Behavioral / Competency Interview Questions And Answers: How To Handle Them
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- Опубликовано: 16 июн 2024
- Behavioral / Competency Interview Questions And Answers: How To Handle Them
DOWNLOAD OUR FREE GUIDE ON THE BEST WAY TO ANSWER BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS HERE: bit.ly/3ad2e7B
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If there’s one thing you can guarantee about interviews, it’s that you’re going to get asked a behavioral interview question or two.
You may have heard them called competency and situational interview questions before. They’re essentially all the same thing.
They are basically used to assess you on a variety of skills and characteristics, based on your history and previous actions.
The major difference between standard job interview questions and behavioral interview questions is that you’re required to answer in a lot of detail - and you have to give real life examples to back up everything you say.
The allow the interviewer to focus on key characteristics with laser-like precision, and as I’ll show you, with the use of follow-up questions, they’re a tool that doesn’t let you off the hook until you’ve given a full and detailed answer.
You’ll definitely recognise them. They usually start with something like:
- “...describe a situation when…”
- “...tell me about a time when…”
- or “...give me an example of when…”
...and you’ll be scored on your answers, usually by some kind of hidden criteria.
The most important thing you need to remember when answering behavioral interview questions is to not leave out any information when you answer. Give as full an answer as you possibly can.
Behavioral questions are really tricky and they tend to trip unprepared candidates up, which is why I’ve created this video. I’m hoping it’ll help you to get them right.
In the video I cover the following:
#1. What Is A Behavioral or Competency Interview Question? [0:35]
#1. The Best Way To Answer Behavioral Questions [2:35]
#2. Example Behavioral Questions And Scenarios [4:34]
#3. Using the STAR Method For Yourself [7:59]
#4. In Summary [9:46]
Good luck with your interview, and let me know in the comments section below if you've got any questions.
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REMEMBER TO DOWNLOAD OUR FREE GUIDE ON THE BEST WAY TO ANSWER BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS HERE: bit.ly/3ad2e7B
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Still not sure about the best way to answer behavioral interview questions? Put any questions you've got in the comments below and we'll do our best to answer them.
James, you are awesome! Your video is very helpful, thanks.
This channel should have way more subscribers. Great content and very helpful!
Thanks John, much appreciated. Hope the interview goes well,
James
James, I have been watching lots of videos in the past 3 months and just came across your video. I have to tell you that your videos were the best; I took the info you provided and used it exactly as you suggested with my skills/resume/job listing and I have to tell you that yesterday and today, I had two interviews with two different companies. Both Companies are preparing to bring me onsite for the first interview... I must thank you so much sir. You nailed it!!!
Thanks for your kind words Michael, it's very much appreciated. Always glad to help and fingers crossed you get the job.
James
I was invited to 4 onsite interviews and have received 4 offers. I am in the process of eliminating what companies I don’t want to work for or take their offers.. I must say thank you so much James!!! Before watching your video, I had one phone interview and was not invited to an on site follow up interview... thank you again!!!
That's brilliant news Michael! Glad we could help and best of luck with the new job.
James
Big brain to a whole new level
Amazing video, thanks for sharing it James it's packed full of useful info.
I'm going to give the STAR technique a try in my next interview, it seems pretty fool-proof!
Thanks Katy, glad you found it useful. Good luck with the interview.
James
Excellent round up for answering behavioral questions. This really does take practice.
It does Joe, but it’s worth it as they’re so common. Best of luck with your interview.
James
Excellent tip James! Thank you very much!👍
Like how the people who run the world can get away without going through this bs but the ordinary person is grilled to get an ordinary job
Joanna Buchanan ,
I agree with you.
Actually, the people who run the world are precisely the people who can answer these types of questions flawlessly, and make investors believe anything they say.
True. But let’s face it, they’ve probably had to answer these at some point just to get to where they’re at.
If you want to be a CEO I’m sure the interviews are much tougher and in depth. If you want to be a politician or president there are hours of debates and other nonsense which we will never have to deal with.
Though this entire process is total bs, it’s still probably easier than what they’re up against.
Why you have so few subscriber? Gold advice.....literally GOLD...Thanks so much
Thank you Kia - best of luck with the interview.
Thank you. These are very valuable tips. Appreciate the efforts!
No problem, glad you found it useful and best of luck with your interview.
James
Man, this is gold! how the hell did you not get thousands of likes?!
Thanks Peter - hopefully in time we’ll get there!
Hope the interview goes well,
James
Thank you! So nervous about my interview (for the same job I applied for 3 months ago and didn't get" and this has helped enormously!
