Sample Behavioral Questions
Behavioral questions are a great way for employers to learn how you handle certain situations. When answering these questions, best results come from following the STAR-R guidelines:
Situation – Provide context to the interviewer by including information about what your role was, who you were collaborating with, and the purpose for the task.
Task – What were you responsible for completing in this situation? What challenge or assignment was at hand?
Action – What steps did you take to succeed or to solve a problem or conflict?
Result – How did your actions create positive results? Or, if there was a negative outcome, what did you learn?
Relevancy – How will this experience help you succeed in the position for which you are interviewing?
While there are an unlimited number of behavioral questions that could come up in an interview, here are some of the most popular:
- Give me an example of a time when you have had to deal with a difficult student/professor/customer/neighbor. What happened? What did you do?
- When you have a multitude of things to do, how do you set your schedule?
- Tell me about something that you have done that was creative.
- Tell me about a time when you had to make a quick decision that you were proud of.
- Give me an example of an important goal you set and explain how you achieved it.
- Describe a time when you had to roll with the punches.
- Tell me about a job/task that was boring. How did you deal with it?
- Give me an example of a time when you found a clever way of motivating a friend/student/employee.
- Tell me about a major obstacle that you encountered in your last job/class and how you handled it.
- Give me an example of a miscommunication with a professor/student/friend. How did you solve it?
- Tell me about a time when a change of policy or a changed decision made your work difficult. What did you do?
- Tell me about a time when you had to communicate unpleasant information to a friend/employee/professor. What happened?
- Give me an example of a time when you had to make a decision without consulting your boss. What did you do?
- Tell me about a time when you had to make a decision when you had too little information to easily arrive at a decision. What happened?
- What types of things make you angry? How have you dealt with them?
- You have explained that you are decisive and able to cope with most situations. Now tell me about a time when you had a problem you couldn't solve.
- Tell me about a time when you had to change procedures to solve a problem. What did you do?
- Tell me about a time when you made a decision when no policy existed to cover the situation. Explain.
The Internet is a great source of potential behavioral interview questions on a variety of areas. Use a search engine for assistance and search “behavioral interview questions” for more examples.
