Once you’ve captured a company’s attention, knowing how to follow through is key. The Interviewing module will take you through the entire interview process, ensuring you are well-prepared from beginning to end. This module covers the different types of interviews you may encounter and what to expect from each, including technical challenges such as coding tests.
Additionally, you’ll receive valuable tips for making a lasting impression during the final interview, learning how to present yourself confidently and effectively. You’ll also discover the importance of post-interview follow-up and best practices for standing out from other candidates. By mastering these skills, you’ll be able to navigate the interview process with greater ease and boost your chances of landing the job.
Learning Objectives:
Explain the STAR method for answering interview questions
Identify common final interview questions
Discuss how to prepare for a final interview
Recognize various types of second-round interviews
Describe a coding challenge for a software developer position and how to approach it
Understand the steps involved in a basic interview process
PRACTICE QUIZ
1. What are three common types of second-round interviews?
Mock interview
Team interview (CORRECT)
Human resources screen (CORRECT)
Technical interview (CORRECT)
That’s correct. Often, a team lead will ask behavioral questions during an interview with a candidate.
That’s correct. It’s common for a candidate to meet with an HR representative in the second round of interviews.
That’s correct. A technical lead typically conducts interviews to evaluate a candidate’s technical skills.
2. Coding challenges vary in scope and complexity depending on ____________.
Round of interviews
Seniority and job description (CORRECT)
City or region of the company
Whether the data is downloaded
Correct: Correct. Entry-level jobs may ask for an easier challenge, while senior positions will assign a more difficult or complicated problem.
3. Why might a company ask you to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before working on a coding challenge?
To keep you from sharing the problems with other applicants and to establish who owns the work you do on the challenge (CORRECT)
To lay the legal groundwork in case you are not hired and to protect themselves from libel
To protect the company in case they don’t own the rights to the information used in the challenge
To protect downloaded data sets from being distributed
Correct: Correct. NDAs keep things clear and legal, protecting the company and the applicant.
4. Which of the following is an appropriate question to ask at a final interview?
How much time off is included in this role?
Can you offer me a higher salary?
What’s the next step in the hiring process? (CORRECT)
What does this company do?
Correct: Correct. It’s appropriate to inquire about the general sequence and timing of the interview process within the company.
5. In the STAR method for answering interview questions, STAR stands for:
Self, Team, Action, Review
Situation, Task, Action, Result (CORRECT)
Start, Test, Add, Result
Saw, Took Action, Aimed, Reviewed
Correct: Correct. This is an effective format for answering behavioral and situational interview questions.
GRADED QUIZ
1. What is true about the overall interview process?
Candidates generally don’t ask questions of the interviewers.
Second-round screens are usually the same.
Interviews are all different, and it’s not really possible to prepare effectively.
Interview processes can vary depending on factors like the type of position and size of company. (CORRECT)
Correct: Correct. Interviews at a large company can vary significantly from those at a small company, and entry-level interviews often differ from those for higher-level roles.
2. Why would you be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before a code challenge?
They don’t want anyone to know what projects the company may be working on.
They may want to use your work in a later project.
They want to save time on a possible hiring process.
The company does not want you to share the problem with other potential candidates. (CORRECT)
Correct: Correct. Companies create or source a code challenge to fit the position they’re hiring for, and they don’t want the problem to be shared out.
3. What is true about coding challenges?
You will not need to create visualizations.
You will need to figure out how to do the problem yourself – no instructions are provided.
A coding challenge is usually the first step in an interview process.
In them, you work on your own time at home and then submit your work for review. (CORRECT)
Correct: Correct. The company will usually send you information and links that you need, as well as a way to submit your work back to them.
4. What are some good things to review after first-round interviews to prepare for second-round screens?
Whether you are still interested in the position
What went well and what caught the interest of your interviewers (CORRECT)
The names and positions of any interviewers you have met (CORRECT)
Whether there was a question that you weren’t prepared for (CORRECT)
Correct. You’ll want to familiarize yourself with those points and prepare thoughtful follow-up questions.
