Behavioural Interviews Module 3 – Finding and organising your stories
Mapping your stories to an employer's values
Find an employer's official values, turn each into actions an interviewer could see, match your stories to them, and spot the gaps without reciting values.
What you will learn
- Find an employer's official values pages and record where and when you read them
- Translate each value into behaviours an interviewer could observe
- Map your stories to values without reciting the values back
- Identify the gaps and decide which new stories to prepare
Before you start
What you’ll learn · Before you start
What you will learn
- Find an employer's official values pages and record where and when you read them
- Translate each value into behaviours an interviewer could observe
- Map your stories to values without reciting the values back
- Identify the gaps and decide which new stories to prepare
Before you start
On this page
Divya’s ten story cards were built for one employer’s five focus areas. Her next two applications are to employers that publish six operating principles, and four values with five habits: the same ten stories must now answer to new words.
Mapping your stories to an employer’s values takes four steps: read the values on the employer’s own pages and note when you read them, translate each value into actions an interviewer could see, match your stories to those actions, and name the gaps before an interviewer finds them. The stories stay the same; only their roles change.
Start from the employer’s own pages, and note when you read them
Lists of a company’s values copied onto forums drift from the original, so use only the employer’s own domain: its careers, culture or values pages, or the interview guide it sends you. Meta’s guide, for one, asks candidates to review its mission statement and core values. Copy each value exactly as the page words it, with the address and the date you read it, and read the page again before the interview, because pages change. Notice what each page calls its list:
| Employer | What its own page calls the list | Items |
|---|---|---|
| Meta | Core values | 6 |
| Microsoft | Values, and the aspects of culture its interviews focus on | 3 and 6 |
| Netflix | Values | 8 |
| Stripe | Operating principles | 6 |
| Salesforce | Core values | 5 |
| Wipro | The Spirit of Wipro, and five habits | 4 and 5 |
| UK Civil Service | Core values, in the Civil Service Code | 4 |
Habits and behaviours already name actions, while values and principles usually name ideals that you have to translate first.
Not affiliated
MySmartCoPilot is not connected with any employer named here. Their lists come from their own pages, which change, and every translation into actions in this lesson is MySmartCoPilot’s reading, not any employer’s guide to scoring.
Checkpoint
Check: Official, dated values pages
Translate each value into actions an interviewer could see
A value names an ideal, and an interviewer can rate only what someone did. Microsoft’s interview tips put its values in one sentence: “we treat each other with respect, we act with integrity, and we are accountable to one another for our words and actions.” Before choosing a story, ask when each value is tested, then write what a person does at that moment, in verbs. Step through Divya’s translation of respect:
The drawing shows the whole scene; its 7 steps are listed below.
Every step as text
- The words. Divya copies the value exactly as the page puts it, we treat each other with respect, with the page's address and the day she read it.
- When it is tested. She asks when the value is tested. Respect is easy while people agree; it is tested in a disagreement, under pressure, or with someone junior to you.
- Actions. She writes what a person does at that moment: listened to an objection in full, changed the plan where the other person was right, credited the idea, kept the argument about the work.
- The draft that fails. Her first draft, treats everyone with respect, only repeats the page's words. Nothing in it could be seen happening, so she keeps the verbs and drops the draft.
- The story. The pull-request standoff shows two of the actions: she listened to a senior engineer's objection in full, and they shipped his retry logic with her error messages.
- The line. In the interview she tells the actions and the result, and never calls herself respectful. The interviewer can write down what she did, and weigh it against the value.
- The whole translation. Five stages: the page's words, the moment that tests them, the actions, a story and what she says. The value's words stay in her notes; the actions go into the answer.
A good behaviour translation: A sentence that turns an employer's value into actions an interviewer could observe, in verbs and without the value's own words, such as 'listened to an objection in full before deciding' for respect. names something that happened and borrows none of the value’s own words. The checker tests Divya’s six translations of the three values, a first draft and a rewrite for each, then counts her stories for each value. Press Edit, put in your employer’s values, your translations and your stories, and run it again:
// One employer's values, translated into actions and matched with stories. Put the values of the employer you are
// preparing for in VALUES, worded as its own page words them, your translations in ACTIONS and your stories in
// STORIES, then run it again. The three values come from Microsoft's interview tips page, which says: "we treat each
// other with respect, we act with integrity, and we are accountable to one another for our words and actions."
