Behavioral Interview Questions

Why behavioral questions exist

Employers ask behavioral questions because past behavior predicts future behavior. If you handled a bad customer with grace last year, you'll probably do it again. If you missed three deadlines last year, you'll probably do that again too.

The STAR framework

1. Situation — one or two sentences of context.
2. Task — what you specifically owned.
3. Action — what you did (start every action verb with 'I,' not 'we').
4. Result — the outcome, ideally with a number.

Prepare five stories that cover most questions

• A time you handled a difficult customer or coworker.
• A time you caught an error or fixed a broken process.
• A time you had to learn a new tool quickly.
• A time you missed a deadline or made a mistake and how you recovered.
• A time you owned a project from start to finish.

Common behavioral prompts

• Tell me about a time you had to meet a tight deadline.
• Tell me about a time you disagreed with a coworker.
• Tell me about a time you had to explain something complicated to a customer.
• Tell me about a time you failed. What did you learn?
• Tell me about a time you had to prioritize between competing tasks.