Behavioural Interview Questions

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Examining your past behaviour is a good indication to the employer of how you'll act in the future. For this reason, you'll more than likely encounter behavioural questions during a job interview.

Traditional interview questions are great for learning the basic information you need to know. The problem is because they are often based off hypothetical situations, you don't get a real sense of what someone is like and how they'll act. These questions are quite common so you end up hearing the same responses from people as they recite the script they prepared before the interview. The interviewee may be great at answering the question and telling you what you want to hear. But in reality their answer might not be representative of their skill.

Behavioural questions on the other hand put you on the spot, asking for examples from your past, instead of a hypothetical what if. This way it's harder to repeat a prepared script and gives a greater insight into how you've handled real life situations in the past. The interviewer will be looking for information about what you were thinking, how you were feeling, or what you were doing.

So you don't sit there stunned and unsure of what to say, let's go over behavioural questions.

Behavioural questions often start with 'Describe a situation where...', 'Tell me about a situation when...' or 'Give me an example of a time...'. They're designed to give an indication of your qualities or competency in various skills. These might be communication, teamwork, problem solving, planning, integrity, and the list goes on.

Follow this link for a list of 75 behavioural questions.

The STAR method

To answer a behavioural question, you need to draw from your own personal experiences and use them to demonstrate your ability. Answering a behavioural question is a lot like a telling a story about yourself. So with that in mind here's a framework you can use to help you construct your story.

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result. By following this method, you can be sure that you're providing all the important information the interviewer will be looking for.

Start with the context of your answer by describing the situation or scenario in which your answer takes place. Once you've set the scene, describe what task or problem needed to be addressed in this situation. After you've described the task at hand, explain what you did in order to resolve the problem or task. Finally list the outcomes that were achieved as a result of your actions.

Situation

I was working as a customer service manager in a large electronics store and my team had the worst customer satisfaction record.

Task

I was tasked with investigating the poor customer reviews.

Action

I analysed the reviews and discovered that long wait times to hear back from a customer service representative were causing customer frustration, resulting in a large number of negative reviews. I then recommended a new process for following up with customers.

Result

As a result of my recommendation, customer waiting times were reduced by 23% and negative reviews dropped by 60%.

Tips

Chances are if you're asked behavioural questions you'll be asked more than one. It's okay to use the same scenario to demonstrate different skills. But you should try to use a range of different examples instead of continually referring back to the same example. It makes you look more experienced.

Examples can come from all areas of your life. In addition to your previous jobs, think about any extracurricular activities you are or have been involved with or things you've achieved in your personal life that demonstrate the skills the question is asking for.

While you probably won't be able to create an answer that you memorise and repeat back. You can still practise telling your story. Think about situations that you were involved in that required teamwork, problem solving, or interpersonal skills or another skill that you think would be important for the job. Practise explaining different scenarios that show your strengths.

While practising try and be concise in the way you tell your story. You want to avoid rambling on or going down tangents that take you away from the question and the skills you're trying to demonstrate.

Don't try and create examples on the spot. It's difficult to do it convincingly and the more questions you answer the more lies you'll have to remember to ensure follow up questions don't reveal the truth.

Behavioural questions can be daunting because they put you on the spot. Do your best to prepare and familiarise yourself with the questions you think may be relevant to the job you're applying for, and you'll be ready to face your interview.

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