Behavioural and HR rounds: answering with STAR
Sample guide. Edit or replace it with your own material.
Many good engineers lose offers in the behavioural round, not the technical one. These questions check how you work with people, handle problems, and learn.
1. The STAR method
Answer any “Tell me about a time when…” question in four parts:
| Part | What to say | Share of your answer |
|---|---|---|
| Situation | The context, briefly | ~10% |
| Task | What you had to achieve | ~10% |
| Action | The specific steps you took | ~60% |
| Result | What happened, ideally with a number, and what you learned | ~20% |
Example: “Tell me about a time you handled a tight deadline.”
- Situation: Two days before a college project demo, our API stopped returning data.
- Task: I owned the backend and had to fix it without delaying the demo.
- Action: I reproduced the bug locally, found a schema change that broke a query, wrote a fix with a test, and told the team which features to re-check.
- Result: We demoed on time. Since then I add a test for every bug I fix.
2. Prepare five stories in advance
Most behavioural questions can be answered with one of these:
- A technical problem you solved
- A disagreement with a teammate, and how you resolved it
- A mistake you made, and what you changed afterwards
- A time you learned something new quickly
- A time you helped someone else or took the lead
3. Common HR questions
- “Tell me about yourself.” Present → past → future in about 60–90 seconds: what you do now, the relevant background, and why this role is your next step. Don’t recite your resume.
- “Why do you want to join us?” Mention something specific about the company or team, and connect it to what you want to learn or build.
- “What is your weakness?” Pick a real but non-critical weakness and show what you are doing about it.
- “Where do you see yourself in five years?” Show that you want to grow in the field, for example deeper expertise or more responsibility.
- “Do you have any questions for us?” Always ask one or two, for example about the team’s work, how success is measured, or how new joiners are supported.
4. Things to avoid
- Speaking badly about a previous employer, college, or teammate
- Saying “we” for everything, so the interviewer can’t tell what you did
- Very long answers. Stop after the result and let them ask follow-up questions.
Practice
- Write your five stories in STAR form, a few lines each.
- Practise “Tell me about yourself” until it’s natural and under 90 seconds.