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Behavioural Interview Questions

This document provides guidance on behavioral interview questions. It explains that behavioral questions are designed to understand how an applicant would handle situations based on past experiences. The document recommends using the SAO (Situation-Action-Outcome) structure to answer behavioral questions specifically. It also lists examples of common behavioral question topics such as customer service, problem-solving, leadership, and examples of specific questions under each topic.

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Bangalore S Murthy
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289 views

Behavioural Interview Questions

This document provides guidance on behavioral interview questions. It explains that behavioral questions are designed to understand how an applicant would handle situations based on past experiences. The document recommends using the SAO (Situation-Action-Outcome) structure to answer behavioral questions specifically. It also lists examples of common behavioral question topics such as customer service, problem-solving, leadership, and examples of specific questions under each topic.

Uploaded by

Bangalore S Murthy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Behavioral Interviewing Guide

Behavioral questions, or situation based questions, are becoming increasingly common in


interviews (especially if someone from HR is attending the interview). These questions are
designed to allow the interviewer to decide how you will act in a future role based on your
past behaviour.

The key to successfully answering a behavioural question is to be very specific and give an
example. Don’t answer the question in general terms.

The second thing to consider is the structure of your response. The classic answer structure
for behavioral questions is the SAO response:

S(ituation) – draw the interviewer an excellent picture of the situation.


A(ction) – talk about how the actions you took in response to that situation.
O(utcome) - summarise the outcome having taken your actions.

Generally the interviewer is looking for an example from your work life. However you might
also be able to use scenarios you’ve encountered outside the workplace – perhaps at
university or even in your personal life.

Most behavioral questions tend to touch on a few “hot button” issues (see below). It’s worth
giving some thought to a few situations where you’ve dealt with these issues before, so
you’ve got some answers to draw on rather than trying to rack your brain when you’re in an
interview.

An example of the SAO Response

Let’s start off with a classic behavioral question: “Tell me about a time when you had to
make a difficult decision. We answered the question using the SAO technique.

S(ituation) – start your answer by drawing an excellent picture of the situation.

“When I was working over at Acmeworth, there were only the four of us in the IT department
– the IT Manager, two junior Helpdeskers, and myself, a Systems Engineer. The IT Manager
was letting me run a fairly substantial hardware refresh. We were rolling out new PCs across
the business, and I’d scheduled the new screens to be installed late one Friday. The Friday
came around, and the IT Manager called in sick. He still wanted me to tackle the rollout
though – he thought between the helpdeskers and I we still had enough sets of hands, and the
business had been pushing hard for the new PCs for a long time. We’d also already told
everyone to shut down their systems at 4pm to give us easy access.
Early that afternoon, one of the servers crashed, meaning all our email systems were down. I
realized pretty quickly it wasn’t going to be a simple fix, and I’d need to be working on it for a
few hours. I didn’t feel the two junior guys could handle the PC rollout themselves, so I either
had to leave the server down while I went and helped them, or cancel the rollout and fix the
server, probably annoying hell out of the business in the process”.

There’s a lot of detail there, but that’s what you want. It gives an excellent, comprehensive
overview of the situation, and it’s very specific.

A(ction) – now you talk about how the actions you took in response to that situation.

“I decided it was far more important to the business that we had email up and running again
as soon as possible – we rely on email very heavily, even over the weekend. So I called the
General Manager to let her know I was cancelling the PC rollout that day, and why I’d made
that decision. I also left a voicemail for my IT manager so he knew about it. Then I was able to
fully focus on the problem at hand, and was able to get stuck in and fix mail server back up
and on line.”

It’s really important at this point to be saying “I did this and I did that”, not “we did this and
we did that”.

O(utcome) – summarise the outcome of the situation.

“I was able to get the email systems back up on line within a few hours. And on Monday, the
IT Manager was really happy with not only the decision to make getting email back up the
priority, but the fact that I’d kept the business in the loop by contacting the GM and managed
their expectations”
Examples of Behavioural Questions:

Customer Service
 Have you ever had a very angry or difficult customer? How did you deal with them?
 Have you ever had a client with unrealistic expectations?
 Tell me about a time you had to say no?

Interpersonal/Conflict
 Have you ever had a manager you disliked? Why did you dislike them? Was anything
done to resolve the situation?
 Tell me about a group situation in which there were problems. How did you handle
the situation?
 Have you ever had a conflict with a colleague?
 Describe the best team you’ve been a part of? What made it great?

Problem Solving
 Tell me about a difficult technical problem and how you dealt with it?
 Tell me about a decision you’ve made that carried an element of risk?
 Describe an occasion when you’ve had to make a decision even though you did not
have enough information.

Dealing with Pressure


 Tell me about a time you made a mistake? How did you recover?
 Tell me about a time you were faced with a challenging deadline? How did you deal
with the situation?
 Has there been an instance where you’ve had too much work to do? How did you
prioritise?

Attitude
 Have you ever had to go above and beyond the scope of your normal duties?
 Tell me about a time you had to show some initiative?
 Describe a time you had to do something you didn’t entirely support?

Motivation
 Describe a work experience and tell me why it was satisfying?
 Describe three things you’ve done in the last year to further your career? Book?
Courses? Etc.
 Tell me about a time you volunteered for a task.

Leadership
 Have you ever had to make an unpopular decision?
 Tell me about a time you were leading a project that wasn’t on schedule?
 Have you ever had to performance manager a team member?

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