How to Ready for a Behavioral Interview
What is a behaviour interview?
Employers often use behavioural interviews to judge job candidates based on how they have behaved in the past. For example, instead of asking hypothetical questions like “What would you do if you were under a lot of pressure at work?” They would ask situational questions like, “Tell me about a time when you were really busy at work. What did you do?” How to Ready for a Behavioral Interview
Evan, an Indeed recruiter, shows you how to prepare for and answer these questions in this short video.
(Keep reading for detailed tips and questions and answers about behavioural interviews.)
Tips for a Behavioral Interview
Here are some important things to think about as you prepare for your next behavioural interview:
- Review your past reviews of how well you did your job.
- Read the description of the job.
- Make a list of the things you’ve done well at work.
- Look back at the big projects you’ve worked on.
- Be honest and open in your response.
- Use the STAR method to figure out how to organise your answer.
- Say your answers out loud to practise.
- Don’t take more than two minutes to answer.Most of the time, interviewers ask these kinds of questions to find out three things: First, they want to know how you acted in a real-world situation. Second, they want to know what you did that made a difference in that situation. Lastly, they are trying to figure out how to explain a concept like “pressure at work,” which means different things to different people.
Getting ready is the key to doing well in a behavioural interview. There usually aren’t any wrong answers. These questions are meant to help you show who you really are. The most important thing is to be honest and practise organising your answers so that they show what you have to offer.
Use the STAR method to organise your answers to questions about behaviour.
You can get ready for behavioural interviews by using the STAR interview method. This is a technique that helps you plan how to answer behavioural interview questions. By using this method, you can make a story arc that is easy for your interviewer to follow. How it works is as follows:
Situation
Where does your story take place? When you set the scene, you tell your audience when or where something happened. For example, “Our agency merged with a bigger one while we were working on a six-month contract for a high-value client.”
Task
What did you have to do with this? For example, “It was my job to lead the transition for my group and keep the project on track by talking to our client.”
Action
What did you do? For example, “I set up weekly meetings with the client to let them know how the merger was going. This made a big step toward building trust between us. I also met with each team member one-on-one on a regular basis to see how they were dealing with the change and to make sure we would meet our deadlines. How to Ready for a Behavioral Interview
Result
What did you do that caused? For example, “In the end, we finished the project on time and made sure it met all of their requirements. It was very satisfying to deal with a lot of change and succeed despite being under a lot of pressure.”
How to get ready
Pay close attention to the job description. Make a list of the most important skills or qualifications. Think of a story that shows how good you are at each. Using the STAR method, write down your stories, making sure to include the situation, the task, what you did, and the result. Then, either by yourself or with a friend, practise saying them out loud several times. Remember that your response shouldn’t take more than 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. As you add each part, try to be as brief as possible. How to Ready for a Behavioral Interview
This practise is even more important if you feel shy or lack self-confidence. You should get used to hearing these kinds of stories. Remember that you won’t be able to guess every question about your behaviour, but if you have a good set of examples, you’ll be able to answer each one with confidence.
Interview questions about behaviour
Here are some examples of questions you might be asked at your next behavioural interview. Spend some time making sample answers to each question so you can practise and plan for future interviews.
- Describe a time when you learned something new. How did you go about it, and how did you use what you learned?
- Give me an example of a mistake you’ve made. How did you respond?
- Can you tell me about a time at work when you had to deal with something hard?
- Have you ever had to tell a manager or senior leader about an idea? How did things turn out?
- Tell me about a time at work when you solved a problem.
- Tell me about a time when you would have done something different.
- Tell me about a time when you were under a lot of stress and how you handled it.
- Can you tell me about a time when you set a goal and reached it?
- What is the thing you are most proud of in your job, and why?
- Tell me about a hard problem you had to solve.What made you decide what to do?
Sample answer for a behavioural interview
Here’s an example of how you might answer a behavioural interview question if you use the above tips:
Tell me about a time when you had a problem at work and how you solved it.
Answer: “At my last job, my coworker and I had different ideas about how to handle a difficult situation with a client. We made a mistake with their campaign, which hurt how well it did overall. My coworker wanted to move on without telling the client about the mistake, but I thought it would be best to explain what happened.
After going back and forth, I asked him if we could set aside some time to compare the costs and benefits of each choice. In the end, we had to understand each other better by seeing what drove and scared the other person. How to Ready for a Behavioral Interview
We decided to tell the client what had happened and agreed to do another campaign for them for free. Even though the company lost money in the short term, the client liked that we were honest and booked an annual campaign with us that cost more than what they had spent with us in the past. My coworker and I were also praised for how well we worked as a team, and we ended up giving other client teams advice on how to handle conflicts.
