Quick Tips on How to Answer Behavioral Interview Questions Like a Pro

Are you often taken off guard by behavioral interview questions that stray away from your industry expertise to topics that are more introspective? Top behavioral interview questions are designed to peek into your psyche and explore how you perform in a pinch, which is exactly why they are so uncomfortable to answer. Despite the discomfort, there are ways you can master the art of answering situational interview questions accurately every time.

Skills-based questions rely on your familiarity with your own field but even if you’re a beginner, as long as you have your basics right, you can answer the essential questions with ease. Behavioral interview questions are a little harder to answer because they require you to be something of a succinct storyteller, one who can briefly but accurately explain an example that addresses the question you’re presented with. Getting in some practice with sample behavioral interview questions can be very useful in the long run.

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How to Answer Behavioral Interview Questions

Behavior-based interviews are designed to explore a candidate’s personality, problem-solving skills, and general approach to the workplace. They help an interviewer understand how well you think on your feet and how you will fit into the culture of the organization. These behavioral interview questions don’t occur right at the start of the first interview and are usually reserved for later in your interactions with the organization, which should give you enough time to get prepared to build up your comfort with answering questions. Here are some things to keep in mind about how you answer situational interview questions.

Know The Organization and How They Operate

When you’re faced with behavior-based interviews you don’t have to lie to impress the organization. What matters most is that you answer situational interview questions honestly and with confidence. Reading up about the organization in advance will help you get familiar with it and give you a sense of how it operates and what values it prioritizes. This will give you a sense of what examples and experiences to prioritize during your interview.

Be Prepared With a Few Highlights and Learnings from Your Past Experiences

When it comes to responding to behavioral interview questions, it helps to be familiar with your own career. You can track your highs and lows for your own future reference, but even if you don’t have a written record of past experiences, it’s good to have a few different experiences at the forefront of your mind. Being able to explain a critical decision you made or a leadership move that reshaped your career is just good inspiration for yourself and fuel for your interview. 

Practice Answering Situational Interview Question With a Relaxed Tone

You might know exactly what you need to or want to say, but under the spotlight of the interview, it might come out scattered, repetitive, and in a rush. When you have some time on your hands, practice how you would answer the situational interview questions in a relaxed tone. When you can speak with ease, it’ll look less like a rehearsed answer and you should be able to reply more naturally. 

Look up some of the top behavioral interview questions that interviewers are prone to asking and prepare our response to build your confidence. The exact questions may not come up during an interview but you’ll be more prepared. Most commonly, behavioral interview questions focus on strengths, weaknesses, highlights of your career, biggest learnings, most intimidating challenges, and your journey so far. They look into how you handle leadership, stress, conflict, client-facing interactions, rejection, criticism, etc.

Focus on Your Professional Qualifications and Experiences

When it comes to giving examples and talking about your experiences, try to focus on your professional adventures rather than those in your personal life. In some cases, it might be relevant to showcase how you were able to balance your work and home life, so you can go ahead and talk about a more personal incident. 

In general, it is better to reply to behavioral interview questions by pointing out your behavior at work. It’s even better if you can link the example to your new role or job description.

Don’t Rush to Reply to Behavioral Interview Questions Without Thinking

A quick response is always preferred but you also need to be careful about what you’re going to say. You may have a recent example that comes to mind immediately, but in your rush to reply, you could make a mistake. You might misunderstand the question, use causal language as you would with a coworker, or even show your previous employer in a negative light, which is never a good idea 

That sort of error is easy to miss when you’re in a rush and you won’t realize until it is too late. Pause for a second, consider your response, and then reply to the point.

Don’t Refuse to Answer—Think of a Close Example If Possible

If you are asked questions that are too personal, invasive, or inappropriate for the workplace, then do not hesitate to set a firm boundary and clarify that you aren’t comfortable answering. Behavioral questions, on the other hand, are not designed to be invasive, only generally explorative, and you should try to answer them to the best of your abilities. 

For example, if you get asked about a mistake you’ve made at work, don’t reply by saying that you’ve never made an error or that you don’t want to talk about it. Try to think of a close example of when something did not go as planned, and turn the focus towards how you handled the situation.

Top Behavioral Interview Questions You May Encounter

To help with your preparations, you can try to answer these situational interview questions and practice well in advance of your interview. These common behavioral interview questions give interviewers a good understanding of who you are, which is why they are used so regularly. Having an approximate response ready to go will ease some of your stress during the interview. 

You can work with a friend to exchange example behavioral questions you’ve encountered, which will expand your mental reserve of situations you are prepared for. Exchanging answers may even give you some inspiration for your own. 

• Give me an example of when you had to manage a conflict with your colleague and explain how you handled it.
• Tell us what the biggest moment in your career has been and what you had to do to make it there.
• Have you ever had to deal with a customer outburst? What did you do?
• This role will require you to work under some tight deadlines. Do you have any experience with that?
• Describe a situation where you have had to work under a lot of pressure and how you handled it. 
• Failure happens to the best of us. Tell us about a time you were unable to meet a goal. 
• Are you able to teach other employees what you know? Your role will involve a lot of work training junior employees so do you have some experience with transferring your learning?
• Do you have experience with communicating your ideas to a team and convincing them to go with your project? How did it go?
• You will have to liaise between the senior team and the designers. Do you have experience transferring and coordinating work this way?
• Are you good at making decisions quickly? Can you give us an example?
• Have you ever had to take on some leadership responsibilities? Give us an example.
• Do you ever take the initiative on problem-solving? Give us an example of when that has happened before.
• Describe a time when you were confronted by change and had to adapt to the situation quickly.

These common behavioral interview questions touch on a few different categories, but they are all commonly used to understand a job applicant better. The behavior-based interview will be more likely to focus on questions relevant to your role, so give key skills and requirements from the job description top priority while preparing for the interview.

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