Behavioral Interviewing During a behavioral interview, you will be asked a series of standardized questions designed to get you to talk

about how you handled or responded to certain situations in the past. With each answer, you'll be expected to describe situations from your past and your feelings and observations about them. The interviewer will use this information to assess your proficiency in one or more job-related areas, which may include anything from adaptability to leadership to problem solving. Behavioral questions may be 'dropped' into a 'chatty interview' or you may be formally required to answer a set list. You can expect interviewers to have several follow up questions and probe for details that explore all aspects of a given situation or experience. What are the questions like? Behavioral questions usually begin with a statement like: 'Tell me about a time when...' or 'Can you a describe a situation where...'. The following are some examples of typical behavioral questions and the competencies they demonstrate:
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Describe a difficult problem that you tried to solve. How did you identify the problem? How did you go about trying to solve it? (Demonstrates problem solving) Describe a time when you tried to persuade another person to do something that they were not very willing to do. (Demonstrates leadership) Describe a time when you decided on your own that something needed to be done, and you took on the task to get it done. (Demonstrates initiative) Think of a problem person you had to deal with, describe the situation and tell me how you handled it. Describe a situation in which you felt it was necessary to break company policy or alter procedures to get things done. Can you give me an example of when you came up with a clever way to motivate someone? Tell me about an important goal you've set in the past and how you accomplished it.

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The following is a list of typical questions that you may be asked at a BEI Interview. Do not attempt to learn answers off by rote but be prepared for these types of questions, usually (but not always) mixed in with technical ones.
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Think of a problem person you had to deal with, describe the situation and tell me how you handled it. Give me an example of a colleague/ vendor/ customer who was hard to communicate with and tell me how you handled it.

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Describe a situation in which you felt it was necessary to break company policy or alter procedures to get things done. Give me a general description of your responsibilities in your current or last job. Tell me about something you've done in your job that was creative. Think of a specific example. Tell me exactly how you handled it. Tell me about a time you made a quick decision you were proud of. Tell me about an important goal you've set in the past and how you accomplished it. Do you know the expression 'to roll with the punches'? Tell me about a time when you had to do that. When you had to do a job that was particularly uninteresting, how did you deal with it? Tell me about a time when an upper level decision of policy change held up your work. How did you handle it? Describe a situation in your last job where you could structure your own work schedule. What did you do? Tell me about a time when you've stuck to company policy or procedure, when it might have been easier and more effective not to. Think about a problem you might have had in being decisive, and tell me how you handled it. Describe a time when you had to communicate some unpleasant feelings to a supervisor. What's been your experience of dealing with poor performance of subordinates? Provide an example. In your current position, what sort of decisions do you make without consulting your boss? Can you think of any major obstacles you had to overcome in your last job? How did you deal with them? What types of things have made you angry, and how did you react to those situations? You've told me a lot of your strengths for this job. But I need to get a balanced picture and get some knowledge of where you might need some improvement. Describe for me a time when you made a mistake that illustrates your need to for improvement.

If Youre Looking For Behaviours that Revolve Around Leadership: 1. Tell me about a time when you accomplished something significant that wouldnt have happened if you had not been there to make it happen. 2. Tell me about a time when you were able to step into a situation, take charge, muster support and achieve good results. 3. Describe for me a time when you may have been disappointed in your behaviour. 4. Tell me about a time when you had to discipline or fire a friend. 5. Tell me about a time when youve had to develop leaders under you.

If Youre Looking For Behaviours that Revolve Around Initiative and Followthrough: 1. Give me an example of a situation where you had to overcome major obstacles to achieve your objectives. 2. Tell me about a goal that you set that took a long time to achieve or that you are still working towards. 3. Tell me about a time when you won (or lost) an important contract. 4. Tell me about a time when you used your political savvy to push a program through that you really believed in. 5. Tell me about a situation that you had significant impact on because of your follow-through. If Youre Looking For Behaviours that Revolve Around Thinking and Problem Solving: 1. Tell me about a time when you had to analyze facts quickly, define key issues, and respond immediately or develop a plan that produced good results. 2. If you had to do that activity over again, how would you do it differently? 3. Describe for me a situation where you may have missed an obvious solution to a problem. 4. Tell me about a time when you anticipated potential problems and developed preventative measures. 5. Tell me about a time when you surmounted a major obstacle. Youre Looking For Behaviours that Revolve Around Communication: 1. Tell me about a time when you had to present a proposal to a person in authority and were able to do this successfully. 2. Tell me about a situation where you had to be persuasive and sell your idea to someone else. 3. Describe for me a situation where you persuaded team members to do things your way. What was the effect? 4. Tell me about a time when you were tolerant of an opinion that was different from yours. If Youre Looking For Behaviours that Revolve Around Working Effectively with Others: 1. Give me an example that would show that youve been able to develop and maintain productive relations with others, though there were differing points of view. 2. Tell me about a time when you were able to motivate others to get the desired results. 3. Tell me about a difficult situation with a co-worker, and how you handled it.

4. Tell me about a time when you played an integral role in getting a team (or work group) back on track. If Youre Looking For Behaviours that Revolve Around Work Quality: 1. Tell me about a time when you wrote a report that was well received. What do you attribute that to? 2. Tell me about a time when you wrote a report that was not well received. What do you attribute that to? 3. Tell me about a specific project or program that you were involved with that resulted in improvement in a major work area. 4. Tell me about a time when you set your sights too high (or too low). If Youre Looking For Behaviours that Revolve Around Creativity and Innovation: 1. Tell me about a situation in which you were able to find a new and better way of doing something significant. 2. Tell me about a time when you were creative in solving a problem. 3. Describe a time when you were able to come up with new ideas that were key to the success of some activity or project. 4. Tell me about a time when you had to bring out the creativity in others. If Youre Looking For Behaviours that Revolve Around Priority Setting: 1. Tell me about a time when you had to balance competing priorities and did so successfully. 2. Tell me about a time when you had to pick out the most important things in some activity and make sure those got done. 3. Tell me about a time that you prioritised the elements of a complicated project. 4. Tell me about a time when you got bogged down in the details of a project. If Youre Looking For Behaviours that Revolve Around Decision Making: 1. Describe for me a time when you had to make an important decision with limited facts. 2. Tell me about a time when you were forced to make an unpopular decision. 3. Describe for me a time when you had to adapt to a difficult situation. What did you do? 4. Tell me about a time when you made a bad decision 5. Tell me about a time when you hired (or fired) the wrong person. If Youre Looking For Behaviours that Revolve Around Ability to Work in Varying Work Conditions (stress, changing deadlines, etc.): 1. Tell me about a time when you worked effectively under pressure. 2. Tell me about a time when you were unable to complete a project on time.

3. Tell me about a time when you had to change work mid-stream because of changing organisational priorities. 4. Describe for me what you do to handle stressful situations. If Youre Looking For Behaviours that Revolve Around Delegation: 1. Tell me about a time when you delegated a project effectively. 2. Tell me about a time when you did a poor job of delegating. 3. Describe for me a time when you had to delegate to a person with a full workload, and how you went about doing it. If Youre Looking For Behaviours that Revolve Around Customer Service: 1. Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an irate customer. 2. Tell me about one or two customer-service related programs that youve done that youre particularly proud of. 3. Tell me about a time when you made a lasting, positive impression on a customer.