HR Screen Pre‑read and Life Story Exercise (Data Scientist)

Context

You receive a 6‑page HR pre‑read 24 hours before a 60‑minute "Life Story" interview. The pre‑read summarizes the company’s strategy, cultural values, and a recent product pivot. Prepare concise, specific answers that demonstrate you read and understood the materials and can quantify impact.

Part A — Pre‑read

1. In exactly 3 sentences, critique the pivot:

• Name one underappreciated risk.
• Name one measurable opportunity.
• Ask one question you’d pose to HR that proves you read the material.

2. Map two of your past projects to two stated company values; for each project:

• Identify the value it exemplifies.
• Include one metric that shows impact (e.g., +12% retention, –180 ms p95 latency, $1.2M ARR, +4 pp NRR).

Part B — Life Story Deep Dive

For each role on your resume, answer succinctly:

• Why that industry and company?
• What critical problem did you own? (Scope and stakes.)
• What was the quantified outcome? Include baselines and deltas.
• Why did you leave?
• What would you do differently now?
• Hardest pushback you faced (from whom, on what decision), exactly what you said/did in the moment, and the result.

Part C — Behavioral Inventory Trade‑offs

Personality inventories often reward decisive choices. Given the prompt: “I take calculated risks even when information is incomplete,” choose Strongly Agree or Strongly Disagree, justify with a real incident, and explain how you’d preserve authenticity while aligning with a high‑ownership culture.