The term “behavioural interview question” sounds daunting, but it’s more than likely that you’ve been asked one without even realising it. Have you ever been put on the spot in an interview, being asked about a time where you might have encountered a certain scenario and what you did about it? That’s a behavioural interview question.
These questions are used because they allow recruiters and interviewers to objectively analyse a candidate, taking more than just skills and experience into account. While it may be frustrating to feel like the technical skills you have spent years developing, maintaining and improving are being disregarded, companies need to ensure that they’ve hired the right fit, and that goes beyond just your skills. This is where behavioural questions come in.
Unlike general or situational questions, behavioural questions draw on previous experience rather than hypothetical knowledge. Candidates are asked open ended questions that require them to consider past situations and how they successfully handled them. The logic is that past behaviour informs future behaviour. It’s relatively easy to spot a behavioural question, as they often start with “tell me about a time when” but many candidates still struggle. The key to overcoming them is preparation.
What Can You do to Prepare
The first thing to do when preparing for a behavioural question is remember that there is no right answer. These questions are designed to find out what kind of person you are and how you behave in certain situations. They are a chance for the interviewer to get to know you and your personality. However, while it is important to show authenticity in your answers, employers are typically looking for positive examples of behaviour, rather than negative ones. For instance, if an interviewer asks you to talk about a time when you dealt with a challenging colleague, refer to a positive outcome. For example:
I was managing a small team of technicians. In general, everyone was able to perform their tasks and worked well together. However, the graduate student was unable to follow instructions or work with others on the team. I met him at his workspace and invited him to talk through the issues he was having. After listening to his concerns and noting them down, I discussed a range of solutions with him. Then as a team we decided to evaluate how we delivered instructions and used the meeting as a bonding exercise. As a result there was a massive improvement with not only the student, but the rest of the technicians as well.
However, it is also a good idea to have thought about a situation that had a negative income, or where you failed. The employer will sometimes ask for an example like this to assess how you handle failure, how resilient you are, and most importantly what you learned from the experience and how you would do it differently in future. A good tactic is to have six to eight real situations in mind that cover most basic behavioural questions, which you can refer to when necessary to demonstrate how you work and operate.
While it may seem daunting to construct a clear, succinct and detailed answer on the spot, there are plenty of techniques around to help candidates organise their thoughts.
The STAR approach breaks down your interview story into clear parts and allows you to remain focused while delivering your answer. STAR is an acronym for Situation, Task, Action and Result, and with these four elements in mind, behavioural interview questions become much easier to answer. Briefly describe the Situation which is essentially what allows you to set the scene and provide context. Then move onto the Task, this is often no more than one sentence that clearly states what you had to do. Next is Action which refers to how you did what you did.
Finally resolve it all with your Result and show the interviewer what happened because of your Action. This ensures you have a cohesive story and allows you to shine. While it may take time to become comfortable using the STAR approach, the key to success, like most things, is practice. When you’re used to using the STAR approach and are familiar with common behavioural questions, it becomes much easier to relax and come across well in the interview.
Another way to prepare is to provide a list of previous examples in your CV or cover letter that may prompt the interviewer to ask you to expand on them. For example, if you managed to replicate results to validate past studies despite the “crisis of irreproducibility” be sure to include it in your core documents. However, not all your achievements or expertise can be worked into a CV or cover letter.
This is why it’s important to keep several situations in mind that demonstrate a variety of abilities, and can easily be applied to a wide range of questions. It’s much easier to structure an answer that sounds authentic and well-thought out, if you have options to chose from.
In Closing
As more and more companies in Australia lean towards using behavioural questions to evaluate potential employees, candidates need to give themselves the best chance to shine in a very competitive market.
Thankfully, by using the STAR approach, practicing common questions, including applicable achievements in your cover letter or CV and ensuring you have a range of situations that can be applied to different questions.