Correct. You may encounter these individuals again, or they might come up in later conversations.
Correct. Now is an excellent time to review and prepare strong answers for any unexpected questions.
5. What might you expect in a human resources (HR) screen?
A brief orientation about the company and its products or services (CORRECT)
Behavioral questions about your working style
Information about other candidates for the position
Questions to test technical skills
Correct: Correct. The HR representative is likely to make sure you understand the basics about the company.
6. What is a good way to prepare before a final interview?
Skip breakfast to save time.
Stay fresh in your responses by not reading over your notes.
Leave appearance choices until the morning of the interview – there are better things to think about.
Test your equipment if the interview is virtual. (CORRECT)
Correct: Correct. Ensure that you can successfully connect to the virtual interview and that your equipment is working properly beforehand, so you can concentrate on the interview.
7. What is true about asking interviewers questions during an interview?
It’s best to think of questions spontaneously during the interview.
It’s helpful to be candid with your concerns about issues like work load and holidays.
It’s a good time to negotiate compensation.
It’s a chance to show how serious you are about the job and how well you prepared. (CORRECT)
Correct: Correct. Good questions show that you did your homework and are thinking about how you will step into the role if given a chance.
8. In the United States, what is illegal to ask in a job interview?
Legal or arrest record
Race or nationality. (CORRECT)
Gender and sexual orientation (CORRECT)
Marital status (CORRECT)
Correct. It is illegal to discriminate on this basis in the United States, so it’s illegal to ask this question.
Correct. It is illegal to discriminate on this basis in the United States, so it’s illegal to ask this question.
Correct. It is illegal to discriminate on this basis in the United States, so it’s illegal to ask this question.
9. What is “culture fit”?
Whether a candidate can follow the company’s dress code
Another name for immigration status
Whether a candidate fits the company’s equal-opportunity policies
How well a candidate fits in with the company’s existing culture (CORRECT)
Correct: Correct. Beware of questions about this – it can often be a mask for unconscious (or intentional) bias.
10. What should you do if you are offered a new position?
Stop contacting companies you previously interviewed with.
Consider factors that might call for a compensation negotiation. (CORRECT)
Accept immediately.
Start the new job immediately.
Extra questions
1. A chatbot will typically interact with the user via text or audio.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Text and audio are the most common ways users interact with chatbots.
2. Amazon Alexa is an example of an audio-based virtual assistant.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Amazon Alexa is an example of an audio-based virtual assistant.
3. Which of the following is inappropriate as an alternate name for Chatbot?
Chatterbots
Whatsapp (CORRECT)
Talkbots
Artificial Conversational Entities (ACE)
Correct. Whatsapp is a messenger app, not a chatbot.
4. What two factors directly contributed to the emergence of chatbots?
AI / Cognitive Computing and Messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger (CORRECT)
Blockchain and Messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger
Messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger and Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails and AI / Cognitive Computing
Correct! AI improvements in capability and availability contributed to the feasibility of chatbots. Chatbots leverage users preference for chat interfaces.
5. True or False: Chatbots are beneficial to large companies only.
True (CORRECT)
False
Customer support is one of the main applications for chatbots.
6. Chatbots are useful for customer care.
Celebrate team success (CORRECT)
Delegate responsibilities (CORRECT)
Create systems that turn chaos into order (CORRECT)
Use one consistent style of communication across teams
Celebrating success is a powerful way to enhance morale and engagement, making it an essential strategy for motivating teams.
Delegating tasks allows project managers to show trust in their team members while enabling them to apply their unique skills effectively.
By establishing standard, measurable, and scalable workflows, project managers can create a structured and efficient working environment.
7. Users will typically interact with chatbots via text or audio.
True (CORRECT)
False
That’s right. A user will typically type (or use their voice) to interact with a chatbot.
8. Watson Assistant (formerly Conversation) can only be used to create chatbots in English.
True
False (CORRECT)
Correct! English is the default, but you can choose among many languages.
