Behavioral Interviewing Questions

Behavioral interviewing involves asking a series of questions to determine how you accomplished something in a previous job or activity. This technique allows the interviewer to assess your skills, knowledge and experience using real world examples to learn if you can perform similarly in the open position. Behavioral interviewing follows the STAR acronym (Specific Situation or Task, Actions and Results). Using the STAR, an interviewer might ask, “Give me an example of an idea you had to improve your organization’s processes or procedures. How did you develop this idea? What was the final result?”

I went over to Indeed.com and looked at an advertisement for an Administrative Assistant. Among the job responsibilities for the listing are:

• Heavy management of Outlook calendars and scheduling appointments for Senior Leadership Team Members & respective departments.
• Organizes team offsite meetings/conferences by arranging facilities, catering, WebEx details and preparing agendas/materials needed.
• Types memos, creates/modifies PowerPoint Presentations, Excel Spreadsheets as needed.

Other than the education and experience, the job also requires the following skills:

• Proficient in Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Problem solving—the individual identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner, gathers and analyzes information skillfully and maintains confidentiality.
• Planning/organizing—the individual prioritizes and plans work activities and uses time efficiently.

Let’s look at some behavioral questions that relate to these.

Position Responsibilities:
1. Give me an example of a high visibility meeting or conference that you had to arrange. Take me through the steps you followed to coordinate the facility, logistics and meeting materials. Tell me about the result of these activities?
2. You say that you are proficient in creating PowerPoint presentations. Explain the types of presentations that you created in your previous position. Who was your audience and how did you tailor your presentations to their needs?”

Position Skills
1. The position requires independent problem solving. Describe a situation when you needed to cooperate with others to solve a problem. What steps did you follow? What were the results?
2. Give me an example of a time when you had to work within a tight deadline. Tell me specifically the steps you took and the results of these actions.

It helps to be prepared with STAR examples for all of the job responsibilities and skill sets that are listed in the description. You may not be asked about each of them but it is better to be prepared than not. One of my previous blogs mentioned preparing for the interview by charting the job description and noting your activities and accomplishments that relate to them. Not only will this exercise remind you of your activities and accomplishments, it may also reinforce your self-confidence in the interview. More STAR questions are listed in Job Search for Moms.