What To Ask At The End of A Data Science Behavioral Interview?
Data Science interview processes can vary depending on the company and industry domain you are applying to. Typically, they start with a behavioral interview with the Hiring Manager or an HR member followed by a technical interview with the team leader and then a coding test and another technical interview with your future team members. However this can vary from one company to another, but, it always starts with a behavioral interview. You can know more about the hiring process of data science in this article:
A behavioral interview is a job interviewing technique where candidates are asked to describe past performance and behavior to determine whether they are suitable for a position. The main goal is to know the type of person you are and to see whether you will be a fit with the company culture, core values, and team members and whether you will satisfy their vision and goals or not.
In the previous two articles of this series :
In the first article, I discussed what is a data science behavioral interview and what to expect from it.
In the second article, I discussed how to answer the first and the most common question in a behavioral interview which introduces yourself or tells me more about yourself.
In the third article, I discussed how to present your past projects and answer one of the most common questions that you will probably be asked during a behavioral interview which is to explain a project you worked on before.
In this article, I will discuss what to ask at the end of a data science behavioral interview. A very common question you will be asked at the end of a behavioral data science interview is “Do you have any questions?”. This is a common final question in data science interviews in general, not only in the behavioral interview but can be asked in all the other hiring stages.
Although this question might be overlooked you can use it in your favor and leave a final good impression on the interviewer. Therefore, it is important to consider how you will deal with this question before the interview.
Asking questions shows your interest in the job, if you do not ask any questions, it might leave the impression that you are not interested, or you have not done enough research about the company and the position. On the other hand, asking too many questions is not the best act as it might leave a bad impression on you. You should aim to ask between three to five questions. In this article, I will first, discuss what questions you should ask, and then we will go through five tips to help you ask effective questions.
If you want to study Data Science and Machine Learning for free, check out these resources:
- Free interactive roadmaps to learn Data Science and Machine Learning by yourself. Start here: https://aigents.co/learn/roadmaps/intro
- The search engine for Data Science learning resources (FREE). Bookmark your favorite resources, mark articles as complete and add study notes. https://aigents.co/learn
- Want to learn Data Science from scratch with the support of a mentor and a learning community? Join this Study Circle for free: https://community.aigents.co/spaces/9010170/
If you would like to start a career in data science & AI and you do not know how. I offer data science mentoring sessions and long-term career mentoring:
- Long-term mentoring: https://lnkd.in/dtdUYBrM
- Mentoring sessions: https://lnkd.in/dXeg3KPW
Join the Medium membership program for only 5 $ to continue learning without limits. I’ll receive a small portion of your membership fee if you use the following link, at no extra cost to you.
What Questions You Should Ask?
The questions to ask at the end of an interview depend on the position, the interview itself adn the interviewer. Therefore you will need to do your research first about these variables to be able to prepare the best questions. Here are suggested topics and questions you can ask:
- Questions about the future vision of the company: The first type of questions to be asked is about the future vision of the company and the coming projects the company will work on and how data science will be used to achieve this. These questions will be very good options for nontechnical interviewers. Here are some questions that could be asked under this category: 1. what is the company's vision for the next five years 2. What are the coming projects? 3. What is the importance of data in your organization?
- Exciting things happening at the company: The second category of questions you can ask about exciting things that are happening at the company and what the employees really like and value about the company and its culture and the working environment. These questions will be very good options for nontechnical interviewers. Here are some questions that could be asked under this category: 1. What do you like most about working here? 2. What do you think makes this company’s culture unique?
- Types of projects you would be working on: The third type of question you can ask is bout your future role and the projects you will be working on and how they are managed. These questions will be very good if the interviewer is your future team lead. Here are some questions that could be asked under this category: 1. What is the current project the team I will be joining is working on now? 2. What are the tools you are using? 3. What is a typical working day looks like?
- Preparations: The last category of questions you can ask is how about preparation for this position. You can ask whether there is a certain tool or skill that is important to learn or know about before starting the position so as to easily cope with the team after joining it. These questions will be very good if the interviewer is your future team lead. Here are some questions that could be asked under this category: 1. How should I prepare for this position 2. Are there any specific topics I should study before starting?
5 Tips to ask good questions
To be able to ask effective questions and to use this opportunity to leave a final good impression, here is five tips that will help you to prepare effective questions and achieve this goal:
- Stick to three to five questions: Ask one question or less will give the impression that you are not interested in the position while asking too many questions will be a sign that you have weak communication skills. You should be in the range of three to five questions to give the impression that you are interested in the position without overdoing it.
- Adjust your questions to the interviewer: Ask different questions to different people/companies: You should prepare the questions based on the interviewer. For example, if your interviewer is a manager then it is better to ask broad questions related to the vision of the company such as what will be the vision of the company in the next coming years. What skills and qualities do you think would make an excellent candidate? If the interviewer is part of the team, you will be joining then it will be good to ask questions that are related to the projects they are working on, and what tools and technologies they are using.
- Keep your questions positive: You do not need to leave the impression that you complain too much or think negatively. There is no need to ask questions about the most stressful things about the company.
- Avoid bias: Leave any personal bias away from your questions. Do not show that you are just interested in some tasks as this will give the impression that you are not a good team player.
- Remember that you do not have the job yet: You are still in the interview process and there is no need to ask about vacation, compensation, bonuses, and so on you can about this after get hired.
Loved the article? Become a Medium member to continue learning without limits. I’ll receive a small portion of your membership fee if you use the following link, at no extra cost to you.
Thanks for reading! If you like the article make sure to clap (up to 50!) and connect with me on LinkedIn and follow me on Medium to stay updated with my new articles.