This type of interview usually occurs at the beginning or blended into the technical interview. For most english-speakers, most shouldn't have a problem with this.
"Why?" In essence, this is for the HR/hiring manager/senior member to gauge your communication skills, soft skills, culture fit, and "vibe".
Their priority is
- Are you going to be a hard person to teach? -- They assume you're dumb | how much babysitting is required
- Does your personality fit with the team's dynamics? -- extroverted/introverted, overall "energy"
- Do you have any red flags? -- standard society measurement (racist, sexist, etc) and maturity level for a professional environment.
"Why is this hard for non-english speakers?" -- Culture differences
Countries such as China and India prioritize "efficiency" and "correctness" over "collaboration" and "communication". It's not a bad thing, just not what most western companies look for. Due to this mindset, many international students' answers will hint towards a red flag - point 2: team dynamics. They assume you are less likely to communicate and tend to be lone wolf.
General advice:
- Practice question banks. Search "google behavioral interview questions" and practice answering them.
- Adhere to the STAR format — Situation, Task, Action, Result. This is the golden standard for answering BQ. — Once you are comfortable, you can start to deviate from it.
- The best way is to practice with an older person as they are more likely to give you honest feedback compared to a peer. Though acquaintances or school resources are also good.
- Be on the lookout on tonation issues and how you are perceived by the interviewer. — especially non-english speakers
My behavioral mock interview will include more advanced and in-depth strategies but this should give you a good starting point. The key is to always think about:
- "What is the question asking me?"
- "What do I want to convey? (time management, collaboration, etc)"
- "How do I want to convey it?"
Priority
- Know your story
- What are you trying to convey in your story vs what the interviewer is looking for?
- Tonation, tonation, tonation — speaking too fast, monotone, feels like memorizing an answer
- Be concise but add "flair" to your story — "This was a challenging experience but I learned a lot from it"
- Body language / eye contact / overall "vibe" — don't be tense, make small jokes, make it a conversation, etc