Behavioural Interviews Module 8
Hiring-manager, values and closing conversations interview questions
Interview questions on hiring-manager, values and closing conversations: warm-ups, then what each harder question tests and how a good answer starts.
Warm-up questions
Short questions with short answers, each answered in full.
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Fresher to mid
What is the hiring-manager round for, and how is it different from the technical rounds?
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Fresher to mid
What is the difference between values alignment and culture fit?
Values alignment is evidence that the way you act matches the values an employer publishes: what you did when a value was tested, such as telling a hard truth or putting a customer first. Culture fit is the sense that you resemble the people already there, in habits, background or tastes. They are not the same. Atlassian says values aren't the same as culture, which changes as a company grows and varies from office to office, and Google's guide to structured interviewing recommends tangible focus areas instead of gut feel or vague cultural fits. Prepare for alignment, with a story for each published value told by what you did. If a question sounds like a test of fit, such as whether you like a fast pace, answer it with something that happened.
From the lesson Values, culture and cross-team rounds
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Fresher to mid
Is it all right to say you have no questions at the end of an interview?
It is rarely a good idea. Employers keep that time on purpose: Amazon says it tries to leave a few minutes at the end of each interview for your questions, and Meta's interviews leave a few minutes for them too. Google calls interviewing a two-way street and says prepared questions show you care about the role and have done your research. Saying you have none ends the conversation on nothing and gives up your best chance to learn what the job is like. If the interview already answered what you meant to ask, say so briefly and follow up on something the interviewer said, such as why the team chose to do a piece of work now. Keep pay and logistics for the recruiter.
From the lesson Questions to ask your interviewers
Questions with model answers
What each question tests, the first step of a good answer and the follow-ups to expect.
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Mid to senior
If you joined this team next month, what would you aim to have done by the end of your first 90 days?
- What it tests
- Understanding the team's work from its public pages, a plan in phases that learns before it changes anything, and an early contribution that is concrete, modest and measured.
- First step
- Before the interview, read the job post and the team's own writing for its priority this year, and build the plan around it. Start with how you would learn the team's work before you change anything, and keep a question for the manager about what they would change in your plan.
- Follow-ups
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- What would you not change in your first month, even if it looked wrong?
- What if the team's priority changed in week six?
- How would we both know the plan was working?
From the lesson The hiring-manager round
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In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
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Mid to senior
Tell me about the manager you did your best work for, and one you found hard to work for. What made the difference?
- What it tests
- Knowing the conditions in which you do good work, describing a difficult manager fairly by what happened, and what you did yourself instead of waiting for the manager to change.
- First step
- Pick two real managers and one condition that differed between them, such as how priorities were set or how feedback was given. Describe the hard one by what happened, not by their character, and give most of the answer to what you did to work well with them.
- Follow-ups
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- What would that manager say about you?
- What did you change in how you worked with them?
- What would you need from me, then?
From the lesson The hiring-manager round
Model answer, Pro.In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
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Mid to senior
After a positive decision, two teams want you: one is building a new product, the other runs a busy service with a heavy on-call rota. How do you decide, and what do you ask each manager?
- What it tests
- Treating team matching as an interview in both directions: criteria set before the calls, questions that ask for facts, and a decision explained without running down the team you turn down.
- First step
- Start from what you want from the next two years of work, such as what you would learn and the on-call load you can sustain, and decide which matters most before you speak to either manager. Then turn each of those into a question with a factual answer.
- Follow-ups
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- What if the team you prefer has the worse on-call?
- How do you turn the other team down?
- Would you choose differently five years from now?
From the lesson The hiring-manager round
Model answer, Pro.In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
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Mid to senior
Tell me about a time a designer, product manager or support lead saw a problem differently from you. What did you learn from their view, and what did you build in the end?
- What it tests
- Respect for another function's expertise, settling a difference with evidence both sides trust, and a result that shows the partner's view changed the work.
- First step
- Choose a story in which the other person's view improved the outcome, not one in which you simply won. Say what they saw that you did not, how the two of you tested the difference, and what the final work kept from each of you.
- Follow-ups
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- What if they had been wrong?
- How did you explain the technical side to them?
- What would they say about working with you?
From the lesson Values, culture and cross-team rounds
Model answer, Pro.In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
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Mid to staff
Think of the strongest engineer you have worked with. What do they do that you do not do yet, and what are you doing about it?
- What it tests
- An accurate view of yourself against a high bar: behaviours rather than talent, a real gap admitted without running yourself down, and a plan with evidence that it is working.
- First step
- Pick a real person and two or three things they do that you can describe as actions, such as how they review code or run an incident. Then choose the one you do not do yet, say what the gap costs you, and show what you have done so far to close it.
- Follow-ups
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- Why haven't you closed that gap already?
- What do you do better than them?
- How would they describe you?
From the lesson Values, culture and cross-team rounds
Model answer, Pro.In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
-
Mid to senior
Tell me about a time the way your team worked clashed with how you think work should be done. What did you do about it?
- What it tests
- Telling a team's habit from a value, raising a disagreement about how work is done with evidence, and adapting or changing the habit without contempt for the people who kept it.
- First step
- Choose a habit about how the work was done, such as how code was reviewed or how decisions were made, not one about people. Say why the team worked that way, what it cost, what you proposed and how it ended, including what you adapted to yourself.
- Follow-ups
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- What if the team had refused to change?
- Was there a good reason for the habit that you missed at first?
- How would you handle the same clash in your first month here?
From the lesson Values, culture and cross-team rounds
Model answer, Pro.In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
-
Mid to senior
You have five minutes left with a principal engineer from another team, who will not work with you day to day. What do you ask, and why?
- What it tests
- Choosing questions for this interviewer's view: the technical direction across teams and how decisions are made above the team, rather than questions a teammate could answer better.
- First step
- Ask what only someone with their view can answer. Two questions fit in five minutes: one about where the technical direction of the area is heading and why, and one about how decisions that cross teams get made, with a recent example. Leave the team's daily work for the people on the team.
- Follow-ups
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- What if they give a vague answer?
- Would you ask them about their own career?
- How do you use their answer later in the loop?
From the lesson Questions to ask your interviewers
Model answer, Pro.In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
-
Fresher to senior
You ask how on-call works on the team, and the interviewer says: "It's fine, honestly." What do you ask next?
- What it tests
- Turning a vague reply into facts without sounding suspicious: one light follow-up about a number or a recent event, and knowing when to stop.
- First step
- Thank them, then ask one follow-up that turns the opinion into a fact, such as how many pages came in last month and at what hours, or what happened the last time someone was paged at night. Ask it as curiosity about the work, not as a challenge.
- Follow-ups
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- What if they don't know the number?
- When should you stop asking?
- What do you do with a worrying answer?
From the lesson Questions to ask your interviewers
Model answer, Pro.In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
-
Mid to senior
Your questions during the loop turn up something worrying: two interviewers mention that three engineers left the team this year. What do you ask, and what do you do with the answers?
- What it tests
- Following up a worrying signal calmly and fairly: asking about causes and changes rather than blame, checking with more than one person, and using the answers to decide.
- First step
- Ask a neutral question about causes, such as what changed for the team this year and what it has done since, and ask it of more than one person, ideally the manager and an engineer. Compare the answers, and decide what you still need to know before an offer; the recruiter can help if the loop runs out of time.
- Follow-ups
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- Isn't it rude to ask why people left?
- What answer would reassure you?
- Would you still accept an offer?
From the lesson Questions to ask your interviewers
Model answer, Pro.In the answer:
- Model answer
- Follow-up answers
- Common mistakes
- Rubric
- Variants
- about 3 minutes
All Behavioural Interviews interview questions · The Behavioural Interviews track