Do you prefer change or the status quo?
Meta's products are constantly evolving, with new products being added, older ones being improved upon, and occasional shifts occurring in their company focus. Therefore, your interviewer is curious about how able you are to adapt and how effectively you embrace and support the vision and direction of your employer. As they say on their website, "We all recognize that Meta's business is both broad in scope and constantly changing, and while I know many of you are energized by this, I also recognize that the idea of upcoming changes creates uncertainty and stress. My hope is to focus on the critical work ahead."
"The high-growth tech startup I work for initially kept reinventing themselves, shifting their focus as they trained many of us to wear all the hats, and we were constantly learning on the go as they parceled out jobs and responsibilities between sales and marketing. Eventually, they shifted gears and hired a chief marketing officer who hired specialists in that field. As a result, the company went through 3 major rebrandings and shiftings of focus for the company. Many of our teammates enjoyed the work, even though they lacked proper training, and grew frustrated by these shifts, resulting in a lot of turnover. I did what I could to share the company's vision and defend the direction we were heading. But not everyone shared my enthusiasm."
How you answer this question could provide insights into whether this job is the right fit for you. For example, those who prefer to cruise along performing at the status quo, relying on the security of predictable work, day in and day out, are more likely to feel stressed out and burnout on the job than those who are more adaptive and thrive in a constantly changing, fast-paced work environment. So showcase your familiarity with the type of work environment they've created, and that you feel this is the right opportunity for you.
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
I've had to adapt to the needs of new clients that were more digitally oriented. Our first clients required more traditional advertising, whereas our newer clients were more focused on digital advertising. I worked on digital campaigns and learned new things along the way. This sparked my interest in social advertising at Facebook.
Kevin's Feedback
Great response; you provide a specific example of how you've adapted to change. You may wish to focus on the adaptability/flexibility aspect a bit more to strengthen your response. If you are naturally a highly adaptable person, this would be an excellent time to say so!
Long ago I made a habit of challenging myself by expanding the sphere of my comfort zone. Eventually, I realized my comfort zone had evolved to where I was uncomfortable unless I was constantly stepping outside of my comfort zone. For example, I initially addressed our clients’ needs through traditional forms of advertising. Later, while bringing on new clients, I adapted to their needs for more digitally focussed advertising. So I learned everything I could about developing their campaigns. This has further sparked my interest in social advertising on Facebook, which is why I am here.
Anonymous Answer
I have had to adapt to change for every single role that I undertook which had a pretty different set of responsibilities. I also have the experience of changing sectors, starting work in a country that I didn't grow up in, and in each team that I was in, it was a different cultural composition of people. In essence, my whole career (as well as education) has been a story of change and I am confident to be able to successfully adapt to the next new role and environment as well.
Stephanie's Feedback
Wow! It's evident that you've experienced a lot of change during your life, in a variety of aspects. Good for you for being so adaptable--this is a highly marketable skill!
Anonymous Answer
At my last employment, we had one of our managers leave and a new one was hired. When the new manager joined he reviewed our tickets and he explained how to be more thorough in the analysis of impact after finishing a case. For example, asking questions like are we protected from this threat on our endpoints? what can we do to detect this in advance going forward? Ultimately it forced me to dig a little deeper in each case and started reaching out to other teams to find answers to those kinds of questions.
Stephanie's Feedback
This is a great example, but you should further highlight how you showed flexibility and adaptability. You could do this by adding a concluding sentence that highlights these skills. Example; "Having expectations set by a new manager brought me out of my comfort zone, made me better at the work, and caused me to realize just how adaptable I am."
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