to employees with a collaborative nature, Facebook is looking for employees who are able to motivate their team, resolve conflicts, drive alignment, and build relationships. This is because most roles will involve not only working in teams, but also leading them when appropriate.
This would be a good time to show that youve got drive and empathy, particularly if you’re interviewing for a manager role. Some of the leadership skills that Facebook is looking for in these questions include how you earn trust and take ownership, process and grow from past experiences, support the people around you, and overcome difficult situations.
Example behavioral questions asked at Facebook: Leadership
- Tell me about a time you lead a team
- Tell me about a time you had to step up and take responsibility for others
- Tell me about your worst boss and why they were bad
- How would you advocate for a commitment to a priority, when that priority is not high on someone else’s list?
- How would you manage timelines in a highly matrixed environment, where there is no top down authority?
Research Your Prospective Employer
Before going to an interview, conduct enough research on the company to be familiar with its goals, accomplishments, objectives and mission. A great way to do this is to research the company’s website to learn more about its history, executives, recent announcements and corporate culture. You can also look for news articles to learn about its recent achievements and future goals. Find additional input on what it’s like to work at the organization by reading employee reviews online.
Conducting research on the organisation helps you better understand the company and the types of questions interviewers may ask. This helps you provide informed answers that demonstrate why your qualifications, achievements and experience make you the best fit for the role.
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Facebook Behavioral Interview Questions
Now that youve gotten an idea of what to expect during the Facebook interview process, lets jump into some example questions.
To help you prepare strategically for your job interview, we have used Glassdoor data to identify the real questions asked in different Facebook interviews. The questions weve chosen come from our research on five Facebook tech roles: product manager, software engineer, program manager, product designer, and data scientist.
Youll notice that weve divided the questions into the following categories:
- General
- Leadership
- Role-specific
We’ve added these categories to make the list of questions easier to understand, starting with the general questions that apply to any job. Each category tests a different quality that Facebook is looking for in its candidates, and the frequency of each question type will vary depending on the role. For instance, interviews for managerial roles will include a higher number of leadership questions.
Can You Tell Me About Yourself
Interviewers often start with this question to learn about your background. When you answer, try beginning by mentioning where you are now before briefly explaining how you advanced to your current position. By taking this tactic, you can establish your professional history and emphasize the most important aspects.
Example: Currently, I am a junior personal trainer, and I have 25 recurring clients. In my three years as a fitness instructor, I have earned certifications in yoga and pilates, allowing me to specialize in these rapidly growing areas. Because I maintain a full client roster, I have also taken online sales courses. As a fitness enthusiast, I am also highly self-motivated and driven to share my excitement for health and well-being with my clients.
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How To Position Your Camera
No one looks good on video when angling the camera from below. If you position the camera too high, you barely make it into the screen. You can achieve the most flattering angle by positioning the camera just above your eye-line.
Try to have at least two feet of distance between the background and you to reduce shadows and make the lighting more flattering.
Understand The Star Method
During job interviews, many hiring managers ask behavioral questions to assess how candidates handle common situations in the workplace. To prepare for these questions, get to know the STAR method, which involves discussing the situation, task, action and result. To use this method, begin by explaining the context of the situation before discussing your role, or task in these circumstances. Next, reflect on the actions you took to handle the challenge and the result of your initiative.
Related: How to Use the STAR Interview Response Technique
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Other Body Language Best Practices
People want to work with people they like. It should go without saying that you want to be friendly, personable, and agreeable during your interview. Smile naturally and nod when you agree with something the interviewer says. Just dont overdo it or else you risk looking like a bobble head.
40% of interviewers said a lack of a smile is a good enough reason not to consider a candidate.
Smiling helps create a connection with those interviewing you.
You can also use body language to show interest and enthusiasm for the job. Try sitting on the edge of your seat and leaning in slightly rather than slouching or leaning back. Project open body language by keeping your arms at your side instead of folding them in front of you, which can come across as defensive or guarded.
20% of interviewers said candidates who sat with their arms crossed were not considered because their body language reflected lack of confidence.
Crossing your arms or holding your head in your hand projects boredom or defensiveness.
Sometimes body language can be louder than your interview answers. Job applicants often fidget, frequently adjust their hair, and/or chew their nails out of nervousness. While this is understandable, this nervous energy will distract the interviewer. Take a deep breath before entering the virtual interview room and try to minimize unnecessary movement.
Tips To Impress Your Interviewer
Finally, before we move on to some interview preparation resources, we’d like to give you five helpful tips to keep in mind.
Tip #1: Get used to setting up the situation in 30 seconds or less
Use a timer while you practice to ensure you provide only necessary information. Spending too much time on the Situation step is one of the most common mistakes candidates make.
Tip #2: Stay focused on essential details
Interviewers hear a lot of behavioral stories a day. If you go into unnecessary details you are likely to lose their attention. Share your stories with a few different people before your interview and ask them what details they would suggest cutting.
Tip #3: Be proud and talk about YOU
This is not the time to be shy about your accomplishments. Concentrate on your impact, not what the team did. Not talking about YOU enough is another common mistake we see with a lot of candidates.
Tip #4: Adapt to follow up questions
Dont be alarmed if your interviewer asks follow up questions this is perfectly normal. Listen carefully to the way your interviewer is asking these questions, as there will often be a subtle clue about the specific skills theyre looking to assess from the next part of your answer.
Tip #5: Explain how failure made you better
When talking about failure, dont try to hide your mistakes or frame a weakness as a strength. Instead, show what you learned and how you grew from the failure.
