In this first part of this guide, we’ll cover what behavioral interviewing is and outline an effective method you can use to answer these questions, called the STAR method.
The second part of The Ultimate Interview Questions Guide includes a list of some very common interview questions, grouped by category, with tips for answering each type of question. While not every question you hear in interviews will be on this list; using this practice guide will give you a solid start to improving your preparation and performance.
Behavioral Interview Questions
If you haven’t interviewed in a while or are new to it altogether, it’s important to familiarize yourself with what is commonly referred to as behavioral interview questions. In general, these questions are likely to cover your past work experience. Recruiters will usually start the question with something like this: “Tell me about a time when…” or “Can you give me an example of a time when…” The theory behind these types of questions is that your past actions are a good predictor of how you will perform in the future.
Behavioral interviews are popular for many reasons. First, many are open ended and allow for more probing follow-up questions. Answering these questions also reveal a lot about a person’s cultural fit for an organization. They point to a person’s attitudes and philosophies about work, cooperation, commitment, professional development, leadership, and a host of other important aspects of professionalism, and are focused on how these attitudes and philosophies have manifested themselves in their past work experience. These types of questions are layered and hard to make up answers to, so they can also be a way to keep a candidate from misrepresenting themselves to a potential employer.
STAR Method
Before we dive into examples of behavioral interview questions, let’s first cover a helpful approach to answering these questions, called the STAR method. STAR is an acronym that stands for:
- Situation: give an example of the situation—to give context
- Task: describe the specific task(s) at hand
- Action: flesh out the various actions involved in a situation’s task
- Result: give the results that came from your actions
The STAR method can be used in any part of your job search communications, including interviews, cover letters, resumes, and profiles. In interviews they help to serve as a guide to organize your answers. It’s also a good approach to emphasize your results or your lessons learned when relating stories to your potential employer.
Example of Using the STAR Method in an Interview
Question: Tell me about one of your greatest professional accomplishments.
Answering:
Situation: First, state your position or primary responsibility.
During my position at XYZ company, I was responsible for managing x product.
Task: What did you initiate or need to accomplish?
Because there was a drop in sales, I decided we needed an improved marketing approach to turn around our numbers.
Action: Step-by-step of “how you executed your plan”–planning and actions taken.
I created a new marketing campaign surrounding that product line. I also instituted a loyalty program to keep customers engaged and encourage repeat business.
Result: Quantify if possible (decrease/increase, savings in people, time or money) and relate your outcomes. If the outcome was negative, relate the lesson learned and how you handled things moving forward.
Because of this new marketing campaign we had a 40 percent increase in new sales and repeat business doubled in response to the new loyalty program.
Preview of Part 2
The final part of this guide breaks down four types of interview questions:
- Self Evaluation, Self Knowledge
- Emotional Maturity, Self-Management
- Risk Evaluation
- Motivational Fit
For access to 20 example interview questions, and one bonus question asked in almost every interview, check out
Ultimate Interview Questions Guide, Part 2.