9. Which of the following is true for intents?
We should not provide Watson with more than two intent examples
Intents can have spaces in their names
An intent is a purpose or goal expressed by the user’s input (CORRECT)
Intents start with an @ symbol
Correct! Intents recognize the intent expressed in a customer’s input.
10. The three main components of a Dialog Skill are Intents, Entities, and Dialog.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! The three main components of a Dialog Skill are Intents, Entities, and Dialog.
11. If Watson detects the wrong intent, we can train Watson by selecting a different intent from the Try it out panel.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! You can select the right intent from a drop-down list within the Try it out panel.
12. The Content Catalog offers collections of pre-made intents for various industries.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! The Content Catalog offers collections of pre-made intents for various industries.
13. Intents capture the user goal
True (CORRECT)
False
An intent represent what the user intention or goal for their utterance.
14. Watson Assistant (formerly Conversation) supports many languages.
True (CORRECT)
False
More and more languages have been added over time.
15. Entities allow us to capture specific information in the user input.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Entities allow us to capture specific information in the user input.
16. Entities start with an # symbol.
True
False (CORRECT)
Correct! They start with an @ symbol.
17. Entity values can have synonyms and patterns.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Entity values can have synonyms and patterns.
18. Two user questions can have the same intent but different entity values.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Correct. “What are your Toronto hours?” and “What are your Montreal hours?” have the same intent, but the entity values differ, as one is referring to the hours for Toronto and the other to the hours for Montreal.
19. In our flower shop chatbot, “dad” is defined as a synonym for @relationship:father, if the user enters “which flowers for dad”, what’s the entity value detected by Watson?
@relationship:dad
@relationship:father (CORRECT)
@dad
@relationship
Correct! Even though a synonym was used, the entity value captures the input.
20. If the user enters a synonym we defined in their input, Watson will classify that input with the corresponding entity value.
True (CORRECT)
False
That’s right. In our example, Warden Avenue would be classified as @location:Toronto.
21. System entities are pre-made entities that allow us to capture numbers, locations, dates, times, and more.
True (CORRECT)
False
That’s right. Just remember to enable the ones you need.
22. Multiple conditional responses allow us to attach conditions to responses within a node.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Multiple conditional responses allow us to attach conditions to responses within a node.
23. The order of nodes in the dialog can affect how the chatbot works.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Correct. The order of nodes like Welcome and Anything else is important. Some nodes can be independent and placed between Welcome and Anything else, but the order of the middle nodes can also matter. For example, nodes with more generic conditions (e.g., @relationship) placed above more specific conditions (e.g., @relationship:wife) could overshadow and prevent the latter from executing properly.
24. Node A has @occasion as its condition. Node B, placed just below node A, has @occasion:Graduation as its condition. Which of the following statements is true?
The order of node A and node B doesn’t matter.
Both node A and node B will never be executed.
Node A is overshadowed and will not be executed (unless we explicitly jump to it).
Node B is overshadowed and will not be executed (unless we explictily jump to it). (CORRECT)
Correct! Since the user input could match both the @occasion entity condition and @occasion:Graduation entity value condition, Node A placed above node B will always be executed instead. Node B will not be executed unless we jump to it from Node A or somewhere else in the dialog.
25. In general, child nodes are considered, if the parent node condition is met.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Children nodes are only executed if they are jumped to (typically from a parent node).
26. Which of the following is true when designing a Chatbot?
Chatbot prompts should be as generic as possible (e.g., Hello. Ask me anything.)
Very long responses are good
We can use “yes” and “no” answers when possible
When designing a chatbot, we should consider tone and personality. (CORRECT)
Correct! The tone and personality of our chatbot can affect how well it is perceived by the user.
27. The Anything else node will be executed when the input doesn’t have a matching node in the dialog.
True (CORRECT)
False
That’s right. And that’s why it’s at the bottom of the dialog.
28. Every node within a dialog will typically be located between the Welcome and the Anything else node.
True (CORRECT)
False
Yes! This way we can have a prompt and a fallback node for when our middle nodes fail to provide an answer to the user.
