HP · Primly Community

HP behavioral interview questions and values, what they're actually looking for

sam_recovering · 6 replies

I wasn't expecting to write up my HP experience but a few people DM'd me after seeing my other posts, so here it goes. I went through HP's behavioral loop for a senior product engineering role about six weeks ago. Different from what I expected going in.

HP has a stated set of values. Accountability, respect, results, integrity. In practice the behavioral questions mapped pretty directly onto those. Not in a scripted way, but you could feel the connective tissue.

Questions I actually got "Tell me about a time you had to deliver results under significant technical uncertainty." "Describe a situation where you disagreed with a stakeholder decision. What did you do?" "When have you had to prioritize between two competing deadlines? How did you decide?" "Tell me about a time you had to rebuild trust with a teammate after a conflict." "Describe a situation where you spotted a quality or reliability issue that wasn't your direct responsibility."

That last one caught me off guard. It's a subtle probe on ownership and integrity. They weren't asking about a bug I caused, they were asking whether I'd pick up something that wasn't my problem.

What I noticed about how they evaluated answers

My interviewer (an engineering manager) was very attentive to whether my stories were specific. Any time I started going broad or abstract, she'd redirect: "Can you tell me specifically what you said to that person?" or "What was the actual outcome, in numbers if possible?"

She also asked follow-up questions that tested whether I'd actually lived the story. "What would you have done differently?" came up after two of my five answers. It's a good probe and one I'd practiced, luckily.

I used STAR format loosely but tried not to make it feel formulaic. I think that mattered.

Tone of the round

Honestly pretty warm. She wasn't trying to trick me or pressure me. It felt like a real conversation by the end. HP doesn't have the same high-pressure reputation as some FAANG behavioral rounds where they're looking for reasons to cut you.

I did get the offer, fwiw. Not sure yet if I'm taking it. The comp came in around what I expected for my level and location but the remote policy is hybrid-required and that's a tension for me right now.

If you're prepping for HP's behavioral round, spend time on ownership stories and cross-functional conflict stories. Those seemed to matter most.

6 replies

recruiter_rita

The follow-up "what would you have done differently" is really common at companies that care about growth mindset. It filters for self-awareness. Prepping a genuine reflection for each of your main stories is time well spent. Not a trick, just a signal.

growth_gabe

The ownership story question is interesting. It's a bit unusual compared to the standard behavioral library. Did she specify a scale (like team-level vs org-level) or just leave it open?

sam_recovering

She left it open and I picked a team-level story. It was enough. I don't think they're expecting org-wide heroics. They want to see you noticed the thing and took a step, not that you saved the entire engineering org.

brand_ben

This matches what a designer friend told me about her HP loop. She said it felt genuinely conversational and less like a tribunal. Also congrats on the offer, hope the hybrid situation resolves itself one way or another.

sam_recovering

Thank you. I'm being careful not to rush the decision. Learned from past experience that "I'll make the hybrid thing work" is often optimism that runs out around month four.

ae_andre

The conflict-with-stakeholder question is universal across almost every company doing behavioral rounds properly. My take after going through a lot of these: make sure you name a real conflict, not a "we had a slight disagreement and then talked it out" story. They can tell the difference and they're looking for how you handle actual friction.