// Divya, her translations and her stories are invented.
const VALUES = [
{ name: 'Respect', words: 'we treat each other with respect' },
{ name: 'Integrity', words: 'we act with integrity' },
{ name: 'Accountability', words: 'we are accountable to one another for our words and actions' },
];
// A first draft and a rewrite for each value. A good translation says what a person did that an interviewer could see.
const ACTIONS = [
{ value: 'Respect', text: 'Treats everyone with respect' },
{ value: 'Respect', text: "Listened to a colleague's objection in full, and changed the plan where he was right" },
{ value: 'Integrity', text: 'Is an honest person' },
{ value: 'Integrity', text: 'Reported her own mistake the same day, with what it had cost' },
{ value: 'Accountability', text: 'Took accountability for her actions' },
{ value: 'Accountability', text: 'Said what she would deliver by when, and told the team early when she could not' },
];
// Each story, with the values it shows for this employer: P for the one it is told for first, s for the others.
const STORIES = [
{ title: 'Pull-request standoff', values: { Respect: 'P' } },
{ title: 'Release-date dispute', values: { Accountability: 'P', Respect: 's' } },
{ title: 'Double-charge incident', values: { Integrity: 'P', Accountability: 's' } },
{ title: 'Payment-retry migration', values: { Accountability: 's' } },
];
// Verbs of doing, in the past tense: a translation should name something a person did. Add your own.
const DID = /\b(?:asked|built|changed|chose|credited|cut|decided|explained|fixed|gave|helped|listened|measured|moved|offered|owned|planned|reported|rewrote|said|showed|stopped|talked|taught|tested|told|took|wrote)\b/i;
// Small words that carry no meaning of their own, left out of the comparison.
const SMALL = new Set('a an the we i you she he her his our my to of for with and or in on at by is are was were be it its as that this what when where would could not own one another each other everyone'.split(' '));
const words = (text) => (text.toLowerCase().match(/[a-z']+/g) ?? []).map((w) => w.replace(/'s$/, '')).filter((w) => !SMALL.has(w));
// Two words match when they are equal, or share their first six letters (accountable, accountability).
const same = (a, b) => a === b || (a.length >= 6 && b.length >= 6 && a.slice(0, 6) === b.slice(0, 6)) || a === `${b}s` || b === `${a}s`;
console.log('Translations');
for (const v of VALUES) {
console.log(` ${v.name}`);
const own = words(v.words);
for (const a of ACTIONS.filter((x) => x.value === v.name)) {
const mine = words(a.text);
const copied = mine.filter((w) => own.some((o) => same(w, o)));
let verdict;
if (copied.length * 2 >= mine.length) verdict = `repeats the value's own words: ${copied.join(', ')}`;
else if (!DID.test(a.text)) verdict = 'names no action: say what was done';
else verdict = 'an action someone could see';
console.log(` "${a.text}"`);
console.log(` ${verdict}`);
}
}
console.log('');
console.log('Stories for each value (P primary, s secondary)');
const width = Math.max(...VALUES.map((v) => v.name.length)) + 2;
for (const v of VALUES) {
const marked = STORIES.filter((s) => s.values[v.name]).sort((a, b) => (a.values[v.name] === 'P' ? -1 : 0) - (b.values[v.name] === 'P' ? -1 : 0));
const list = marked.map((s) => `${s.values[v.name]} ${s.title}`).join('; ');
const primary = marked.some((s) => s.values[v.name] === 'P');
const flag = marked.length === 0 ? ' <- gap: no story yet' : !primary ? ' <- no primary story' : marked.length < 2 ? ' <- thin: find a second story' : '';
console.log(` ${v.name.padEnd(width)}${marked.length} ${list}${flag}`);
}Output
Translations
Respect
"Treats everyone with respect"
repeats the value's own words: treats, respect
"Listened to a colleague's objection in full, and changed the plan where he was right"
an action someone could see
Integrity
"Is an honest person"
names no action: say what was done
"Reported her own mistake the same day, with what it had cost"
an action someone could see
Accountability
"Took accountability for her actions"
repeats the value's own words: accountability, actions
"Said what she would deliver by when, and told the team early when she could not"
an action someone could see
Stories for each value (P primary, s secondary)
Respect 2 P Pull-request standoff; s Release-date dispute
Integrity 1 P Double-charge incident <- thin: find a second story
Accountability 3 P Release-date dispute; s Double-charge incident; s Payment-retry migration
Recorded with Node.js 24.21.0 on macOS 26 arm64. To run it yourself: mise exec node@24.21.0 -- node values_map.mjs
Runs on this device, in your browser. The first run downloads JavaScript (about 0.6 MB), which is kept for the next runs.
Your run, in this browser
The drafts fail in two ways: “treats everyone with respect” and “took accountability for her actions” only repeat the value’s words, and “is an honest person” names no action. Their rewrites say what was done. The count then shows the gap: integrity has a single story, so Divya needs a second time she told the truth when it cost her something.
