Things You Need to Know About Behavioral Interview Questions

The purpose of asking behavioral interview questions is to know your comprehension skills and ability developed from your previous work experience. These behavioral based interview questions require proof and examples of your past work experience.

This is done by the interviewers to learn how you would respond to a specific situation and achieve a successful outcome. The article provides you with answers about common behavioral interview questions preparation you should take note of.

Common Behavioral Interview Question Samples

The behavioral interview questions will be divided into five different groups with 2-3 common behavioral interview questions in each section. Take these behavioral interview question samples as a reference to know what recruiters tend to ask during an interview.

1. Study Ability

• Tell me about a time when you needed to learn something totally new for work. How did it go for you?
• Give me an example when you were impressed by a lecture or speech. Why did it hit you? What did you learn from it?

2. Communication Skills

• Give me a time when your opinion was totally different from your colleagues, clients, or bosses. How did you persuade them to achieve an agreement with you?
• Tell me about a time when you had to explain something strange to others.
• Describe a time when you made a successful presentation for your clients. How did you impress them?

3. Teamwork

• Describe a time when your colleagues took on an impossible task. How did you encourage them to work with you to finish the task?
• Tell me about a time when you had to team up with somebody whose character was very different from yours. What did you do to make an effective team?

4. Adaptation Ability

• Give me an example of when you were tasked to do some work that you're not familiar with. How did you handle that?
• Tell me about a time when you were under great pressure for work. What did you do to get through it?
• Describe a time when you failed to meet a task assigned to you. How did you try to finish it? Why did you fail? What lessons did you learn from this failure?

5. Value & Attitude

• Tell me about a time when you were facing a great challenge. What encouraged you to overcome difficulties?
• Describe a great success you've achieved in your work. Why did it make you proud?

How to Answer Behavioral Based Interview Questions

The strategy used to answer common behavioral interview questions is known as the "STAR Method":

S: Situation (Describe useful information about the situation)

T: Task (Let the interviewer get clear about what your task was)

A: Action (What did you do to overcome difficulties and finish your task)

R: Result (The outcome of your actions)

The STAR method not only helps you build a complete structure of your story but also makes your interviewers better understand the situation. Your answer should be both logical and simple for them to evaluate. Make sure to provide enough information but not to complicate your answer.

Your interviewer will perform a comprehensive evaluation on several characteristics: your mentality, actions, communication skills, attitude, past results achieved, changes made in a dilemma, and even your things leading to your failure. More importantly, they want to know your experience, so focus on the positive elements in your examples while acknowledging the negatives without dwelling on them.

Preparation for Behavioral Interview Questions

Always think twice before you answer behavioral interview questions. You don't have to answer all of them immediately. If you are given a complicated question, don't be shy to tell your interviewers that you need some time for consideration or would like to ask follow up questions.

It's okay to think for a moment before you answer any interview questions, but it's not practical to come up with answers on the spot. Research some common behavioral interview questions (like the samples above) and think of all the potential examples from your work experience you could use to answer these.

Lastly, remember to follow the "STAR Method" for behavioral based interview questions. It is a good way to tell talk about your past thoroughly, while keeping answers clear and on target to help the interviewer understand and relate to your experience. The framework can also help you save time by organizing your words during the interview, so you won't keep the interviewers waiting too long while you prepare your answer or ramble on incoherently.