No problem - glad it helped and best of luck with the interview.
James
Very clear and concise. Thank you!
No problem Dan, glad you liked it. Good luck with the interview,
James
This is just the best!
Brilliant video. Liked, commented, subscribed. Thanks!!
Thanks for your kind words Calum and glad it helped. Good luck with the interview.
really really good this gave me confidence and structure for the interview on Thursday
"When was the last time you had to think on your feet?"
Now.
Thank you for this video I got the job!!
That's great news Cindy, well done and best of luck for the future!
James
Thanks for the video, very good & subscribed.
Thanks for your kind words. Hope the interview goes well,
James
thank you so much for this thing i really appreciate it i liked how you teach us this and i want to thank you much more its just like you filled me with confidence.
Thanks for your kind words and best of luck with the interview.
James
Useful video. Thanks for the tips. Interview tomorrow, let you know the outcome.
Thanks Dimithri, best of luck for the interview,
James
Very well explained indeed ..
Good feedback from people I sent this to ..
Thanks for the comment, much appreciated.
James
great lecture. The example answers are so easy to relate. Thanks,
Thank you for your kind words, it's much appreciated. Hope the interview goes well.
James
excellent content, much appreciated and very helpful for my preparations
Thanks for your kind words and hope the interview goes well.
James
this is very helpful.
thank you.
I always fail at interviews ,
I hope next time I do well at an interview and get the job.
Yes really great advice, if you can run through a practice with friends or family prior to your interview, I promise this will help a ton! Good luck with your next interview!
A really useful description, Thanks.
No problem Darren, glad it helped. Good luck with the interview.
very good video, with great examples
Thanks Rachael, best of luck with the interview.
James
Brilliant video got a job interview tommrow and this is so useful .
Thanks Mohammed and best of luck with the interview.
James
Great tips! 👍
Thank you very much!
James
Thanks for posting !!!
No problem, hope it helped!
James
Thanks James - i will let you know!!@@TheInterviewAcademy
I've always made up the answers! It was more about acting than honesty and I go the offer without fail! lol
Greg MacMillan you’re right , about the acting part. Most jobs have a six month probationary period . If you mess up during those six month , they can fire you without reason . Most folks don’t remain at a job longer than a few years . There is high turnover, which is sad . Those interviewers behave like it’s going to be a marriage , for crimminnee sake !
Great video, this helped me a lot thank you, owe you a beer sir.
No problem, glad you found it useful (mine's a Peroni by the way...!) Good luck with the interview.
Wish i saw this video before my interview last week. I could feel i messed up answering the questions! Hope next time i will do better.
Sorry about your interview! Hopefully you got some useful feedback, if you can do quick pratice runthrough before your next as it will help immensely, good luck with your next one!
I love the editing of this video
Thank you very much, but I can't take credit for that - the guys we use are really good.
James
The Interview Academy thank you so much for the reply. You have a great team ❤️
I have an interview this afternoon and this was great - thank You!
No problem, glad it helped and best of luck with the interview. Let us know how you get on.
James
The Interview Academy oh wow thank you! Are you from bham by the way
Yep, sure am! Guess the accent gave it away...
The Interview Academy mine is the same! 🙈
@@Bbbbbbcd did you get the job?
Hi James,
I literally got the job by what you taught here. So, thanks so much. Can you also make something for the negotiating part. Mostly remuneration package and when they ask you "how much have you been paid for your previous salary".
Thanks
That's great news Kia!!! Well done, and glad we could help.
We've already done a video on the salary question - it's at ruclips.net/video/p0Yiau3k1OA/видео.html.
Let me know if you've got any specific questions relating to that and I'll try and answer them here.
James
Thanks James. Yes I know, but what I meant was the actual back and forth negotiation and offers and counter offers that come and go.
That’s a really tricky one to cover in a video as every situation is different.
The key is to be honest with what you currently earn - there are ways your new employer can find out if you’re lying - and to pitch yourself at an appropriate salary level for your new role.
In my recruitment businesses we constantly manage salary offers for our candidates. It’s important to remember that every employer will pay you the LEAST it thinks it can get away with.
So, in that respect, try to not let them push you around in the salary negotiation.
If you think you’re worth a certain salary and can justify it, stand your ground and ask for it.
Obviously balance that off against the risk of the new employer pulling the offer, and by that I mean don’t be greedy.
Of course, if the new company are just trying it on with a ridiculous offer, then you have the ultimate sanction of walking away and staying with your old job. The art of any good negotiation is being prepared to walk away.
You have more power than you think in these situations.
Hope this helps.