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Follow Up After The Interview
Once the interview ends, you can take additional actions to increase your chance of getting the job. Try sending a thank-you email to the hiring manager within a day after the interview. In the email, reiterate your interest in the position, and express your gratitude for the interview. If you do not receive a response within a week after the job listing closes, consider sending an additional follow-up email to express your continued enthusiasm for the position and interest in taking the next step in the hiring process.
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Why Should We Consider Hiring You
Hiring managers ask this question to encourage you to explain why you think you’re the best fit and the value you can bring to the role. Try to emphasize your experience in your answer, highlighting both your hard and soft skills and how they apply to the position. Be sure to mention your most impressive academic and professional achievements, and show your enthusiasm for the company’s mission and how it aligns with your personal career goals.
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Tip : Learn To Communicate Your Strengths
Not all data scientists work in the same ways, and not every data scientist specializes in the same areas. Its important to be able to identify and articulate to hiring managers what kind of data scientist you are, where your strengths lie, what you could bring to a team, and the type of role in which you would most thrive.
Data science is both an art and a science, and I do think that people tend to fall on a spectrum, according to Instagram data scientist Mansha Mahtani. Some people tend to be really good at communication, really good at storytelling and the product intuition part of things, and then there are some people that really prefer working on optimization problems, really prefer building those statistical models and really getting into the math of it. And my recommendation would be to figure out where you land and then make sure that you develop some way to communicate that when you are looking for a role or a job. Once you do that, you really stand out amongst your peers because every employer knows that there is a spectrum and it would just be helpful if you were able to communicate your strengths and play those up.
Tip : Stay On Top Of The Latest Trends And Tools
It doesnt matter if youre fresh out of school or have years of experienceits important to stay on top of whats fresh and new in the data science industry, according to Shae Wang, a data scientist at Uber.
The things you learn in school are all printed on a textbook, and a lot of times, theyre outdated, Wang said. In the workforce, you realize that people are using new methods, theyre using experimental methods.
In order to stay competitive and to show hiring managers that youre a self-starter who can keep up with the latest, Wang recommends reading new research papers as theyre published and being aware of the new types of algorithms that are being used.
Stay on top of news and stay informed, she said. Go to conferences and meet people because data science is not a super mature fieldthere are many opportunities for improvement. You should never be afraid to try new algorithms yourself or even try to develop a new method.
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Tip : Have The Right Mindset
When companies are hiring data scientists, they are looking for people who are both skilled individuals and have the mindset to help the organization meet its goals.
One of the key things that I personally look for is people who have a keen focus on the consumer experience, or the end-user experience that is created by their algorithms, and not necessarily how cool or cutting edge the algorithm itself is, said Pallav Agrawal, a data scientist formerly at Levis who now works at Amazon.
Steve Jobs actually has this quoteYou have to start with the consumer experience and then work backward through the technology. This is very prescient when you think about how a lot of people who come into the data science from research labs or from being Kaggle Grandmasters focus a lot of their time and energy on the accuracy of the models or the cleanliness of the data, but not necessarily on what would a human feel when they are receiving the output of this algorithm.
Why Do You Want This Position
Hiring teams include this question in interviews to determine how well you understand the job and the company. When you receive this question, you have an opportunity to demonstrate how much you have researched the organization and the job opening. In your answer, try mentioning the companys mission or accomplishments and the unique opportunities that the position offers.
Example: The role aligns well with my experience and future goals. After working in a supervisory retail sales position for three years, I am adequately prepared to advance to a managerial role in the field. I am enthusiastic about the management and financial skills I can acquire through this position, and I am excited about working for an accomplished company that frequently exceeds its quarterly sales goals by 10% or more.
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What Are Your Greatest Strengths And Weaknesses
Employers typically ask about your strengths and weaknesses to learn more about areas where you excel and where you could improve. When you respond, mention your best technical and soft skills. To discuss your weaknesses, try to choose an area where you have already taken steps to improve. Using this strategy allows you to add a positive aspect to a question that has the potential to be negative.
Example: After seven years of working in web design, I have mastered technical skills like visual design and user experience. Combined with my natural ability to solve problems and think analytically, these skills give me the power to work seamlessly with clients. However, during my first year of working in web design, I realized that I was not communicating clearly enough with clients, often resulting in extra work for me and frustration for my clients. I researched techniques for improving written and verbal communication, and as a result, I improved my productivity by 15%.
How To Ace Your Next Interview: Tips And Examples
Whether you are applying for an entry-level position or a senior role, you will probably have to interview with a potential employer before receiving a job offer. Since a job interview gives you a chance to show your qualifications and make a good impression on the hiring team, you will want to perform at your best during this important meeting. In this article, we discuss how to ace an interview, including preparation tips for common job interview questions.
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What Is The Star Interview Method
The best way to answer behavioral interview questions is with the STAR technique â situation, task, action result. However, itâs important to note that your past performance does not mean that you have experience in performing the job requirements of the job for which you are interviewing. In fact, even if youâve just graduated, and have absolutely no work experience, or are switching industries midway through your career, companies can assess your past performance. But how?
Cheri Huber, Zen Buddhist meditation teacher and author sums it up nicely, âHow you do anything is how you do everything.â
When you describe your leadership role on the tennis team at the university, it reflects your leadership ability. When you organized a large event for a political campaign as an intern, it shows your organizational ability. When you worked 3 part-time jobs to fund your education, it shows your grit and work ethic. When you broke the sales record at your previous company, it shows that you know a thing or two about sales. All of these examples and more can be told in the format of a story.
Companies have certain âjob requirementsâ in mind when assessing candidates. However, they use these requirements as more of a guideline. Thatâs why you should not get hung up on every single detail of a job description. In reality the majority of companies are looking for transferable skills from your life and work experiences.
