Behavioral-Based Interview Questions

What are behavioral-based interview questions? 

Employees are crucial to the success of any organization. A company relies on its people for quality and success every day. That is why selecting the right candidate and securing top talent is key. During the recruitment process, recruiters and hiring managers take time to interview candidates. While a resume can tell a lot about an individual’s work background, talking to a person via interview is an opportunity to learn more about them and gauge if they are the right fit for the position. 

The purpose of conducting an interview is not simply to tick off boxes on a checklist of job requirements. It is finding out relevant information about the candidate’s work experience and character. What kind of questions are helpful in interviews? 

Behavioral-based interview questions are kinds of questions that allow interviewers to find out in-depth information on a candidate’s work experiences. To understand what a behavioral-based question is, we need to know what it is not. A behavioral-based question is not answerable by a simple “yes” or “no”. 

Using behavioral-based interview questions, interviewers can ask candidates about examples, situations, specific actions, and other relevant work information. 

Examples:

Have you ever been stressed at work?

• Answerable by a simple yes or no.
• This is not a behavioral-based question.

Can you tell me about a time when you faced a stressful situation at work and how you managed it? 

• Not answerable by simple yes or no.
• This is a behavioral-based question. 

What are the benefits of asking behavioral-based interview questions? 

Asking behavioral-based questions provides interviewers an opportunity to find out more about the candidate’s work, experience, characteristics, and behavior relevant to the job. More than finding out a candidate’s previous actions, behavioral-based questions allow candidates to discuss the motivation, reason, or inspiration behind their work decisions. In this way, the interviewer can also see or gauge if the candidate’s motivation and characteristics align with the organization’s values and vision. Asking behavioral-based questions elicit details that help recognize a candidate’s potential.

How can candidates answer behavioral-based interview questions?

To guide candidates on answering behavioral-based questions, they can use the STAR Method. The STAR method stands for:

S- Situation 🡪 What is the problem that needs to be resolved or managed?

T-Task 🡪 What are the goals or objectives to resolve the problem?

A-Action 🡪 What are the specific actions needed to accomplish the task or objective?

R-Result 🡪 How did your actions meet the goals and objectives? 

Candidates can use this framework as a guide to answering questions in an organized way. Interviewers can also keep this in mind and ask follow-up questions to help candidates fill in the information based on the STAR method.