Let me know if you’ve got any more questions.
James
The Interview Academy thanks James. That was really helpful but I think as everything else, I will have to give it a little bit of practice until I do it bery well. Thanks again ☺️🙏💐
Kia
The accursed competency based interview is the absolute BANE of the jobseeker's life. They should be scrapped.
Good advice in your video, though, about how to handle them.
Thanks Alan - they can be a pain to answer, but they're used a lot so it's always useful to have a strategy to copy with them.
James
I get asked them at every interview 🙈
Its just a technique to learn , like anything else the more practice you have at them the better your answers will be. The problem is once you have your 'perfect' STAR response rehearsed you can end up sounding like an automaton just going through the motions. It has to flow naturally, like you are having a normal conversation.
@@Veaseify Very good point. We get so rehearsed they're like they're all talk no actually practice of what they preached.
I despise these types of interviews, they are designed for extroverted and individuals who love to show off what they can do and be the centre of attention. Meanwhile introverted candidates who are far more reflective in characteristics and find it more difficult to put their thoughts into words in the moment, on top of being characteristically not the type who likes to draw attention to themselves. To introverts, if they did something well at work, it is because they are doing their job, and its not special, therefore not something that is memorably valued to show off with.
I totally understand what you're saying. However you need to consider it from an interviewer's perspective - how else can they get enough information from you in 60 minutes to be able to ascertain whether you can do the job or not?
These kind of interviews are designed to be uncomfortable, to see how you handle pressure and to see what kind of character you are.
Also, don't presume that an interviewer is always seeking extroverted people - that can be equally offputting sometimes (speaking from experience).
The key thing is rehearse as many scenarios as you can. You don't need to be 'boastful' or over the top - just be fully prepared and be yourself.
Hope that helps.
James
Hi james absolutely brilliant video and delivery. I never heard if the star method and will definately be using this when writing out answers.
I've an art teacher interview coming up and I suspect I'll be asked about classroom management and dealing with difficult pupils?
Also how would staff act as pr to get new enrollment? XxX
Hi Una - thanks for you comment. Unfortunately all of our interviewing experience has come in the private sector so I wouldn't be qualified to speak for teaching jobs, especially around dealing with difficult pupils.
Sorry! Hope the interview goes well though,
James
Hi! Really appreciate you sharing such great insight. I have a behavioural interview coming up in few weeks and I'm having a really hard time trying to figure out how to exactly prep for the questions. When I read the questions, I can totally relate to them being in a leadership role for last 10 years, however my mind goes blank when it comes to selecting which "story" to use. Can you give me some tips how to exactly prep, should I write down 2 to 3 examples of each scenario such as stress related events, conflicts, team work concerns, etc? Not sure where to start. Thanks again!
I think you might have answered your own question Ali! There's nothing wrong with taking notes into an interview, and I would do exactly what you suggested.
The key is in the preparation. In my opinion you're always better over-preparing than under-preparing, so making a note of every story, and how they relate to the kind of competencies you could be tested on is the best way to do it.
Best of luck with the interview and let me know how you get on.
James
Thanks for the video! You gave us the blueprint to smashing competency based interviews.
I just wish employers would ask more specific & relevant questions for a particular job such as Looking at your CV, I see you have experience in the catering industry. Tell us what your day to day tasks were and how you managed your time for big events?
I think the biggest problem is that most interviewers think that they have to be formulaic, as opposed to being natural and asking the kind of questions you're talking about there.
I think most recruitment consultants will walk you through a CV as you suggest, but employers will tend to follow interview blueprints as it's typically not part of their normal job.
Either way, the best thing you can do is be as prepared as possible to give you the best possible chance of success.
Hope the interview goes well,
James
This video helped me a lot to know how I need to prepare the interview
Thanks for your comment Chloe, and good luck with your interview.
Quick question, what is the name of the jazz tune that's playing in the background? It's pretty cool.
Hi John - I'm not entirely sure, as it was a soundtrack we bought through our videographers a couple of years ago. There's quite a few sites where you can buy music like that - just search on royalty free music and search on 'jazz'. I think that's how we got to it.
James
great video!
Thanks Ibrar - good luck with the interview.
Thanks! really appreciate it.
Great video tho and thanks
No problem - glad you liked it and best of luck with the interview.
James
Aewosome class sir,
Thank you very much! Best of luck with the interview.
James
11minutes well spent watching this video. Can't say I am a fan of these questions. I find them trite and wishy washy. But still gotta deal with them, so thanks.
Thanks - your comment is much appreciated.