Checkpoint
Check: Values translated into actions
Map by actions, then tell the action, not the value
The mapping is the story bank’s coverage matrix with new columns. For each value, mark the stories that show its actions, with one primary for each telling, and name the values left with fewer than two stories. A story’s primary can change between employers: it may lead for one value at one and only support another elsewhere.
In the interview, tell the actions. Reciting a value back, as in “this shows my integrity”, adds no evidence and can sound rehearsed. Atlassian’s guide says its values interview: An interview that looks at how your values guide what you do, set against the employer's published values; at some employers it is run by someone from outside the team you would join. wants “to understand your mindset, and the way it guides your actions”. When a question itself names the value, echo it once in your first sentence, so the interviewer hears that you are answering it, then move straight to what happened. Side by side, the difference is plain:
| Recites the value | Shows it |
|---|---|
| “Respect matters to me, and I always treat people with respect.” | “I listened to his objection in full, and we shipped his retry logic with my messages.” |
| “Integrity is one of my core values.” | “I reported my own mistake the same day, with the number of customers it had hit.” |
Key idea
Translate each value into actions, match your stories by those actions, and tell the actions: the value’s own words belong in your notes, not in your answer.
Checkpoint
Check: Mapping, and telling the actions
One bank, two employers: which stories change roles Pro: opens with a Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass
The same ten cards look different against two employers’ lists. Here they are mapped against six operating principles and four values, with the gaps put in the order to fill them.
In this part:
- Ten cards against six principles and four values
- How long a list ten cards can cover, with numbers
- Which gaps to fill first, by the numbers
1 runnable example (JavaScript) · about 5 minutes
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Telling a mapped story without reciting the value Pro: opens with a Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass
A mapped story still has to be told as a story. Here one story is told three ways for one value and checked, then adjusted for an interviewer from another team, with what an answer shows at each level of experience.
In this part:
- A recited telling and a shown one, checked
- When the interviewer is from another team
- What a mapped answer shows at each level
1 runnable example (JavaScript) · about 4 minutes
Opening this part with your pass…Pro part. It opens with the same pass as the part above.
Practise: map your bank to one employer
Copy one employer’s values from its own page, with the address and date, translate each, run the checker, and fix what it flags. Then check yourself:
Online Notepad Keep each employer's values with the page address and the date you read it, and your translations under each value.Practice that adapts to you
Practise this lesson
8 questions about 5 ideas of this lesson. Each answer is explained at once, and what you get right is kept in this browser.
Interview questions
The warm-up is answered below. For the three after it, choose a card from your mapped bank, say your answer aloud, and only then open the first step.
-
Fresher to mid · Warm-up
Should you use an employer's value names in your answers?
Rarely, and never to describe yourself. Saying "I'm very customer-obsessed" or "this shows my integrity" repeats the employer's words without adding evidence, and it can sound rehearsed. What the interviewer wants is what you did: Atlassian, for one, describes its values interview as a way to see how your thinking shapes what you do. So translate each value into actions before the interview, choose stories that show those actions, and tell the actions. When the question itself names a value, as in "Tell me about a time you put a customer first", you may echo the word once in your first sentence, so the interviewer hears that you are answering it, and then go straight to what happened.
-
Fresher to senior
Which of our values matters most to you, and when have you acted on it?
-
Mid to senior
Is there one of our values you would find hard to live by?
-
Fresher to senior
Your values interviewer works in sales, not engineering, and asks about a time you put a customer's interests ahead of your own deadline. How do you tell a technical story so that they can rate it?
Key takeaways
- Take values only from the employer’s own pages, copy them exactly, and note the address and the date you read them.
- Translate each value into actions an interviewer could see before you choose a story for it.
- Map stories to values by those actions, with one primary per telling, and name the values left with fewer than two.
- Tell the actions, not the value: echo a value’s word only when the question uses it, once, in your first sentence.
Terms in this lesson
- behaviour translation
- A sentence that turns an employer's value into actions an interviewer could observe, in verbs and without the value's own words, such as 'listened to an objection in full before deciding' for respect.
- values interview
- An interview that looks at how your values guide what you do, set against the employer's published values; at some employers it is run by someone from outside the team you would join.
References
- Culture: our core values (Meta Careers)
- Software Engineer Full Loop Interview Guide (linked from the onsite preparation page) (Meta Careers)
- Interview tips (Microsoft Careers)
- Netflix culture (Netflix)
- Careers: how we operate (Stripe)
- Our values (Salesforce)
- About us: the Spirit of Wipro (Wipro)
- The Civil Service Code (UK Cabinet Office (GOV.UK))
- Atlassian engineering interview guide (Atlassian)
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