29. “Hello. How can I help you?” is a good prompt.
True
False (CORRECT)
That’s right. This prompt would be too generic.
30. Providing Yes and No answers is a good idea.
True
False (CORRECT)
That’s right. Yes and no answers can mislead the user, depending on how they phrased their question. They are best avoided.
31. The Watson Assistant (formerly Conversation) plugin for WordPress allows us to deploy a chatbot by specifying the credentials of the corresponding Assistant, without the need to develop a separate, proxy application.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! It’s quite convenient when deploying on WordPress sites as it doesn’t require us to develop an application that sends the user input to the Watson Assistant service.
32. A preview link integration allows us to share our chatbot with friends and colleagues.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! A preview link integration allows us to share our chatbot with friends and colleagues.
33. One or more skills can be linked to an Assistant. In other words, an Assistant can “contain” one or more skills.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! An Assistant can “contain” one or more skills.
34. The WordPress plugin for Watson Assistant allows us to customize the look and feel of the chat box that appears on the site.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! The WordPress plugin for Watson Assistant allows us to customize the look and feel of the chat box that appears on the site.
35. There is no way to limit the chatbot usage in the Watson Assistant WordPress plugin (to prevent abusive users).
True
False (CORRECT)
Correct! There are some nice usage management features baked right into the plugin.
36. The Watson Conversation WordPress plugin allows us to deploy a chatbot without the need for a proxy app.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Correct. Unlike intents and entities, which are specific to a particular input, context variables persist throughout the duration of the conversation with the user, allowing for ongoing tracking and management of the conversation’s state.
37. Once set, context variables can be accessed for the duration of the conversation with a given user.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Unlike intents and entities which are specific to a particular input, context variables are available for the duration of the conversation with the user.
38. Slots allow us to collect information from the user and store it in context variables.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Slots allow us to collect information from the user and store it in context variables.
39. Slots with no question defined are optional and will only set the context variable if the condition (e.g., @location) is detected.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Slots with no question defined are optional and will only set the context variable if the condition (e.g., @location) is detected.
40. A node can only have one slot and therefore cannot assign more than one context variable.
True
False (CORRECT)
Correct. Nodes can have multiples slots. For example, a reservation node might collect the party size, name, date, and time, ending up with 4 slots.
41. In general, a required slot will only ask its question to the user once, even if the user replies with irrelevant information.
True
False (CORRECT)
Correct! By default, required slots don’t give up asking their question until the user provides an acceptable answer.
42. We can assign an entity value dected in the user input to a context variable to refer to it later in the conversation.
True (CORRECT)
False
43. A node can only have one slot.
True
False (CORRECT)
Yes! A node can indeed have multiple slots. Quite useful in practice.
44. The “Found” section of a slot allows us to specify what to say to the user (e.g., thanking them) when they provide a valid reply to the slot.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! It can help us improve the user-friendliness of the chatbot.
45. The “Not Found” section of a slot allows us to specify what to say to the user when they provide an invalid reply to the slot (e.g., a reply that doesn’t meet the slot condition).
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! An important feature to guide the user to the information we need, making the slots less annoying in the process.
46. Digressions allow us to decide what the chatbot should do when the user asks a different question instead of replying to the slot question.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Digressions allow us to decide what the chatbot should do when the user asks a different question instead of replying to the slot question.
47. Handlers are evaluated after the “Not found” responses you defined in a slot.
True
False (CORRECT)
Correct! Handlers are executed first.
48. We must explicitly enable returns to a slot to continue where we left off before a digression.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! We must explicitly enable returns to a slot to continue where we left off before a digression.
49. Digressions allow the user to ask unrelated questions while a slot is asking its own question.
True (CORRECT)
False
Yes. Digressions make our dialog more natural and allow our chatbot to respond to the user even during the execution of a slot.
50. Text and audio are two common ways through which chatbots interact with the user.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Users tend to interact with chatbots by typing or speaking to the chatbot.