I don't think I've ever come across anyone who enjoys answering them, but as you said, you're almost guaranteed to get asked at least one, so you're better off being prepared.
Best of luck with your interview.
James
Great video and explained very well although I am not convinced it’s a good interviewing tool to gauge somebodies suitability for a position, you could be great at providing Star answers but that doesn’t necessarily mean you may be able to back it up in the real world situations, also certain jobs do not require in my view these forms of questioning maybe in Sales and marketing, cooperate/middle management, but in a lot of sectors is not relevant. Just my personal view having had a lot of experience in interviews and having a very high conversation rate of success I believe there is a bit too much emphasis on this style of interviewing when it’s not actually required. How many times I have heard “he or she was really good in the interview but didn't work out” once again good video and well explained.
Thanks Ian, much appreciated. I think it's true to say that some people are exceptionally good at performing at interviews, but as you say, aren't actually that good in the job.
It's really tricky on the other side of the fence as you've got about an hour to weigh up whether the person sat opposite you will work out or not, and you can only base it on the answers they give and their performance. You then cross your fingers and hope they're as good as they performed.
Consequently, that's why these kind of questions are asked, as horrible as they can be to be on the receiving end of.
Best of luck with the interview,
James
I went for an interview. They said, "tell us about yourself". I told them about myself. Did not get the job! Feedback was: "he is no good! All he does talks about himself! ". Next time, I will tell them about the Pope.
Hi Johnny - we've made a video on this exact question: ruclips.net/video/E43_sJpIakM/видео.html
Hope this helps,
James
The Interview Academy did you talk about yourself or about your work experience and how this overlaps with the company's wishes and philosophy?
I struggle so hard to think of examples! Anyone else?
To many of them, yes. Especially, the ones about dealing with people I didn't get along with. I've never really had that problem.
There's no doubt you may need to think a little laterally for some of these questions. That's why advance preparation is so important.
James
And that's fine - if you get asked a question in an interview which has never applied to you, it's ok to say that. Interviewers are humans too and they should (hopefully) realise that you're not a robot.
A good interviewer will have a backup question to ask instead.
James
Tell me about a time..I dread these questions. I have gone through situations in real life but the problem is- those were in a span of 10 years or more. Nobody remembers exact details of what was the problem, how you dealt with it. Human brain don't tend to remember details unless you have written a short story in your diary and you read it after 10 years and your memory freshens up. Doesn't happens by itself. So what am I supposed to do now that I have failed to register these stories in my diary as I didn't knew I would need them in a job interview. My question is would it be dishonest to make up/create the details of a story you barely remember?
That's why it's so important to prepare in advance. Getting your answers right for these kind of questions is really tough. In my opinion the real trick is understanding what questions are likely to be asked.
To do that, you need to identify what competencies you think your interviewer might be wanting to scrutinise based on the kind of job you're going for.
So, for example, if leadership is a key component of the job, expect a question along the lines of "Tell me about the time when you had to take the lead in something..."
If all else fails and you're applying to the job through a third party recruitment agency, ask them what competencies are likely to be assessed. They will probably go back and ask the client, because they want to score a fee from placing you, so it's in their interests that you perform as well as you can in your interview.
Hope this all makes sense.
Good luck with the interview,
James
@@TheInterviewAcademy Thankyou for your reply and help. I appreciate that.
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Tell me about a time when there were multiple contributors on a project. How did you facilitate dialogue between the parties?
That's a tricky one to answer without knowing your initial situation, but let's assume you were working on a project with different teams based around the world.
The task could be to bring that project in on time or to rescue it maybe as it has fallen behind become of the timescale or location issues.
The action could then be to set up a WhatsApp group / weekly Google Hangout calls / collaborative project management tools (Trello, etc) to improve communications across all teams.
The result of that action was the project was completed x weeks early and $y under budget (hopefully!)
Not sure if this helps or not, but hopefully it will give you a guide as to how you could structure your answer.
James
What if you genuinely dont have an example that they are asking for?
That's a good question! Well hopefully, you'll only be asked about skills/competencies that are relevant to the job.
And if you haven't got them, then you probably wouldn't have applied to the job in the first place.
Working out which skills will be assessed can be tricky from a job advert, but the key here is to ask your recruiter for a full job description in advance, and to not solely rely on the job advert.
In the job description (hopefully) there will be a section on essential and desirable skills.
This is when and where you need to match your skills and background to the required skills, and you can almost guarantee that these are the skills that will be assessed through any behavioral interview question you're going to get asked.
Let's be more specific:
Let's say that the skill they're asking you a question is about your 'ability to pitch to board level'. Hopefully that requirement will have been screaming out from the job advert and/or the job description.
