Behavioural Interview Questions (& How to Answer Them)

A behavioural interview question aims to assess a candidate’s behaviour, i.e. their personality, character, and working style. Employers may use 2 types of behavioural questions, some focusing on how you reacted in a past situation and others that revolve around a hypothetical future scenario. Either way, interviewers are looking for candidates that would fit well with them, their team, and the business.

Behavioural questions are a great tool to assess candidates for cultural fit. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the interviewer is looking for someone whose behaviours are similar to theirs. It means that they are seeking a candidate whose personality and character could be additive to the team.Bear in mind that Diversity & Inclusion have become a business imperative for any savvy employer. On this basis, I recommend showcasing your unique personality. Not only will it help you land the right job, but also will also be appreciated by the interviewers. Having said that, you will need to tailor your answers in a way that makes them clear and easy to understand for your target audience.

Let’s start with the basics. Instead of applying to every job out there, it makes sense to assess employers for cultural fit first. In practice, this means making a list of target companies and focusing your job search on relevant positions with these organisations. Assuming you’ve already done this, behavioural interviews can become a breeze with the right preparation. Here’s what to do.

I suggest starting by analysing the job description and looking for clues around how the organisation operates. You can use the below questions to make this exercise easier:

• What is the purpose of the role, team, and business? How do they seem to approach their goals?
• What are the soft skills, values, and ways of working that seem to be relevant?
• What do you understand about the employer’s culture based on their language and tone of voice?

Then, you can move to analysing others resources at your disposal to further your understanding of the hiring manager, the role, and the business. In each case, you can use questions similar to the above to identify relevant information. Here are a few resources that can be relevant:

• The About section of the employer’s website can be a goldmine to understand their mission, vision, and values.
• The hiring manager’s LinkedIn profile could give you great insights into their working style.
• Glassdoor’s reviews can be an excellent resource to understand a company’s culture based on former and current employees.
• The company’s social media can provide another insight into how they do things.
• Last but not least, connecting with a current or former employee in a meeting can be a great way to deepen your insights further.

This exercise can provide clarity around what the interviewer is looking to hear. Once you have this information, you can start to identify stories and work on scenarios that highlight relevant behaviours and elements of your character. Let’s go through an example together.

If your research shows that an employer focuses on ethics and transparency, it’s a good idea to identify stories where you clearly demonstrated these qualities. Also, you can think about how you can approach future scenarios from an ethical point of view. Once you have identified the top relevant behaviours and some high-level related content, it’s time to get more specific. Here’s how.

 

Using the STAR method may be the best way to bring structure into your answers, which is crucial to help interviewers process your answers in a fast and easy way. Let me show you how you can apply this method to any behavioural question.

• Situation: Start by providing the interviewer with some context. If the question is related to a real-life situation, summarise the what, why, how, when, and where. If you’ve been asked how you would react to a hypothetical scenario, summarise what may be happening based on your understanding and assumptions to ensure you’re on the same page with your interviewer.
• Task: Continue by describing your duties and responsibilities in relation to the situation. If you’re talking about a past example, explain what was expected of you. If you’re answering a hypothetical question, share your assumptions about what may be expected based on the role you’re interviewing for.
• Action: This may be the most important part of your answer. I suggest detailing your actions in chronological order along with your thought process, i.e. why this is the right course of action. Again, if the question focuses on a real-life situation, let the interviewer know what you did. On the other hand, if the hiring manager asks you what you would do hypothetically, let them know your intentions.
• Results: It is crucial to close by sharing the results of your actions to demonstrate impact. If you are talking about a real achievement, make sure to quantify it and explain its significance for the business. If you are answering a hypothetical question, you can share your expected results to show you understand how your actions should help the business.

1. Tell me about a time when you were unsure about a task. What did you do?

This question aims to understand how you would react if you needed to gain additional information about your work. Let’s break it down further:

• Situation: You had something to do, but you didn’t know-how.
• Task: What was expected of you based on your role. Ideally, use a task related to the job you’re interviewing for.
• Action: The steps you took to gain the required information, and why you followed this course of action.
• Result: What happened as a result of your actions. In this case, it would be suitable to select an example where you were successful at gaining additional information that enabled you to succeed.

2. What would you do if you discovered that a colleague was violating our code of conduct?

Employers are looking for candidates whose behaviours are aligned with their code of conduct. Also, they seek employees who would help others adopt the right behaviours. With this in mind, let’s examine this question in more detail:

• Situation: Someone has violated the code of conduct
• Task: As an employee, you are expected to follow and help others follow the code of conduct
• Action: What would you do to help your colleague fix their mistake? For example, you could explain you would follow the relevant process to report the incident.
• Result: Outline what you expect that would happen as a result of your action, why, and how it would help the business.

3. Could you share an example of when you discovered an error in a colleague’s work? What did you do?

No one is perfect. On this basis, hiring managers are looking for candidates whose attitudes and behaviours help in resolving errors and issues. Here’s how you could address this question:

• Situation: Provide some context around what was the error, who made it, and why it mattered.
• Task: Share some information about your role at the time, how the error affected you, and what was your relationship with the colleague responsible for the issue.
• Action: Provide some detail around your thought process and course of action. For example, perhaps you can talk about how you brought the issue to your colleague’s attention privately and then helped them to fix it.
• Result: Don’t forget to close by clarifying the outcomes of your actions. In this case, it may be that you helped the business raise its quality of work while strengthening your relationship with your colleague.

4. Talk to me about a time when you weren’t able to achieve your goals?

A win is easy to process. A failure, however, can be challenging. Taking into account that we all lose sometimes, businesses are looking for employees whose personality allows them to overcome challenges, recover after a failure, and get back on track. Here’s how you could show this through your answer:

• Situation: Talk the interviewer through your goals and what stopped you from achieving them. Ideally, you want to mention that there were external challenges outside of your control.
• Task: Explain in more detail what you had to do based on your role.
• Action: Talk about what you did once you understood that the project at hand wouldn’t succeed, and why. A great answer would analyse how you focused on the 2nd best result based on the circumstances and use this opportunity as a learning for the future.
• Result: Detail how you managed to recover and help the business despite failing to meet the initial goal.

5. Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your manager and what you did?

Managers and employees may not always agree. Some decisions will be up to your boss, and employers are looking to understand how you would feel and act if you disagreed with them. I suggest tackling this question using the below guide:

• Situation: Provide some context to the interviewer around your disagreement with your manager. What decisions did you disagree with? Why?
• Task: Explain how your role was related to your manager’s decision. Even if this wasn’t your decision to make, perhaps you had important information.
• Action: Describe how you pulled a plan of action together, what you did, and how your manager reacted. It may be that you voiced your concerns, which your manager took into consideration and adjusted their decision accordingly.
• Result: What happened as a result of your actions?