Interviewing people is an hectic job, and so is attending interviews.
However, job interviews are few of the most important interactions that people do in their life.
Depending on the post and the position that the interview is taking place for, some enhanced behavioral interview questions might be added to the general/first interview questions.
Behavioral job interview questions are questions that are meant to evaluate future behavior & performance based on past behavior of a candidate.
One has to make sure that he comes across as an intelligent and knowledgeable individual who has all the information that would make him a success in the professional world..
This article provides sample of behavioral questions asked in interviews, which will be instrumental in giving you a better idea about how the interviewer-interviewee psychology works.
Sample Behavioral Interview Questions and Answers
The following are examples of interview questions for evaluating leadership, communication skills, interpersonal communication behavior, decision making and other important behaviors:
- How do you maintain relations with a person in cases where you cannot agree upon certain issues?
- How do you initiate a relationship with a person?
- Give an example of risk that you had to take. Why did you decide to take the risk?
- Give an example of a creative solution to unexpected situations when your leadership skills were needed.
- Provide an example of a situation where you had to create an agreement between parties who originally differed in opinion, approach, and objectives.
- How do you establish good communication and information flow with others?
- Give an example when you had to explain a complex issue to someone who hasn’t had any experience.
- Describe a situation when you had to convince others.
- What are conversation impressions other than words? How do you use these to communicate effectively with others?
- How do you show an interest in what another person is saying?
- Have you ever taken initiatives to solve customer problems that where beyond/above your responsibilities?
- Give an example of a situation when you had to turn down a customer request for a good reason. How did you handle the case?
- Have you ever been able to positively influence the actions of others in a desired direction?
- Tell us about an experience that you would describe as a real learning experience? What did you learn from that experience?
- Tell us about a time when your teammate criticized your work. How did you respond?
- Describe a demanding situation that your were faced in which you managed to remain calm and composed.
- Have you had a situation in which you had to make a difficult choice between your personal and professional life. What did you learn from that experience.
- How do you get others to accept/listen to your ideas? What is your approach?
- Give me an example of a project or initiative you started on your own.
- Give an example of a case in which you anticipated problems and were able to go in a new direction on time.
How should you answer the above questions?
A complete answer to these questions must explain the case, the way you acted and the result – therefore a good answer should contain all of these components.
Further reading:
• How to Answer the Behavioral Interview Questions?
• Competency based Interview Answers.
For a complete list of Behavioral Based Interview Questions refer to the article:
• Samples of Competency Based Interview Questions which comprises behavioral, skills and qualifications interview questions.