51. To be called a chatbot, a bot needs to converse with the user.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! A chatbot is a special kind of bot that converses with the user. Bots that perform automated operations but don’t have conversations are not chatbots.
52. Chatbots can help cut down the number of inquiries a business’ customer care team needs to manually address.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Chatbots don’t replace humans but can greatly help the customer care team by answering common questions users might have.
53. Watson Assistant is a chatbot building service hosted on IBM Cloud.
True
False (CORRECT)
Correct! The WordPress plugin for Watson Assistant is a convenient way to deploy a chatbot but it’s not the only way. You could deploy to Facebook, Slack, your own site or app, etc.
54. Chatbots can only be deployed on WordPress sites.
True
False (CORRECT)
Correct! The WordPress plugin for Watson Assistant is a convenient way to deploy a chatbot but it’s not the only way. You could deploy to Facebook, Slack, your own site or app, etc.
56. Which of these is a valid intent?
@buy_product
#buy_product (CORRECT)
$buy_product
#buy product
Correct! This is a valid intent. Notice that it starts with a # symbol.
57. Which one of the following is a valid system entity?
@system-of-a-down
#sys-date
#sys-time
@sys-date (CORRECT)
Correct! This entity is useful to detect dates.
58. The value of an entity detected in the user input is automatically available for the entire duration of the conversation with the user.
True
False (CORRECT)
Correct! Entities are detected in the current user input.
59. We can use context variables to store (and later access) information collected from the user.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Context variables allow us to store values (e.g., the user name) that can be used later on in the conversation with the user
60. Slots allow us to collect information from the user and store it in context variables.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Slots allow us to ask questions to the user, detect specific information, and store it in context variables.
61. A dialog has the following nodes:Welcome (welcome condition)
Greetings (#greetings intent condition)
Thank you (#thank_you intent condition)
Goodbyes (#goodbyes intent condition)
Anything else (anything_else condition).
Which one of the following statements is applicable?
The order of Welcome and Anything else in the dialog will generally not matter.
Welcome will contain the chatbot prompt and be executed at the beginning of the conversation. (CORRECT)
Anything else node will be executed at any time within the conversation.
Greetings overshadows Goodbyes, and therefore Goodbyes is never executed.
Correct! Welcome is executed first.
62. The evaluation of peer nodes proceeds top to bottom until a node with a matching condition is found. Child nodes are only considered for execution after their parent’s condition is met (or if a jump is involved.)
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! Correct. Evaluation typically proceeds from top to bottom until a node’s condition matches the current input. Child nodes are usually evaluated only after the parent node has been evaluated, ensuring the hierarchical structure of the logic is maintained during the process.
63. Digressions allow users to divert the conversation away from a slot while it’s asking its question.
True (CORRECT)
False
Correct! The purpose of digressions is indeed to allow the chatbot to respond to the user when they ask a question in reply to a slot.
64. Which of the following contains the entire user input?
@sys-date
text.input
input.text (CORRECT)
user.text
Correct! This contains the entire user input.
65. A restaurant chatbot needs to collect the following information from the user: reservation name, party size, date, and time in order to book a reservation. Which of the following approaches works best?
Have four peer nodes, each asking one of the questions to the user
Have a node with multiple slots, each asking for the relevant information. System entities are not needed.
Have a parent node asking for the reservation name, then a child node asking for party size and then a grandchild node asking for date, then a great grandchild node asking for the time.
Have a node enabled with multiple slots, each asking for the relevant information. System entities should be enabled. (CORRECT)
Correct! A node with multiple slots (leveraging system entities) would offer the best approach here.
66. Learners who complete all courses of this Specialization are eligible to earn a digital credential from Credly and IBM. Would you like to receive a digital credential to recognize the skills you learned in this Specialization?
Yes, I would like to receive a badge upon completion of this Specialization. By selecting yes, I authorize Coursera to share my name and my email with Credly for the purpose of badge administration only. (CORRECT)
No, I would not like to receive a badge and do not authorize Coursera to share my personal contact information with Credly.
