How to Ace Data and ML Behavioural Interviews

如何在数据科学与机器学习的行为面试中脱颖而出

I used to think behavioural interviews were stupid. I thought they would be a walk in the park because who wouldn’t want to hire me? I am so great to work with! The reality is that you can’t wing behavioural interviews — believe me, I have tried and failed miserably. 我曾经认为行为面试很愚蠢。我以为这会轻而易举，因为谁会不想雇佣我呢？我可是个非常棒的合作伙伴！但现实是，你无法在行为面试中临场发挥——相信我，我尝试过，而且失败得很惨。

Most people neglect behavioural interviews and focus solely on the technical aspects of their applications. It’s easy to think that because data science and machine learning are technical fields, interviewers and companies only care about your technical abilities. This couldn’t be further from the truth. 大多数人忽视了行为面试，只专注于申请中的技术层面。人们很容易认为，由于数据科学和机器学习是技术领域，面试官和公司只关心你的技术能力。但事实远非如此。

I have seen people get hired solely because they were a good “culture fit” and the hiring team really liked how they approached their work. My friend Mandy Liu even got a $30k pay bump and was up-levelled from senior to lead data scientist before she was even hired due to her performance in the behavioural interview. So, in this article, I want to break down the exact strategies and frameworks for you to do the same. Let’s get into it! 我见过有人仅仅因为“文化契合度”高，且招聘团队非常欣赏他们的工作方式而被录用。我的朋友 Mandy Liu 甚至因为在行为面试中的出色表现，在入职前就获得了 3 万美元的加薪，并从高级数据科学家晋升为首席数据科学家。因此，在本文中，我想为你拆解实现同样目标的具体策略和框架。让我们开始吧！

What Are Behavioural Interviews?

什么是行为面试？

Behavioural questions are to assess whether your values align with those of the company and whether the company can provide an environment for you to thrive and deliver your best work. This interview is by far the most subjective of the whole process and is often conducted last by the hiring manager. 行为面试旨在评估你的价值观是否与公司一致，以及公司能否为你提供一个能够让你茁壮成长并发挥出最佳水平的环境。这是整个面试过程中最主观的一环，通常由招聘经理在最后阶段进行。

This shows you the importance of behavioural interviews. The hiring manager wants to ensure you are someone they and the rest of the team can work with. It’s also the levelling interview. Perform badly, and they may down-level you from senior to mid-level. Perform well, and they may up-level you from senior to lead, like what happened to Mandy. 这足以说明行为面试的重要性。招聘经理想要确保你是一个他们及团队其他成员都愿意共事的人。这也是决定职级的面试。表现不好，他们可能会将你的职级从高级降为中级；表现出色，他们可能会像 Mandy 那样，将你从高级提升为首席。

Story Vault

故事库 (Story Vault)

The first step is actually thinking about the stories you are going to use in the interview. Behavioural is all about how you work and why you do certain things. This will require you to call up examples from past experiences to bring it to life. 第一步是构思你在面试中要使用的故事。行为面试的核心在于你如何工作以及你为何采取某些行动。这需要你调动过往经历中的案例，使你的回答生动起来。

So, I want you to sit down and review your resume to identify the 2–3 most impactful, longest, and most interesting projects you have completed. They don’t always have to be data science or work-based, but it’s often best to keep them related to the field, as they translate better to what the interviewer is probing for. 因此，我希望你坐下来审视自己的简历，找出你完成过的 2-3 个最具影响力、周期最长且最有趣的项目。它们不一定非要是数据科学或工作相关的项目，但最好与该领域相关，因为这样更容易契合面试官想要考察的内容。

These are going to be part of your “story vault” that you are going to use for every single behavioural interview that you will do. This doesn’t mean you can’t respond to questions from other projects or work you have done, but these 2–3 will form the backbone of your responses, and you should know them inside out. 这些将成为你的“故事库”的一部分，用于你参加的每一场行为面试。这并不意味着你不能用其他项目或工作经历来回答问题，但这两个或三个核心故事将构成你回答的骨干，你应该对它们了如指掌。

Culture & Values Research

文化与价值观调研

It’s unbelievable how many candidates don’t research the company before interviewing. I have interviewed over 50 people for data science and machine learning roles, and it’s clear that many haven’t researched the company’s values or cultural principles. 令人难以置信的是，有多少候选人在面试前根本不做公司调研。我面试过 50 多位数据科学和机器学习岗位的候选人，很明显，许多人并没有研究过公司的价值观或文化准则。

So, the obvious first step is to find the company’s values. This is really simple to do; all you need to do is Google: “[Company] culture and value principles”. 因此，显而易见的第一步是找到公司的价值观。这非常简单，你只需要在谷歌搜索：“[公司名称] culture and value principles”。

R-STAR-L Framework

R-STAR-L 框架

Companies, interview coaches and websites will all tell you to use the STAR method when answering interview questions, particularly behavioural ones. The problem is that everyone is doing this, so you don’t differentiate yourself at all. 公司、面试教练和网站都会告诉你，在回答面试问题（尤其是行为面试题）时使用 STAR 方法。问题在于每个人都在这样做，所以你根本无法脱颖而出。

For those of you unfamiliar, the STAR framework is as follows: 对于不熟悉的人，STAR 框架如下：

• (S) Situation: What was the scenario (情境：当时的情况是什么)
• (T) Task: What did you have to do (任务：你需要做什么)
• (A) Action: What did you do (行动：你做了什么)
• (R) Result: What happened as a result (结果：最终发生了什么)

There is nothing inherently wrong with STAR. But it’s not optimal. STAR doesn’t directly tell the interviewer that you are a culture fit. All you are doing is walking through previous work experience, which is not at all specific to the company you are applying to. STAR 方法本身没有错，但它不是最优解。STAR 并不能直接告诉面试官你与公司文化契合。你所做的只是回顾过往的工作经验，这与你申请的公司完全没有针对性。