Center for Career and Community Engagement

Career
Career Center • Lewis & Clark College •
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go.lclark.edu/3CE • [email protected] • [email protected] • 503.768.7114
Templeton
Templeton Campus
Campus Center
Center • go.lclark.edu/career_center • [email protected]
• go.lclark.edu/career_center • 503-768-7114
• [email protected] • 503-768-7114

HOW TO ANSWER BEHAVIORAL BASED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

What is Behavior Based Interviewing?
Behavioral Based Interviewing focuses on experiences, behaviors, knowledge, skills and abilities that are
job related. It is based on the belief that past behavior and performance predicts future behavior and
performance. You may use work experience, activities, hobbies, volunteer work, school projects, family life
- anything really - as examples of your past behavior. Current employment literature indicates that there is a
strong trend toward this type of interviewing.

What Do Employers Evaluate in A Behavioral Interview?

Employers are looking for 3 types of skills:
1. Content Skills -- are work specific skills such as computer programming, accounting, welding, etc.
These skills are expressed as nouns.
2. Functional or Transferable Skills -- are used with people, information or things such as organizing,
managing, developing, communicating, etc. These skills are expressed as verbs.
3. Adaptive or Self-Management Skills -- are personal characteristics such as dependable, team player, self-
directed, punctual, etc. expressed as adjectives.

How Are Behavioral Questions Different from Other Types of Interviewing Questions?
There are 3 types of questions typically found in interviews:
1. Theoretical questions -- Questions that place you in a hypothetical situation. These questions are more
likely to test your skill at answering questions rather than in doing a good job.
Example: How would you organize your friends to help you move into a new apartment?
2. Leading questions -- Questions that hint at the answer the interviewer is seeking by the way they are
phrased.
Example: Working on your own doesn't bother you does it?
3. Behavioral questions -- Questions that seek demonstrated examples of behavior from your past
experience and concentrate on job related functions. They may include:
a. Open-ended questions -- require more than a yes or no response. They often begin with "Tell
me...", "Describe...", "When...”
Example: Describe a time you had to be flexible in planning a workload.
b. Close-ended questions -- Used mostly to verify or confirm information.
Example: You have a degree in psychology, is that correct?
c. Why questions -- Used to reveal rationale for decisions you have made or to determine your level
of motivation.
Example: Why did you decide to major in this program at Lewis & Clark rather than a larger
university?

Adapted from materials developed by Larry Beck, Ball State University.

How Can I Best Answer Behavior-Based Questions?
During a behavioral interview, always listen carefully to the question, ask for clarification if necessary, and
make sure you answer the question completely. Your interview preparation should include identifying
examples of situations from your experiences on your resume where you have demonstrated the behaviors a
given company seeks. During the interview, your responses need to be specific and detailed. Tell them
about a particular situation that relates to the question, not a general one. Briefly tell them about the
situation, what you did specifically, and the positive result or outcome. Your answer should contain these
four steps (Situation, Task, Action, Result or "STAR") for optimum success.

The STAR Method

The STAR Technique is excellent in behavioral based interview situations:
Situation: give an example of a situation you were involved in that a positive outcome
Task: describe the tasks involved in that situation
Action: talk about the various actions involved in the situation’s task
Results: what results directly followed because of your actions

Before the interview process, identify two or three of your top selling points and determine how you will
convey these points (with demonstrated STAR stories) during the interview. It is helpful to frame your
answer as a story that you can tell.

Typically, the interviewer will pick apart the story to try to get at the specific behavior(s) they seek. They
refer to this as "digging a well." The interviewer will sometimes ask you open ended questions to allow you
to choose which examples you wish to use. When a part of your story relates to a skill or experience the
interviewer wishes to explore further, he/she will then ask you very specific follow-up questions regarding
your behavior. These can include "What were you thinking at that point?" or "Tell me more about your
meeting with that person." or "Lead me through your decision process." Whenever you can, quantify your
results.

Numbers illustrate your level of authority and responsibility. For example: "I was a shift supervisor." could
be "As Shift Supervisor, I trained and evaluated 4 employees." Be prepared to provide examples of when
results didn't turn out as you planned. What did you do then? What did you learn? Your resume will serve as
a good guide when answering these questions. Refresh your memory regarding your achievements in the
past couple of years.

Demonstration of the desired behaviors may be proven in many ways. Use examples from past internships,
classes, activities, team involvements, community service and work experience.

Adapted from materials developed by Larry Beck, Ball State University.

 STAR Example

Interview Question Example:

“Can you give me an example of a time when you served as the
STAR What you need to include: leader of a group?”
Briefly describe the situation “As part of a communication class, we were divided into groups of
Situation
you were in. four and given a project to complete.”
Describe what assignment “We needed to develop a presentation for an organization in order to
you were given to complete. increase public awareness of the organization and its services. My
Task You might use examples from group selected a small nonprofit organization that serves homebound
your education, work seniors.”
experience, or activities.
Actions are activities you “During our initial meeting, everyone just threw out ideas and talked
engaged in to get the task a lot, but no was taking charge to keep us focused. So, I stepped in
accomplished. and tried to provide some structure to the meeting and to keep us
focused. The other members of the group responded favorably, so
from then on I was looked at as the leader of the group. What we
ended up doing was developing a multifaceted marketing campaign.
Action
Each of us was assigned a specific task each week. I made sure
everyone knew what their responsibilities were and checked to make
sure they were meeting the deadlines we agreed upon. Two people
developed a radio spot; one person developed an ad that could be
used in magazines, on billboards, etc., and another person developed
a computer presentation.”
This is the outcome of the “We had the opportunity to present our campaign to the managers of
task and action. Whenever the organization. They ended up using parts of our presentation,
possible, stat the results in which ultimately led to a 24% increase in the use of their services
Results
quantifiable terms. over a 3 month period. Also, their name recognition increased by
17% based on surveys completed. Our group also received an award
from the marketing club for creativity.”

How Can I Prepare for A Behavioral Interview?

Analyze the type of positions for which you're applying. Try to get an actual job description. What skills do
employers require? Analyze your own background. What skills do you have (content, functional, and
adaptive) that relate to your job objective? Identify examples from your past experience where you
demonstrated those skills. How can you "tell a story" about your use of particular skills or knowledge?
Concentrate on developing complete STAR answers and remember that a good story has a beginning,
middle and end. Wherever possible, quantify your results. Numbers illustrate your level of authority and
responsibility. Be prepared to provide examples of when results didn't turn out as you planned. What did
you do when this happened? Before starting the interview process, identify 2 or 3 of your top selling points
and determine how you will convey these points (with demonstrated STAR stories) during the interview.
Once employed, keep a personal achievement diary to help document demonstrated performance (STAR
stories).

Resources
http://jobsearch.about.com/cs/interviews/a/behavioral.htm
http://www.quintcareers.com/sample_behavioral.html

Adapted from materials developed by Larry Beck, Ball State University.

Behavioral Based Interview Question Preparation Worksheet
Under each of the following headings, write down some examples of your using the STAR method:

Teamwork Skills Technical Skills

S S

T T

A A

R R

Interpersonal & Communication Skills Leadership Skills

S S

T T

A A

R R

Analytical/Problem Solving Skills Other:

S S

T T

A A

R R

Other: Other:
S S

T T

A A

R R

Develop a “story” around these examples to describe your strengths and practice
this story with others!

Adapted from materials developed by Larry Beck, Ball State University.