Admittedly, I didn't actually study much for behavioral interviews when I first started looking for jobs as a software. This was because I already had extensive work experience and had done dozens of interviews for entry-, mid- and senior-level positions in previous careers.

However, if I were to give advice on how to do well in a behavioral interview, this would be it...

You already passed first-round interviews, so you most likely answered sufficiently any questions they have about your technical abilities and qualifications. So this interview is for a few other reasons:

1. Cultural Fit: How are you to work with, and how are you to manage. Will your coworkers get along with you, or will you make them uncomfortable? Are you good at communicating, or will you struggle?

   Example questions:

   • "Tell me about a time you had a disagreement with a coworker" (and how you resolved it).

   • "What do you like to do outside of work" or "what are your hobbies?" Can you have a normal conversation about yourself?

2. Cultural Add: can you bring something new (and positive) to the team?

   Example questions:

   • "What's your strongest quality" or "what do people say is your strongest quality?"

   • What's your communication style?

3. Ambitions: whether you'll be motivated to work hard, how likely to accept and offer, and whether your future expectations align with their plans.

   • Do you have leadership experience?

   • Where do you see yourself in five years?

You'll also get an opportunity to ask them questions. This is a great opportunity for you to:

a) get some more information about what it would be like to work there, and

b) stand out as a candidate by asking great questions.

Some examples of questions I like to ask when I am being interviewed:

1. "Tell me more about your product." -- Usually interviewers are more interested in talking about their own product than about general interview questions, so this is an opportunity to have a good conversation about something your interviewer probably wants to talk about.

2. "Is there an on-call requirement?" -- I used to ask about what the work culture was like at a company, but no one will ever volunteer information during an interview that might cast their company in a bad light. So you have to go looking for it. It's uncommon to have on-call for entry-level positions, so if the answer to this question is "yes", then it probably means they either lack senior engineers or are mis-leveling you. Not a hard no, but something to watch out for.

3. "What does emergency response look like at your team for prod issues?" Similar to the last question, you want to know the bad stuff. Will you be firefighting a lot? They should have a well-defined process for addressing prod issues; most startups do not and it could be a major source of stress for you if you land at a company without such a process.

One final note on how to prepare for a behavioral interview. You should take notes, practice, and know ahead of time what you'll say for at least a few of the big questions.

• Write out answers to some common questions, like your "elevator speech". They WILL ask you to talk about yourself, and that's an easy opportunity for you to sell yourself and look good doing it if you don't stutter.

• STAR stories. I won't get into them here, but have a few prepared ahead of time so you don't have to come up with them on the spot.

• Practice interviewing! Use Pramp or another service to arrange a meeting ahead of time, or practice with a friend

• Although I just told you to write out your answers and practice them, you should sound as natural as possible when talking about them. Avoid looking like you're reading off of notes, and speak as fluently as possible.

Good luck out there!