Thank you! You have opted-in. You will receive a completion badge from Credly upon completing this Specialization.
67. Watson Assistant is a useful service for the creation of chatbots.
True (CORRECT)
False
68. Which of the following dialog nodes are created for us when we start a chatbot? (Select all that apply)
Welcome (CORRECT)
Chitchat
Anything else (CORRECT)
Greetings
The Welcome node will created by default for us.
The Anything else node will created by default for us
69. You cannot integrate Watson services.
True
False (CORRECT)
70. This course will teach you about Watson Speech APIs and how to integrate them with chatbots.
True (CORRECT)
False
71. You cannot deploy chatbots to Facebook and Slack, only to WordPress.
True
False (CORRECT)
We do so in Module 5.
72. Which of the following companies uses Speech Recognition technology acquired from IBM in the past?
1. Which of the following companies uses Speech Recognition technology acquired from IBM in the past?
Google
Microsoft
AppleNuance (CORRECT)
73. Which of the following services enables SMS- and Voice-based communication via REST API?
IBM Voice Gateway
Twilio (CORRECT)
74. What type of file did we ask Text to Speech return?
76. Facebook Messenger and Slack are two integration options availlable from the Add Integration button within Watson Assistant.
True (CORRECT)
False
78. Slack bot users can subscribe to events (so that they may reply when they are invoked). Which of the following are valid event names? (Select all that apply)
message.im (CORRECT)
app_mention (CORRECT)
channel_mention
appmentions
my_messages
79. You can use a WordPress plugin to quickly and easily deploy Watson Assistant chatbots to WordPress sites.
True (CORRECT)
False
80. You need to re-deploy your chatbot every time you change the dialog within Watson Assistant.
True
False (CORRECT)
81. Watson Discovery includes a News collection by default.
True (CORRECT)
False
82. Which of these services can be used as a source for a Discovery collection? (Select all that apply)
SharePoint (CORRECT)
YouTube
Salesforce (CORRECT)
Box (CORRECT)
IBM Cloud Object Storage (CORRECT)
83. What does DQL stands for?
Discovery Query Lexer
Direct Query Language
Discovery Query Language (CORRECT)
Document Query Language
84. Which of the following query modes are supported in Discovery? (Select all that apply)
Parliamentary inquiry
SQL
Visual mode (CORRECT)
DQL (CORRECT)
CorrectNatural language (CORRECT)
85. We can add Watson enrichments to data to better classify documents by attaching useful metadata to them (e.g., entities, concepts, keywords).
True (CORRECT)
False
86. When integrating Watson Assistant and Watson Discovery, it is handy to use IBM Cloud Functions as an intermediary.
True (CORRECT)
False
87. Integration between various Watson services is possible thanks to APIs.
True (CORRECT)
False
88. Which of these values are required to successfully query a Discovery collection through its API? (Select all that apply)
ENVIRONMENT_ID (CORRECT)
ENRICHMENT_ID
COLLECTION_ID (CORRECT)
The Discovery password (e.g., the actual API KEY) (CORRECT)
The Discovery username (e.g., apikey) (CORRECT)
89. Specifying “result_variable”: “context.courses” in the JSON editor for a node calling an IBM Function, will place the result of the function in which variable?
In the $result_variable context variable.
In the $result context variable.
In the $courses context variable. (CORRECT)
In the @context.course entity value.
90. At some point, in the lab, we use <? $courses.courses.get(0).name ?> in the response of a node that calls an IBM Function. This fragment of code will display the name of the first course returned by the query.
True (CORRECT)
False
CONCLUSION – Interviewing
In conclusion, successfully following through after capturing a company’s attention is crucial for job search success. The Interviewing module provides in-depth knowledge of the interview process, covering various interview types, handling technical challenges, and excelling in final interviews. It also highlights the importance of post-interview follow-up to differentiate yourself from other candidates. By mastering these skills, you’ll approach interviews with confidence and improve your chances of securing the job you desire.