Googleyness & Leadership - Behavioral Q & A - Unpopular Opinion

[@jeffhsipepi]

Hi everyone! It's not uncommon that at some point in our careers we have to voice an unpopular opinion / take an unpopular stance. In this video, we cover how to answer this question with positive intent. I hope it helps!

[@parhamglst3299]

Hi Jeff, thanks a lot for your incredible videos. You talked about the importance of maintaining a positive attitude throughout the interview and I had a question regarding that. I have personally experienced a toxic work environment during one of my jobs and I'm not sure if I should be talking about my experience, as doing so will dampen the mood and might probably make me emotional. Do you have a suggestion on what to do in this situation? I'm interviewing for an early career software engineering role if it matters. Thanks again!

[@jeffhsipepi]

@parhamglst3299, yes, it is critical that we do not go down a negative path during a job interview. So, try to find something positive about that work environment. Almost always, toxic work environments cause employees to bond with each other to get through it. So if asked about a bad previous employer, you can say "what I really enjoyed the most about working there was my colleagues, it was a great learning opportunity for me to understand the importance of communication and proactive collaboration as an Engineer early in my career." Something like this, there is always a positive, find it and highlight it. And just to bring some relevancy, the worst boss I ever had was a great Project Manager, so if asked about them, I would highlight that item because it is true and I can speak about it genuinely and authentically, even though overall this boss was horrible. I hope this advice helps.

[@__masenko__]

Hi Jeff, thank you so much for your content. Your videos were an invaluable part of my interview preparation, and helped me land a job at one of the FAANG companies. I have been directing friends and coworkers who want to achieve something similar to your channel. I wish I had followed your negotiation guidance more closely. I used your offer template sheet to help organize my compensation requests, which was very helpful. However, I made a mistake in not taking time after receiving numbers from the recruiter to consider the offer. I countered one offer, but during the second offer phone call, the offer provided was exciting enough for me to accept on the call. It was only after I accepted the offer and the call concluded that I realized I had forgotten to request a signing bonus, potentially leaving tens of thousands of dollars on the table. An expensive lesson for the next time I am negotiating an offer. That being said, this job is still a huge improvement from my last position and I feel blessed to be where I am. Thanks again for the amazing content you provide, wishing you the best!

[@jeffhsipepi]

@__masenko__ , thank you so much for this thoughtful comment and socializing my channel! Also, CONGRATS!!! Yes, always learning lessons when negotiating and just glad you got that huge improvement you were looking for!

[@Geoff_the_Chum]

Great subtitles, I wish if it is not too much to have actions overlap, bullet point style. On how you structured the action’s whats and hows.

[@jeffhsipepi]

@Geoff_the_Chum, I am not 100% sure I understand your question, but I think what you are asking for is available as a free resources on my website, use the behavioral template - www.practiceinterviews.com/free-resources

[@bhawnasoni1856]

Hi Jeff, I shared my current compensation with the recruiter. How can I navigate that to get a good offer at Google? Will it impact my offer?

[@jeffhsipepi]

@bhawnasoni1856, use this video to help you if your initial numbers were low! kzbin.info644D7obg4iw

[@bhawnasoni1856]

@@jeffhsipepi Thank you Jeff, for quick response!

[@RajneshChaudhary]

In GCA if they ask behavioral question then what approach should we follow CFAS or STAR?

[@jeffhsipepi]

@RajneshChaudhary, STAR, always use the STAR Method to answer behavioral questions not matter the interview type. And same goes for CFAS, no matter the interview type, always answer hypothetical questions using CFAS. If you get a behavioral question in the GCA interview, it will typically be a pretty broad question that you likely have multiple examples for, and the most common follow up question, what would you have done differently.

[@sujataadhikari3681]

Hii jeff ... at the end of interview if the interviewer ask ... is there anything you want to add or want me to know ... what they are looking for ? What should we answer

[@jeffhsipepi]

@sujataadhikari3681, hmmm interesting question. Unless you feel like you need to cover any areas that were not discussed or overcome any challenge areas that might have come up in the interview, I would flip this question on them. I might say something like "well I would really like to flip that question back to you and learn a little bit more about you, like, what do you love the most about working at Google? At the end of the interview I always have the same goal, get them talking about themselves, because then they will like you more! I hope this feedback helps!

[@sujataadhikari3681]

@@jeffhsipepi thank you so much ... Looking forward to your next live session and video

[@mohibquadri4053]

How to deal with difficult and annoying people at workplace which cannot be ignored.. Do people skills work

[@jeffhsipepi]

@mohibquadri4053, when I ran into instances where I found it challenging to work with others, I would schedule meetings with them and say something like "I feel like my work style isn't really meeting/aligning with your needs, I would love to know your preferred style for working together so I can adjust my style to improve our working relationship. This way, you make it about you and not about them and maybe they will open up to you and therefore create a better working relationship moving forward. This approach helped me in the past!