Preparing Your Game Plan for Tech Behavioral Interviews

This is Part 1 of my 9-part series: The Behavioral Interview Game Plan. [View the Full Series Roadmap]

 

It’s normal to feel a bit anxious when thinking about behavioral interviews in tech. These conversations are designed to assess your technical leadership and soft skills—things a technical screen can’t capture. If you’re wondering how to translate your experience into stories that truly land, I’m here to help.

Over the next few posts, we are going to build your personalized interview game plan. I will be sharing the exact framework I used to successfully interview at Google, refined into a step-by-step approach we can adapt to your own career journey.

The first step in any successful behavioral interview coaching strategy is defining the goal. To make this process practical and supportive, we are going to use a specific, real-world scenario.

Let’s assume you are applying for this specific job posting:

---

We are looking for an entry-level iOS developer to join our team and help us create the next generation of mobile apps.

Responsibilities

• • Develop and maintain iOS applications using Swift

• • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define, design, and ship new features

• • Write clean, efficient, and reusable code

• • Test, optimize, and troubleshoot code to ensure quality

• • Identify potential problems and resolve issues

• • Keep up with the latest iOS development trends and technologies

Qualifications

• • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field

• • 1+ years of experience with Swift programming language

• • Strong understanding of iOS development best practices

• • Experience with Xcode, Interface Builder, and other iOS development tools

• • Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills

• • Ability to work independently and as part of a team

---

Now, let’s define your role (or your candidate’s role) in this example. This helps us find the “high-value stories” that matter.

Let’s assume your current role is a SwiftUI Developer on a social networking app. You are currently refreshing legacy screens (previously Objective-C/XIBs) with modern SwiftUI implementations, all while closely partnering with your Product and UX peers.  You are updating features while also refreshing the design.

By using this specific target and experience, we can methodically prepare the behavioral interview stories you will need to shine.

What’s Next?

In our next post, we’ll move from defining the goal to the 4-Step Prep Framework. We’ll break down the method we’ll use to map your experience to these job requirements, ensuring you show up to your interview feeling prepared and confident. Let’s do this together.

PS Let’s chat if you’re serious about prepping for interviews.