Interview Behavioral Questions

The questions will be grouped into “categories” and I’m going to give you tips and traps to avoid for each category. Having a “success story” prepared for each category will go a long way to getting you a job offer your next interview.

Category 1:- Teamwork

You can almost guarantee, you’ll get at least one teamwork behavioral question during your interview.

TIPS:

• Try and have to least one if not two success stories focusing on teamwork.

• Try and choose success stories that coincide with situations that could arise at the job you’re interviewing for.

• Teamwork means different things at different companies. Use the job description to get clues on what kinds of things you could be collaborating on.

TRAP:

• Sometimes the question won’t sound like a behavioral question: i.e. “Are you easy to get along with?”, “Do you collaborate well?” Don’t just answer with: “Yes! I’m easy going.” Make sure you still use a success story as an example.

Category 2:- Leadership

Leadership is another popular category of behavioral question. As you’ll see, companies look for leadership qualities in candidates for a wide range of positions, not simple “management” position.

TIPS:

• As when picking success stories for most of these behavioral questions, try and relate a story about a situation that could arise at the position you’re interviewing for in the future. Remember: “It’s not about you, it’s about them.”

TRAP:

• Keep in mind that just because you may not be interviewing for a “management” position in your particular interview, doesn’t mean you won’t be asked any leadership related question. They may well be expecting you to grow with the company and take on a leadership role in the future. That’s why you always need to be ready to show you can be a leader.

Category 3:- Problem Solving

Problem solving related behavioral question give you a fantastic opportunity to blow the hiring manager away with a well chosen success story and well crafted answer.

TIPS:

• Problem solving behavioral question are obviously meant to find out whether you can deal with problems, so choose an appropriate success story. However, you can supercharge your answer by choosing a success story that also highlights a second strength/quality they may be looking for, i.e. Leadership.

TRAP:

• This is one behavioral category that is usually pretty easy to come with success stories for. However, try not to relate a problem solving a success story that isn’t really applicable to the job you’re interviewing for. Examine the job description carefully and find out what types of problems would be encountered, and pick success stories that show you handling those types of problems (if you can).

Category 4:- Communication/Handling Conflict

This category covers a broad range of behavioral questions relating to your “interpersonal skills”. How you relate to, deal with and communicate with people you work with.

TIPS:

• The purpose of these types of question is to find out if you can work with a wide range of people. If you can, relate a success story that shown you doing just that: working well with a range of different personality types.

• Another good way to handle these types of questions is to relate a success story that show how your interpersonal skills have resulted in a specific improvement at a past job.

TRAP:

• Don’t shy away from the question if they ask you about any conflict you’re dealt with in the past. You’ll get nowhere saying: “’you get along with everybody”.
• The hiring manager won’t buy it and you’ll be sunk. Instead focus on how you worked through the conflict showing how you are able to stay calm and work through problems with a variety of personality types.
• Never “bash” any former colleagues or people you’ve worked with or under. Doing so well end your changes quick!

Category 5:- Initiative

Taking initiative and being a “self starter” are qualities a lot of companies want in their employees. They want you to have a drive of your own and want to see that you can accomplish things above and beyond the call of duty.

TIPS:

• You may get behavioral questions that ask you straight up about your ability to take initiative, as you’ll see in the “common question” section. However, a good strategy I recommend is to incorporate the “taking initiative” quality into your answer for other types of behavioral questions.

• For example, let’s say you were asked a “teamwork” question you could relate a success story where you “saw that the project was falling behind because the department wasn’t working efficiently enough as a team, so you restructured the workflow to take advantage of each employee’s strengths. The result: you increased productivity two-fold and completed the project well before the deadline.”(See how you talked about teamwork and initiative?)