Now if you've got a story to tell which demonstrates that skill, tell it.
However, if you applied to the job knowing that you hadn't got that specific experience yet, you need to deflect it to a relevant, similar skill, so in this instance it might be that you've got experience of pitching to senior management, but not board level.
Make sense?
If it's a softer skill they're assessing, such as 'tenacity' for example, then hopefully there will be loads of examples in your personal life which you'll be able to relate to.
Hope this helps and let me know if you've got more questions.
James
Hi, I'm looking for civil service competency example, If anyone from you, and if you know what i'm looking for, Please could you give some tips and examples. Thank you
Hi Vijay - I've got very little experience of working with the civil services, but after a little digging on Google, I found this:
gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Civil-Service-Resourcing-Best-Practice-Recruitment-Guidance.pdf
which is a UK based framework document for the civil service.
On page 30 onwards they go through the competencies that the interviewer must choose from.
Hope it helps.
James
Very good link. Thanks
I thought the video was great. That said, at around the 10:20 mark you mention clicking the link to get "more examples" of behavioral questions and sample answers and I found that to be a bit deceiving and simply a way to get my email address. I clicked the link, entered my address, and received the guide. I was disappointed that it only contained the same information you covered in this video including the same two sample questions and answers. I hope I don't start getting a ton of spam for nothing.
Sorry if you thought the video was misleading. The idea behind the written guide is that some people prefer to read rather than watch, and the reason for the email address is that we need to know where we're sending it.
We're not in the business of spamming people, so rest assured you won't be getting any unwanted emails from us. Alternatively you can click on the unsubscribe link in the email you'd have got just to guarantee that happening.
Hope this helps,
James
What about long gaps of silence from the interviewer. Is that a behavioral approach?
That’s tough to explain without context.
Often interviewers will want to put people on the spot, with the view that you should be talking 75% of the time.
My guess would be that if there’s a really long pause then they might be expecting more from you, but that’s really hard to decipher without knowing the question they asked or the answer you gave.
Does that help?
James
Hi, the video has been helpful but i have a follow up question of why would i want to get a job again after venturing out for self employment post working as an employee in the past as per my resume? its a tricky question as to how not to sound negative about my attitude
I'm assuming you're getting asked this in an interview? If so my advice would be to stick as close to the full truth as possible, but try and spin the position you're in now as a positive.
For instance, and I'm not sure what applies to you, but you could say any of the following:
- You found work drying up. Spin this to emphasise the success you've had whilst freelancing/working for yourself but your market presence isn’t as strong or as appealing or you can’t offer as wide a service range as xxx (the company you are sat in front of)
- You found winning business a distraction. Spin this so your skills are in delivery or operations and not in business development. Working for yourself has meant losing delivery time to spend on business development and this doesn’t feel right any more
- You find the admin side of working for yourself difficult / time consuming. As above you’d rather leave that to those that do it better than you and concentrate on delivery.
- You can’t handle the solitude. You realise now that you needs a strong team around you to be at your most effective. However, with this, be careful not to come across like you're incompetent without more talented people around you
- You could say that you weren't really looking to stop being a freelancer but the draw of [company x] was too good to turn down as you'd always wanted to work for them.
I've owned recruitment businesses since 2002 and we've recruited some people who have ventured out on their own only to find it wasn't for them, so people will understand your predicament.
Despite what you might instinctively feel, being on the other side of the fence, hiring managers will not automatically see it as a negative or failure.
If anything, it shows that you've had the guts to try and do something which the vast majority of people would love to try, but never build up the courage to execute.
Hope this helps, and best of luck with your interviews.
James
Hello thank you so much you are perfect, but please please speak little slowly you have people out your current, I appreciate your efforts, once again thank you
I'll take that on board for our next round of videos! Best of luck with the interview.
James
Great stuff but cut the music while you are going through examples- its distracting.
Thanks Maya, we’ll bear that in mind for the next round of videos.
James
Did they just throw up that wall?
Ha ha, I'll speak to our video company and find out...
I'm a bit stuck because a lot of my answers for difficult situations/conflicts etc involve talking about a colleague I line managed who got fired in the end...so it doesn't really have a happy ending! I suppose I could say I learnt from my mistakes and reflected on them for managing the next person in that role
That's a great way to handle it. That kind of answer also makes you look human. And let's be honest, part of the responsibility of any manager is to lose people who aren't up to it. Just make sure that whatever answer you give you turn it into a positive.
Best of luck with the interview.
James
Please tune down the "background" music. It is quite loud and distracting when you speak.