What to ask a referrer when prepping for behavioral screen?
I’ll be heading into a recruiter screen for a company that my friend referred me to. I’m pretty sure the company will ask me something like ‘why this company’. I feel that I can leverage my friend’s experiences to craft unique responses to the behavioral questions. For example something like ‘my friend did X Y and Z in the company and I feel that this aligns with my goals as I’ve done A B and C’.
So I’m wondering what questions I should ask my friends to get ‘ammunition’ for the recruiter screen? On the top of my head I’m thinking:
- What they worked on
- Learning opportunities
- Team culture
Not sure if anyone can add more to the list. The goal is to come up with the smallest set of questions that provide the most amount of value, since I don’t want to be too bothersome with my friend.
![Senior Software Engineer [E5] at Meta company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fmeta.jpeg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3Da7a5bcc0-e178-4b5b-b71e-09bf6c6aefae&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
![Entry-Level Software Engineer [L3] at Google company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Fgoogle.jpeg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3D780356ef-3efc-4728-9eb4-d909b75bb4a6&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
Discussion
(3 comments)- 0
4 months agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course HeroInstead of trying to minimize the amount of questions, why not try to maximize the amount of care shown?
Can you meet your friend in-person? If so, treat them to a premium coffee like Blue Bottle or even lunch/dinner. At that point, I'm sure they'll be happy to tell you everything 😁
- 04 months agoSoftware Engineering InternTaro Community
Unfortunately we’re located across opposite coasts, so I can’t really meet them in-person. I’m trying to schedule a virtual call with them.
Whether the meeting is virtual or in-person, there are probably topics that I should prepare when asking about their job, so what should I ask about? What are the topics that I can use as ammunition for the interview?
- 04 months agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
I think the 3 topics you outlined are very good.
You can probably ask the questions from my behavioral interview course as well (check out the "Questions To Ask" section): https://www.jointaro.com/course/master-the-behavioral-interview-as-a-software-engineer/interviews-are-a-2-way-street/
