A Guide To Behavioural Interviews

A Guide To Behavioural Interviews
A behavioural interview is a style of interview that forces
you to provide specific examples from past experiences. It
is based on the assumption that the best predictor of
future performance is past behaviour in similar situations.
There may be fewer questions than in a traditional interview but the level of detail
required for each answer will be much greater.
Traditional interviews ask you general questions about yourself such as “What motivates
you?” A behavioural interview question might be phrased - “Tell me about a time when
you had to analyse information and make a recommendation? Was the recommendation
accepted?”
Depending on the completeness of the answer you give, a good behavioural interviewer
will always probe further, for example, What was your reasoning? What kind of thought
process did you go through? To whom did you make the recommendation? Would you do
anything different next time?
How Should I Answer The Questions? The SAO Method
The most successful way of performing well in behavioural interviews is to follow a
pattern or formula for your responses.
The SAO approach covers all of the key components of an answer that the client is
looking for and also ensures that you never get “lost” when answering a question.
While this provides an overall structure for your interview approach, your style of
answering questions should be natural, relaxed, confident and almost like telling a story.
A Guide To Behavioural Interviews
Situation
State the situation or problem that you have faced. Be as specific as you can.
Action
Outline the action you took to resolve the problem or situation. Keep the focus on
yourself and explain what you actually did, not what you might do!
Outcomes
Describe the results of your actions and what you learnt from the process.
Preparing For A Behavioural Interview
 Understand what the employer is looking for. What specific competencies and skills
do you think the employer will want to see demonstrated? At the very least have
read and understood the Job Description. Do some research on the company and if
you can, talk to someone who already works there.
 Remind yourself and write down a range of work experiences that you can talk about
if questioned. Try and recall experiences that match closely with what you
understand the employer is looking for.
You should have a variety of experiences that highlight your key strengths that
showcase some of your positive outcomes and key achievements and that
demonstrate how you have turned a potentially negative or challenging situation into
a positive result. Your examples should be as recent as possible.
 Review your resume. Firstly this should trigger a number of potential situations and
experiences that you can draw upon. Secondly it makes sure that your experiences
are consistent with what you have written about yourself.
 Practice! Mental rehearsal is the best way to improve your interview performance.
Choose a selection of behavioural interview questions and ask someone to role-play
an interview with you where you use the SAO to answer each of the questions.
A Guide To Behavioural Interviews
Some examples of competency based or behavioural questions:
Customer Service
Q. Can you give us an example of when you have dealt with an upset or angry customer
in the past? How did you win back their confidence?
Q. Tell me whom you see as being your main customers and what you do to meet their
needs?
Q. Describe a time when you recognised that a customer needed more specialised advice
than you could provide.
Q. What has been the most difficult problem you have ever had to solve on behalf of a
customer? What was the customers’ response to your efforts?
Q. Describe a time when you took action to provide a quick and thorough service in
response to a customers’ request.
Q. Tell me about a time when you’ve received great feedback from a customer, why?
Q. What do you define as quality customer service? Can you give me an example of
when you have received excellent customer service?
Interpersonal & Team Skills
Q. Tell me about a time that you were involved in teamwork that needed to be done but
which was not one of your responsibilities or work requirements?
Q. What do you consider to be the two most significant contributions you have recently
made to your team in the last year? What were the results of your contributions?
Q. How do you think your peers would describe you as a team member? Take into
account your experiences within the team an any feedback you may have received
from team members to illustrate your answers?
Q. What actions do you take to enhance good teamwork? Do you feel it works? How do
you know?
Q. Tell me about a time when you used tact and diplomacy.
Q. From time to time we are all confronted with extremely demanding and difficult
managers. Can you please give me an example of when you have been confronted
with this situation and how you dealt with it on a day-to-day basis?
Q. Tell me how you have gone about building a strong relationship with your new
managers?
Q. Tell me about the last time you had a disagreement with someone.
Q. Tell me about the most difficult person you have had to work with.
A Guide To Behavioural Interviews
Adaptability and Resilience
Q. Tell me about a situation where you were exposed to a change at work. What was the
impact on you and how did you cope? What was the final outcome?
Q. Can you give me an example of when you had to adjust quickly to a change in order
to achieve objectives?
Q. Tell me about a time when your work or an idea was criticised.
Q. Tell me about a time when you felt under pressure
Q. Tell me about a time when you felt frustrated by your work
Q. How would you respond if a project you had been working on was re-assigned to
someone else or shelved?
Q. Describe a time when you had to make a conscious effort to modify your behaviour to
achieve a particular goal. What was the outcome?
