Interview Questions › Behavioral

A decision you made with data

Tell me about a decision you made using data. What did the data show and what did you decide?

Context

What the interviewer is testing: data-informed judgment, including knowing the limits of the data.

Clarifying questions to ask first

• Where did the data come from and how much did you trust it?
• What did the data not tell you?
• What happened after the decision?

How to approach it

1. Pick one real, specific story (not a hypothetical or a summary of many)
2. Set the scene in two or three sentences, including the stakes
3. Spend most of the time on what you personally did and why
4. End with a measurable result and what you learned

Framework: STAR: Situation -> Task -> Action -> Result, with a short reflection at the end

Sample answer

• States the key numbers
• Acknowledges data limits
• Clear decision and follow-up

1. Situation: specific context, their role, and why it mattered (stakes)
2. Task: what they personally owned
3. Action: concrete steps they took, decisions and trade-offs, using "I" not "we"
4. Result: measurable outcome, plus what they learned or would do differently

Explains the question, the data gathered, the key numbers, the decision, what the data could not answer, and the measured outcome.

What interviewers look for

• Analytical thinking
• Judgment
• Bias for action