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Behavioral Questions Overview

Behavioral questions are "you" questions. Behavioral interview questions are designed to probe your character and personality. They may assess your actions and reactions in a given professional setting or situation, and can help employers determine your skills and qualities, such as problem-solving, customer service, critical thinking and communication.

What your answers reveal about you​

Do your personality and values fit with the company and team? Will people enjoy working with you? When planning your answers, it's helpful to assess the intention behind the questions and carefully structure your answers accordingly.

  • Initiative & leadership
  • Empathy
  • Compassion
  • Humility
  • Teamwork & Helpfulness

If your answers don't really demonstrate any positive qualities about you, go back and reframe them, or come up with a different story to tell.

Be honest​

You don't have to prepare an elaborate answer for all these questions, but it's good to at least think about them for an idea of what you might say. For these questions, I might list a few topics or a few things to consider when answering these questions to help you get started; however, because these questions are about you, you should answer them honestly and from your own perspective.

STAR Strategy​

The interviewer may start with simple, easy questions to build rapport. However, other questions may be more complex. The most effective answers to these questions are structured with the STAR format.

  • Situation: Describe a situation in your work experience pertinent to the question.
  • Task: What was your task in this situation?
  • Action: What action did you take to address the situation?
  • Result: What was the outcome of your action?