Employers use behavioral interview questions instead of general or hypothetical ones because past behavior in similar situations is a good predictor of future performance. In addition, employers predetermine the required competencies for the job, then ask targeted questions that are designed to elicit evidence of those skills.
Behavioral interview questions are grounded in evidence. They're not about what you say you would do, but rather about showing how you've behaved in the past. This makes them ideal for objectively measuring a candidate's past behaviors as a predictor of their future results.
Behavioral interview questions typically look like this:
Tell me about a time when...
Walk me through a scenario when...
Describe an example of when...
They’re difficult to answer spontaneously, so candidates need to prepare. Behavioral interviews usually focus on these competency areas:
Adaptability
Interpersonal skills
Negotiation
Collaboration
Here are some examples of behavioral interview questions for each area:
Adaptability: Tell us about a situation in which you had to adjust to changes over which you had no control.
Interpersonal skills: Tell me about the most difficult or frustrating individual you've ever had to work with.
Negotiation: Describe the most challenging negotiation in which you were involved—what did you do and what were the results?
A survey of ~1,300 hiring managers found that adaptability and collaboration are the top indicators of soft-skill competencies. Meanwhile, 46% of leaders cited upskilling or reskilling as a top focus area.
The STAR method is a structured framework that candidates should use to build their answers to behavioral interview questions. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result. Candidates should structure their answers using this framework:
Situation: A specific recent event, including who/what/when/where. The situation must be relevant to the job they're seeking.
Task: A specific task plus any challenges or constraints.
Action: What the candidate did. It’s important that the candidate’s own role is clear and significant.
Result: The outcome of the action taken.
When building answers, it's best to use work-related examples as often as possible. Past work behavior predicts future work behavior.
STAR is presented here as a worksheet tool for preparing answers before the interview.
Preparation strategy
Here’s a practical preparation strategy for behavioral interviews:
Review the job description to identify the competencies the employer has pre-selected.
Prepare and practice specific STAR-structured stories in advance.
These questions are too difficult to answer well spontaneously. Indeed provides a list of 10 behavioral interview questions with sample answers and prep tips.