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The Big Three Questions

Special preparation for the three most important behavioral questions: Tell Me About Yourself, Tell Me About Your Favorite Project, and Tell Me About a Conflict.

While drilling random behavioral questions isn't the best preparation strategy, three questions (or variants) appear so consistently, and carry so much weight, that preparing them thoroughly pays off every time:

Tell me about yourself (TMAY)
Tell me about your favorite project
Tell me about a time you resolved a conflict

Since you know they're coming, you have an opportunity to prepare polished, practiced responses you can deliver confidently even when you're nervous. Nailing these will give you confidence through the rest of the interview and gives you a huge boost in terms of the subjective assessment from your interviewer. These questions also give you a chance to cover a wide variety of signal areas, establishing yourself as a good fit for the role.

Let's cover some special guidance for each of these questions.

Tell Me About Yourself (TMAY)

This question pops up everywhere. It starts in casual networking conversations, with recruiters, hiring managers, and of course in behavioral interviewers. It's so ubiquitous it has its own acronym: TMAY (pronounced "tee-may").

Answering TMAY effectively can set the tone for the entire session and accomplish a few things:

Break the ice and leave a great first impression. Candidates and interviewers alike are nervous at the beginning of an interview. Take these first few minutes to make a lasting impression when the interviewer is most attentive.

Set the context and your scope. Many interviewers have not reviewed your resume. They might be coming straight from another meeting and not even have looked to see which open role they're interviewing to fill. Your TMAY introduces the conversation and helps both of you get oriented.

Steer the rest of the conversation. A strong TMAY lets you guide the interviewer toward topics that showcase the best of your career. This ensures the rest of the interview focuses on your repeatable behaviors, which is how the interviewer will judge you.

Express passion for your role and for the company. This is your opportunity to demonstrate genuine enthusiasm for the work you do and the role you're pursuing.

Paradoxically, the way to achieve all of this is to keep your TMAY short. About 30 seconds to 2 minutes is ideal. Interviewers want enough context to orient themselves but are also eager to dive into their more meaty questions.

Don't use flattery like "It's been my life's dream to interview for this company." Your job is to guide the interviewer to the best stories about your career, so time you spent in the introduction means less time spent delivering signal that will get you hired.

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The Big Three Questions

Tell Me About Yourself (TMAY)

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The Big Three Questions

Tell Me About Yourself (TMAY)

A Simple Structure for TMAY

Personal Summary

Accomplishments

Forward-Looking Statement

TMAY Examples by Career Level

New Grad

Mid-Level Engineer

Senior Engineer

People Manager

Handling Complex Situations in TMAY

TMAY Mistakes to Avoid

Tell Me About Your Favorite Project

Choosing Your Favorite Project

Tell Me About a Time You Resolved a Conflict

How Tech Companies View Conflicts

Common Conflict Stories

Choosing the Right Conflict Story

Common Elements of Successful Conflict Stories

Full Example: Data Quality vs. Timeline

The Result Includes the Relationship

Bonus: The Question Everyone Forgets

Good Questions to Ask

Questions to Avoid

Exercise: Prepare Your Big Three

What's Next

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