took notes obsessively during my prep and after my loop, sharing what I found useful.
Meta's behavioral round is now sometimes called the "leadership principles" round, and separately there's the JEDI round (judgment, empathy, diversity and inclusion). these can be the same 45 min slot or split depending on the team. ask your recruiter which format you're getting.
the values they care most about: moving fast. not just shipping fast, but comfort with incomplete information. they want to hear "we had ambiguity and I decided anyway" not "we waited for clarity." customer focus (they call it "focus on long-term impact" in some teams). they want impact stories with real numbers. be bold. this one surprises people. if you always played it safe, reframe: being bold means raising a hard concern in a room full of senior people, too.
questions I was actually asked or prepped heavily: tell me about a time you disagreed with a decision and what you did. most impactful project of your career, and why that one. tell me about a failure. (the classic. they want you to own it, not deflect.) tell me about a time you had to influence without authority. when did you change your mind based on new data?
for the JEDI round specifically: they're asking about inclusion, belonging, working across difference. real stories work. don't over-rehearse this one or it sounds canned.
what doesn't work: generic STAR stories with no numbers, no tension, and a neat happy ending. Meta interviewers are very experienced and they probe the "what did you specifically do vs. what did the team do" question hard. be precise about your role.
timing: I aimed for about 3-4 minutes per story with room for probing questions. some interviewers let you run longer, some interrupt early. read the room.
one thing that helped me: writing out every story in one sentence first. if i couldn't say it in one sentence, i didn't know it well enough yet.