Receiving (Processing) Mock Interview Feedback
I think the saying goes: “All feedback is a gift. You have to decide if you want to accept it or throw it out.” I recently had a client trying to decide what feedback to accept and what to throw out. Their question: How do I discern subjective from objective feedback?
TL;DR - It doesn't matter. Most feedback in interviews is subjective. What is important is that you understand a human felt something you said didn't land correctly. On the day of your interview, you could get someone known to be an unreasonably harsh grader by their colleagues, but there is nothing you can do about it. If you get the feedback once, and it doesn't sound right, you can probably ignore it. If you keep hearing it, maybe there is something to it.
Let's get into the details...
The following are some common categories of feedback that throw people off or frustrate them. I provide some questions you can ask your partner if you are frustrated by the feedback.
Rambling/Too Verbose: Not only is it a bad delivery technique, generally speaking, but being too verbose can cloud comprehension. If you ramble on, a good point can get lost. If you get the feedback that you didn't address X, but you know you did. Ask yourself the following:
Why did I feel the need to provide that detail?
Did I talk too fast?
Did I make the point when my interviewer was typing notes, and they might have missed it?
User Groupings: I didn't like your user groupings, they were not X (MECE, easy to understand, too high-level, etc.)
If they weren't MECE, did you acknowledge it and have a strong reason you thought it might work?
If they were not easy to understand, ask for more details. Understand what? Something so vague means your partner might need to work on articulating their thoughts.
They were too high-level, ask yourself, did you have a super-specific who?
Too inclusive: Were your segments so high level I couldn't close my eyes and imagine a person?
Prioritization was too frameworky: Different companies look for different levels of prioritization. At Google, for example, they look for high-level, common sense responses. At Meta, you need to show your framework for prioritization and share it in 3 different areas (Users, Pain Points & Solutions).
Company-Specific Feedback: If you are going for Meta/Facebook, make sure they were giving you a Meta and not Google grading. If they still say Meta, ask for a little more specifics. Even if you don't agree, getting feedback that a human didn't like it is one data point to consider. See if it is a recurring pattern.
Delivery Sounded too Robotic or Framework-Driven: Ask for just one thing you could have done to sound less robotic or framework driven.
Lack of Originality in Ideas: Your ideas were derivative; they lacked creativity.
Ask: Do you have any examples of a creative idea?
Ask: If I told you I was going from MVP to Moonshot, would that have changed your mind?
Metrics too High-Level
What metrics would you use in a case like this?
Ask yourself:
Did I compare back to my main goal?
Did I talk about time periods?
Did my metrics have 3 parts or did I simply say engagement, activation, or churn?
The point of these examples is to show that if you get answers that frustrate you, you can pick 1 to 3 pieces of feedback that concern you and ask specific questions of yourself or your partner that will help you understand how to get better.
No Perfect Answer
Remember, there is no perfect answer to a case question, so it is a false dichotomy to ask: Is this subjective or objective feedback? For the most part, it is subjective. Some interviewers would pass an L4 but fail an L6 for a particular response.
Different people will find any given answer more or less annoying. If something is really holding you back, you will continue to hear it across interview partners. If it was a one-off and you disagree, note that an interviewer could have the same perspective but don’t fixate on it too much.
Other articles in this series include:
