Behavioral Interviews

I have spent quite some time now looking at lots of different sample interview questions and scenarios that you may encounter on your job search, mostly involving the typical questions you should be prepared to answer and discuss. Let us look now at some of the behavioral type interview questions you may run into.


Behavioral interview questions are the types where you are given a scenario and asked to respond with how you have in the past dealt with a similar scenario. The idea behind this line of questioning is that for most people, the way they reacted in the past is a good indicator and representation of how they will most likely respond in the future when given similar situations.


This type of questioning differs from the typical interview questions that focus more on history details and facts about yourself, and gets a deeper look into you as a person, and how you may respond given similar situations on the job in the future.


An example of the types of questions you may be asked may be along the lines of "give me an example of how you worked under a pressure situation, and how you handled it" or "how do you handle it when your schedule is interrupted." If the position you are applying for is more of a manger type position, you might expect questions like "how have you handled difficult situations with other employees" or "have you had to convince others to work on and complete a project that they were not too happy with doing, and if so, how did you do it?" These type of questions will obviously be more directly related to the position you are seeking, but hopefully you see that this type of questioning differs from the straight forward resume related skills-type questions.


Preparation for this line of questioning is a bit more difficult than what would be considered the typical type of questions, but you can somewhat prepare. Do so by sitting down and jogging your memory, digging for any situations or scenarios that stand out from your past history which would be good examples of your typical reactions on the job. Especially focus on those that would seem to be most related to the skills and requirements for the position being applied for. Remember, a situation that may have had a not so pleasant conclusion could still be used if you be sure to twist it into a learning experience, explaining how you have changed the way things are done based on that situation.


Remember, these types of questions have no strict right or wrong answers, but they are seeking to reveal the real you in action. So, be honest, but make sure you show how all situations discussed were used to better something in your skill set or leadership/management style.


Jeff McCormack resides in Virginia Beach, VA. where he works as a web designer by day. In his off time he is a husband, father, mail order book store manager, and musician. Aside from being a freelance writer for this Logistics Jobsite blog, he also seeks to assist in career choices and information by contributing to other Nexxt blog sites.