How To Stand Out in Engineering Behavioral Interviews

After conducting interviews with hundreds of engineers and engineering managers at Meta, Twitter, and other companies, I noticed common patterns in how candidates approached answering behavioral interview questions. While many candidates performed well on technical dimensions, they often struggled to articulate their work, accomplishments, and challenges in an interview setting, which led to rejections.

This article covers pointers on how to effectively use the widely known STAR format to answer behavioral questions. It addresses common pitfalls and provides illustrative examples to help candidates understand how to use the STAR format to communicate clearly and stand out. This is the framework that has helped me successfully clear Engineering leadership interviews at Databricks, Twitter, Airbnb, Plaid, Notion, Uber, and other companies.

Introduction to the STAR Format

The STAR format is a widely known method for effectively answering behavioral interview questions, yet many individuals fail to utilize it to its full potential. Despite having prior knowledge of the STAR format, I realized that I was not utilizing it effectively until I received invaluable feedback from a coach. This feedback not only helped me to better understand the STAR format but also provided me with new insights and strategies for improving my interviewing skills overall. By incorporating the coach's feedback and utilizing the STAR format to the best of my abilities, I was able to confidently and effectively communicate my skills and experiences during my interviews.

As a quick introduction, here is an overview of the STAR format:

• S: S stands for Situation. This refers to the situation that you want to discuss in response to an interview question.
• T: T stands for Task. Given the described situation, what tasks were you responsible for?
• A: A stands for Action. Given the situation and tasks at hand, what specific actions did you take?
• R: R stands for Results. What were the outcomes of your actions?

Next, let's examine some best practices and common mistakes, along with examples, for effectively answering behavioral interview questions using the STAR format.

Start With the Context

It is important to provide context and explicitly state your intention to do so before describing a situation. Many candidates make the mistake of immediately jumping into describing the situation without considering that the interviewer may lack the necessary context to fully understand it. Take a few minutes to establish the context, but keep it concise, preferably under two minutes. Relevant context should include the timeframe of the situation, the team involved, your role (individual contributor or engineering manager), and any essential jargon required to comprehend the remainder of your response.

We will use an example for the rest of this article. Imagine that you are interviewing for an EM (Engineering Manager) role, and you are asked the question, "Describe a situation where you helped an engineer grow under your mentorship as a manager."

A sample answer for the context section could be:

• "I will talk about a situation in my current role as an EM. First, here is some relevant context - I had a senior engineer reporting to me. This engineer was highly skilled technically and had been with the company for a long time. However, before I joined the team, their promotion to Staff Engineer was rejected."

Keep the Situation Short

The situation should be described concisely and clearly, with a maximum of 2 to 3 sentences. Using the example above, a sample answer for the situation section could be:

"The engineer felt demotivated after being rejected for a promotion and was eager to reapply for a staff engineer promotion shortly after joining the team."

When describing a situation, it is crucial to keep it specific. A common mistake is to include multiple situations in one statement, which can confuse the interviewer and make it more difficult to follow the rest of the answer.

Tasks Are Not the Same as Actions

Tasks are distinct from actions. Tasks should outline what needs to be done, while actions should describe the concrete steps taken to achieve the tasks.

For the example of a promotion from senior engineer to staff engineer, a candidate could respond by outlining the following two tasks:

"As the Engineering Manager, I had identified two tasks for myself:

• Determine whether the engineer's promotion packet should be submitted at this time.
• If the candidate is not yet ready, create a plan to address their skill gaps and assist them in reaching the level of Staff Engineer."

Be Specific When Describing Actions

One common mistake candidates make is either being too broad and failing to describe specific actions they took or going too deep and rambling for an extended period of time, which can cause them to lose the interviewer's interest. It's important to strike the right balance between being too generic and too specific. If you're unsure, it's better to start with a broader overview and then check with the interviewer if they would like more details.

Another common mistake is using the term "we" instead of "I." The interviewer is not interested in the actions your team took but rather the actions you took.

With the promotion example, here are sample actions you can talk about in your response:

• First, I analyzed the Engineer's previous promotion packet to identify any gaps. After reviewing the feedback from reviewers and making my own observations, I determined that this Engineer needed to focus on enhancing their collaboration skills before being considered for promotion again.
• I collaborated with the Engineer to provide specific feedback on their collaboration skills. I attended meetings they led and offered guidance on using more respectful language when working with cross-functional partners. Additionally, I encouraged the Engineer to schedule regular syncs with cross-functional partners to foster better working relationships.
• After working with the engineer for four months, I became confident that they had successfully bridged the gaps and were ready for promotion.

Results Should Demonstrate Impact and Be Compared to a Baseline

When describing the results, keep the following pointers in mind:

1. The results should be comparative. In other words, establish a baseline and then demonstrate how the actions you took resulted in a significant improvement over the baseline.
2. The results need to demonstrate impact. In some situations, the impact of results is clear, such as "My actions resulted in a 15% increase in daily signups." However, in other cases, the impact might not be obvious. Make sure you clearly communicate the impact of the results.

Let's wrap up the running example with a sample answer for the results component of the STAR format:

"The first time the candidate went up for promotion, there were ten peer reviewers, with 3 of them opposing the promotion. As a result, the candidate was not promoted.

This time, the Engineer's promotion packet had 15 peer reviewers, and all 15 of them strongly supported the promotion. In fact, many of the reviewers highlighted the remarkable improvement in collaboration skills. The Engineer got promoted and achieved a significant career milestone."

If the candidate had simply said, "The result was that the candidate got promoted," without providing any further information, it would have been factually true but lacking in detail and impact compared to the answer above. The above answer compares the initial promotion attempt to the current one and utilizes numerical data to establish the level of impact.

Other Tips for Using the STAR Format

• Maintain a linear narrative: Present the information in a sequential manner, moving from context to situation to task to action and results. Each section should have a clear beginning and end. Avoid jumping back and forth between these sections, as it can make the answer harder to follow.
• Check-in with your interviewer: Regularly check in with your interviewer to ensure they are following along. A natural time to ask, "Does that make sense?" is at the end of each section — situation, task, and action — of your answer.
• Be prepared: The STAR format may not be as straightforward as it seems. Prior to the interview, prepare by identifying situations you have encountered in the past and consider how they align with the STAR framework.