How to Prepare for Behavioral Job Interview Questions
Publié le 18 September 2023
Be ready for any type of question from hiring managers by knowing how to prepare for behavioral job interview questions.
We’ve all been there. Sat across from an interviewer, with a quickening pulse and sweaty palms, as they ask you to provide an example of something that happened in your work experience. It could be anything, from managing conflict to improving sales. It should be easy – but your mind only goes blank.
These sorts of behavioral interview questions seem to be the most daunting when we’re getting ready for a job interview. They’re much harder to respond to than questions about technical skills – which is exactly why they’re so popular among recruiters. Recruiters have said the interview presence is the most important factor to make a candidate stand out, so it’s important that you’re able to nail them.
We’re going to show you how you can prepare for behavioral job interview questions. With some practice and planning, you can head into any behavioral job interview confident that you can handle whatever a hiring manager or recruiter has prepared.
What are behavioral job interview questions?
Behavioral job interview questions are the sort of questions that seek to get a handle on your skills and competencies by examining your past experiences. After all, it’s easy for you to say that you’re good under pressure, an excellent communicator, and an outstanding organizer if you don’t have to provide any examples.
A typical behavioral job interview question would begin with something like “Tell me about when you …” and would involve you describing an example in detail. You might choose to talk about the time that you managed to finish an important project ahead of schedule, used your negotiating skills to find the best price at a local fax service for your company, or led a team of new recruits to success.
Like any job interview, a behavioral job interview aims to work out whether you’re a good fit for the role; however, they’re able to more specifically ascertain the sort of behaviors that you show in the workplace. From that, interviewers will be able to have a better picture of how you’d act in their company.
Behavioral Job Interview Question Examples
Although you should now know what recruiters mean when they talk about behavioral interviews, being able to recognize behavioral job interview questions is a great way to prepare yourself for an interview. Here are some common examples of behavioral interview questions:
- Give me an example of a time when you had to use communication skills
There aren’t many jobs that won’t require you to use communication skills from time to time, while some roles are almost entirely dependent on your ability to communicate effectively. Studies show that being able to communicate with others and staying connected in the workplace increases productivity.
You should think of examples that show you communicating in difficult circumstances. You might also want to think about different ways of communicating – maybe you’ve got experience in making PC to phone calls or communicating with long-distance clients through email.
Additionally, you could demonstrate your ability to utilize phone search to gather contact information for potential clients and enhance your communication strategies.
- Tell me about a time when you had to show leadership skills
Even if you’re not applying for a leadership position, companies like to know that their new hires have leadership abilities. You should be able to produce an example where you’ve led a team – it doesn’t necessarily matter if this wasn’t significant as recruiters just want to know that you’ve got some experience in this area.
- Describe a time when you dealt with failure
Resilience is a crucial skill in the modern workplace. Bringing up past failures might seem unnatural in an interview but you’re likely to fail in your new job from time to time, so recruiters want to know that you’re able to bounce back effectively by learning from the process and using this information to move ahead successfully.
- Give me an example of how you’ve managed conflict in the workplace
When you’re working in a high-pressure environment, difficult situations such as team conflict are inevitable. As this is an unavoidable part of working as a team, your interviewer will want to know that you’re able to handle it constructively.
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You’re not going to win anyone over if you describe a petty problem, such as a co-worker who keeps using your mug. Instead, try to focus on times when you’ve overcome differences in opinion on a work project – try to show that you’ve been able to find compromises in order to produce success and maintain a workplace based in respect and support between all.
How to answer a behavioral job interview question
Although you can prepare for some behavioral job interview questions, there’s no way of knowing the specific situational questions that your interviewer will ask you. However, there is a basic framework that you can use to answer any behavioral interview question: the S.T.A.R. method.
While it’s important also to keep in mind other crucial interview skills, from maintaining a strong posture to showing self-confidence, using this method will mean that your answers are structured in exactly the way that recruiters are looking for. But what exactly is the S.T.A.R. method? Here is how it is broken down:
- S – Situation
When you start to answer a behavioral question, you should set out the situation. Remember, your interviewer has probably never met you before and has no idea about your past work experience so describe the context of your company, your role within it, and the problem that you’re going to discuss.
- T – Task
This is the part of your answer where you’ll get more specific. You’ll talk about a certain task that you had to fulfill that you think relates to the question. In a problem-solving question, for instance, you might choose to describe a task where you had to figure out how to use a new remote desktop manager tool and train your peers.
- A – Action
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Describing the action that you made is where your answer really comes alive. You should run the interviewer through the steps that you took to resolve the problem. An example would be deciding to work with your IT team to learn a new technology; interviewers want to see you taking the initiative, as well as creativity and decisiveness.
- R – Result
Finally, the answer should end with a brief description of the result of your actions. We’re naturally humble but you should take this opportunity to brag a bit – show off the positive outcomes that your actions led to. Being able to include statistics and other hard figures that demonstrate a positive outcome will also be beneficial.
Behavioral interview preparation tips
The S.T.A.R. method is a surefire way to structure your interview answers. However, it’s only one part of what’s needed to prepare for a behavioral job interview. Follow these tips to make sure that you’re as ready as possible for the interview process:
- Write down your experiences…
It might seem weird to say that you should think about your experience before going into an interview. After all, you know your past better than anyone else. However, having a bank of ready-made examples will help to stop you from drawing a blank in the interview room.
These should be sorted into the different skills that you want to showcase. Try to keep your examples as organized as possible – think of this as the equivalent to HRIS systems or a daily log, but for your personal workplace experiences.
- …. And revise them
Although the era of lockdowns is over, over 50% of employers continue using virtual job interviews. This means it can be tempting to keep these lists of examples next to your laptop during an interview. However, being able to fluently talk about your experiences is always worthwhile and you don’t want to look like you’re distracted during your interview.
- Anticipate the questions
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There are thousands of possible questions that your interviewers could possibly ask you. This is why it can be tricky to prepare for a behavioral job interview. Despite this, you should be able to predict the types of interview questions that will come up.
Think about the job that you’re applying for and the skills that it requires. An interviewer for a customer-facing role, for example, is likely to want to know that you’ve demonstrated customer service skills in previous roles. You can therefore guess that you’ll be asked something like “Tell me about a time that you resolved a customer complaint”.
Once you’ve anticipated some of the questions that you think will come up, you can prepare some more detailed answers using the S.T.A.R. method.
- Practice with your friends
Of course, preparing answers in the comfort of your own home is nothing like being in the interview room. To practice responding quickly and accurately, you might want to see if your friends could perform a mock interview. Supply them with some relevant behavioral interview questions and see if you can respond well.
- Prepare some of your own questions
Behavioral interviews are just like any other interview at their core. This means that while you will want to prepare for the specific situational questions, you should be aware of some of the other features of a typical job interview.
One of the most important things is to arrive with your own questions. Research the company and make sure that you appear engaged and interested in the role by asking about the position in detail. This will help confirm that it is a good fit for your career aspirations.
- Body language
Remember your body language basics. Stand/sit up straight and maintain eye contact. It really matters as these cues can affect how hiring managers make their assessment of your potential as an employee. These forms of non-verbal communication can play a surprisingly important role during a job interview.
Behavioral interviews – the key to your dream job
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There’s no getting around behavioral interview questions if you’re looking for a new job. After all, recruiters want to know that you’ve got experience and that you can showcase the skills that are so valuable in the modern workplace.
When it comes to behavioral job interviews, failing to prepare is preparing to fail. However, planning S.T.A.R. answers and practicing your answers ahead of the interview will set you up to succeed.By learning how to prepare for behavioral job interview questions, you can enter every interview with confidence.
