> The trick with “behavioral interview” is there are no true good answers. They want to watch you squirm.
This gave me flashbacks to my first interview for a developer role at a large corporation.
I swear the hiring manager didn't even listen to my answer to his "hard workplace moments question", he just immediately told me that I hadn't really answered it. I asked him for clarification then gave another significantly different scenario with a totally different outcome that I thought answered the question pretty well. This time he said "that sounds like the same situation as before. Why did you let it happen again?" At that point I froze: I'm not the most emotionally intelligent person but I can usually sense when people are messing with me.
(Never mind that my autobiographical memory is very impaired thanks to the aphantasia, these questions are an extreme lift)
My conclusion was that he didn't really care much about an earnest discussion of "hard workplace moments" as much as he cared to mess with my head and see how I'd react when faced with frustrating large-corporation power dynamics that are common from day to day.
In hindsight, I think if I wanted to pass that part of the interview I'd have needed to calmly show a little more assertiveness and confidence myself rather than freezing up in the face of simulated everyday workplace gaslighting.
At the following interviews people seemed lethargic, anxious and detached. When I didn't get an offer I was actually pretty relieved.
This gave me flashbacks to my first interview for a developer role at a large corporation.
I swear the hiring manager didn't even listen to my answer to his "hard workplace moments question", he just immediately told me that I hadn't really answered it. I asked him for clarification then gave another significantly different scenario with a totally different outcome that I thought answered the question pretty well. This time he said "that sounds like the same situation as before. Why did you let it happen again?" At that point I froze: I'm not the most emotionally intelligent person but I can usually sense when people are messing with me.
(Never mind that my autobiographical memory is very impaired thanks to the aphantasia, these questions are an extreme lift)
My conclusion was that he didn't really care much about an earnest discussion of "hard workplace moments" as much as he cared to mess with my head and see how I'd react when faced with frustrating large-corporation power dynamics that are common from day to day.
In hindsight, I think if I wanted to pass that part of the interview I'd have needed to calmly show a little more assertiveness and confidence myself rather than freezing up in the face of simulated everyday workplace gaslighting.
At the following interviews people seemed lethargic, anxious and detached. When I didn't get an offer I was actually pretty relieved.