Initiative
Q. Tell me about a time when you took matters in your own hands which could have
been managed by a superior?
Q. Tell me about any projects or ideas you’ve initiated.
Q. Tell me about a time when you volunteered to work on a project or assignment and
why did you volunteer?
Q. Can you describe any process improvement or “tool” you have created in order to
make your work and/or your colleagues work easier? How did you go about doing
this? What was the result as far as you and/or your team were concerned?
Communication Skills
Q. Tell me about a time when you were successful in getting crucial information from
another person.
Q. Tell me about a time when someone misunderstood what you were attempting to
communicate to them.
Q. Tell me about a current event you have been following in the press.
Q. What do you think are the three most important things about communication?
Q. Tell me about a time when you worked with people from a culture unlike your own.
What did you do to overcome any perceived barriers to communication?
Q. Give me an example of a time when you have had to talk to a customer about a
complex product or issue?
A Guide To Behavioural Interviews
Q. Give me an example of any written procedure or rules you have documented for use
by your team / department?
Q. What reports or documents that you are currently preparing or have recently
prepared are some of the most challenging and why?
Q. Give an example of any public or group speaking you have done recently – how did
you prepare, were you nervous, what were your objectives, what format did you use,
what were some questions you asked, did you have to sidestep any questions, were
you successful, what kind of feedback did you get?
Planning & Organisational Skills
Q. Tell me about a situation where your work was piling up and you were having trouble
meeting your objectives and deadlines. How did you deal with this situation?
Q. How do you go about planning your time on a daily or weekly basis? Can you give
me a recent example of when you have done this?
Q. What manual and/or electronic systems/tools do you use to organise your day?
Q. What % of your days scheduled work do you typically achieve?
Q. Name your most important goal in the past 12 months and discuss how you planned
to achieve it?
Q. Can you describe a situation where you had to put together a schedule/staff roster
under difficult circumstances, maybe staff were on leave and others unexpectedly
sick. How did you go about doing this?
Q. Describe a large project where you were able to achieve efficiencies because of your
careful planning and management?
Problem Solving & Decision Making
Q. Tell me about a time when you needed to provide a solution to a difficult problem and
take me through the steps that led to its solution?
Q. Discuss a time when you were able to provide a creative solution to a problem that
others had found difficult to solve.
Q. What are some recurring problems in your area of responsibility? What have you done
about them?
Q. Tell me about a time when you had conflicting priorities and what you did to resolve
them.
Q. Tell me about a difficult decision that you have made.
Q. Tell me about an unpopular decision that you have made.
A Guide To Behavioural Interviews
Q. Tell me about a time when you had to make a quick decision. What were the
circumstances and what did you do?
Self-Management, Self-Motivation and Self-Knowledge
Q. Tell me about a time when you acted over and above the expectations of your role.
Q. What have you done that shows initiative and willingness to work?
Developing Others
Q. What do you do when a new person joins your team? Give me an example of when
you did that.
Q. How do you determine what development your team members need? Can you give
me an example of this?
Business Awareness
Q. Please give me an example of an approach or theory you have adopted and applied.
What was the outcome?
Q. Describe a time when you managed to gain new business as a result of your
commercial acumen.
Q. When servicing your internal/external clients, how do you ensure that you are acting
in the best interest of your employer? Please give an example which illustrates this?
Influencing or Persuading Others
Q. Tell me about a time when you were able to change someone's viewpoint
significantly.
Q. Tell me about a time when you were asked to do something that you disagreed with.
Q. See this pen I'm holding…sell it to me.
Q. Tell me about a person or event that has been influential in your personal
Development
Q. Tell me about a time when you have identified an opportunity for your organisation or
team and attempted to gain acceptance for it?
Q. Tell me about a time when you introduced an idea which was initially resisted by a
customer or one of your team members. How did you go about gaining support for
your idea? What techniques did you use to win your case?
Q. Describe two situations where you had to employ different techniques to convince
different people. What was the effect of using these different approaches?
A Guide To Behavioural Interviews
Conflict Management & Ethics
Q. Tell me about a significant crisis you have faced.
Q. How would you resolve a dispute?
Q. Have you ever anticipated a difficult situation before it arose? Describe the situation,
the action you took and the outcome.
Q. What would you do if your colleagues were complaining to you about the
organisation?
Q. Tell me about a time when you bent the rules. When is it okay to do so?
Achieving Excellence
Q. Give me an example of when you worked the hardest and felt the greatest sense of
achievement.
Q. Describe a time when you failed to meet an important target you set for yourself.

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