The Interview Algorithm That Gets You Hired

Two simple frameworks that help you perform at your best when it matters most

Interviews are an emotional roller coaster. After coaching hundreds of managers and Staff+ engineers, I developed an algorithm that helps you perform at your best. The key principle here is to offload as much of the burden to your preparation at home.

It's actually not one algorithm, but two.

Before the interview (Algorithm #1):

1. Find the relevant dimensions / leadership principles that you will be asked about.

2. Brainstorm potential stories. Write them down quickly with no filters.

3. For each story, identify what specifically made it challenging.

4. Filter out stories that don't match your target level.

During the interview (Algorithm #2):

1. Identify the "question behind the question."

2. Choose your strongest prepared story.

3. If necessary, add a bridge.

Let's unpack it.

Find the Schema

Established companies evaluate candidates using a standardized matrix, or schema. Some companies are very open about it, like Amazon sharing their Leadership Principles. Others will have internal criteria that they won't publish externally.

Your starting point should be your recruiter. In many companies the recruiters actually have an incentive for you to pass. Regardless, you should ask.

For manager interviews, these are common dimensions:

• Personal Growth

• Recruiting and Hiring

• Managing low performers

• Growing your reports and team

• Collaboration and Conflict Resolution

Brainstorm Stories

Now write down stories for each dimension, without any filter. You should spread this part out over several days. You'll remember situations that you completely forgot about in the shower, on your run, commute, or while watching Ted Lasso.

The goal here is to get your brain into the right state of mind.

Feeling stuck? Here are some sources to prime your memory:

• You can look at some common interview questions (there are many lists online) to kick-start your thinking.

• You can also prompt your favorite LLM to help you brainstorm stories.

• Finally, you can find your stories using more structured sources, such as your past performance reviews and promotions.

Get as many stories as you can on the page.

The Challenge

Give it a few days, and then it's time to start filtering.

For each story, identify what specifically made it challenging.

Here are some common dimensions of scope/challenge:

• Ambiguity in the Problem Space (better) or in the Solution Space.

• A unique technical challenge that very few people in the world can solve.

• The size of the problem (and the need to lead multiple humans to solve it).

• The number of multiple parties that you need to align towards a common goal.

• The "translation" challenges of working with diverse cross-functional partners.

Write down what made each story challenging, then start removing stories from your story-bank.

Aim to have 2-3 stories for each criteria.

Good luck, you are already ahead of 90% of the interviewees!

Now, let's talk about how to best leverage it during the actual interview.

The In-Interview Algorithm

During the interview, your job is to run a short algorithm between when the interviewer asks you a question and when you start talking. It is perfectly fine if it takes you several seconds to run this algorithm in your head.

Silence feels uncomfortable.

An uncomfortable silence that leads to a strong story is a hundred times better than a quick answer with a mediocre story.

So what do you do?

First of all, figure out what dimension the question is trying to collect signal on.

Examples:

• "Tell me about a time you failed" --> Growth

• "Tell about a time you didn't know how to get started" --> Ambiguity

Once you have this dimension, choose one of your prepared stories.

Do not try to come up with a new story on the spot.

You went through so much work to pre-compute your strongest and best stories. And now you’re seating in a high-stress, high-stakes situation. Your goal is to leverage as much of the work that you’ve done beforehand as possible.

Sometimes, the story that you prepared won't perfectly match the question-as-asked. You should still use this story. Here’s how you do it.

Introduce a bridge.

Add a connection between the “question-as-asked” and the story that you prepared.

This works because the interviewer doesn’t really care about the answer to their question. They really care about collecting signals on the dimension that you identified.

Here’s how this can play out:

• Instead of mistake, focus on your biggest growth story: “I sure made a lot of mistakes. I can tell you about some hard feedback that I got that completely transformed my career. Would you like to hear about it?”

• Instead of how you close a candidate, focus on your strongest recruiting story: “Recruiting is challenging. I can tell you about a time when I initiated and completely changed how our organization’s hiring process work.”

The key message here is that your answer does not need to perfectly match the question exactly as the interviewer phrased it. It must match the dimension that the interviewer is interested in.

Using this two-step process during the interview you will be able to showcase your strongest stories.

Next Steps

If you have an interview coming up, you should try this out. You can also check out the Behavioral Interview Template Bank for a list of proven answer structures.

If you're not actively looking for a job, start working on your story bank today. Create a new document and make it a living document. Sync your "brag document" with your interview answer bank. This way you'll be ready when opportunity knocks.

The bottom line?

Most people wing their interviews and hope for the best. You now have a system that puts you ahead of 90% of candidates before you even walk in the room.

Your stories are already there. Your challenges are real. Now you just need to organize them.