How To Pass A Behavioral Interview

Recognize Your Weakness Hone Your Strengths

Once you have a strong sense of the questions ahead of you and the company values, you need to assess your strengths and weaknesses. Which questions will you be ready to answer clearly? Which questions have you done little thinking on? This step requires some self-reflection and self-investigation. Here are some tips for this step:

Take a personality assessment

Personality assessments are not a clear-cut science, but they can offer some interesting insights. A personality test can help you understand your values, fears, communication style, and intuition. On the most basic level, the questions can be very thought-provoking.

Write it out on paper

One easy way to assess your strengths and weaknesses is to write them out. Consider making a chart. On the left, write out the company values in bullet points. On the right, write out potential speaking points for each value. This will help you determine where you need to focus. If you leave any blank, consider doing some self-reflection to generate potential answers. You can even ask friends, loved ones, or previous employers for guidance on specific values. They may bring an external perspective that sparks new ways of thinking.

Take a look at an example below:

Practice The Star Response

One way to feel confident as you answer the interview questions is to have a structure in place. The STAR response is a great tool for answering behavioral interview questions. The acronym stands for:

Situation

Action

Results

We recommend adding one more T to the STAR response, for Takeaway. After you explain the results, share what you learned from the experience. Using the START method shows employers that youre not just self-aware enough to evaluate your performance, but that you actually got something from the situation and used it to grow.

First, describe the situation. Then, explain the task you needed to do. After that, discuss the action steps you took in order to solve the problem, and then share the results that came from what you did.

Practice using the STAR acronym to provide examples from your past work so that employers can understand exactly how you perform in certain situations.

Phone/video Etiquette And Tricks

Doing a phone or video interview can be tricky at first since we are used to in-person etiquette. Here are some things to remember in your virtual interviews.

1. Have a proper setup

Just because your interview cant see you over the phone, doesnt mean you shouldnt put yourself together for a call or video chat.

• Clothes. Even for a phone interview, getting dressed in nice work clothes can set expectations for yourself. Come prepared with the same clothes you would wear to an in-person interview.

• Tech. Come prepared with fully charged devices and good internet speed. For a video interview, familiarize yourself with the video platform beforehand. Check that your audio and speaker are working in advance. If youre using Zoom or Skype, try a test call with a friend to check all the tech.

• Desk. Sitting at a proper work desk will better prepare you for the interview. Sitting in a proper environment will not only trigger you to be more professional, but it also signals to the interviewer that you are intentional and prepared. Youll want to be in a quiet, well-lit space.

• Environment. Be sure to tell anyone you live with about the interview in advance to avoid disruptions. You may even consider putting a sign on your door to deter unwanted visitors. Clear any clutter or overly-personal items from the backdrop.

2. Introduce yourself

3. Establish a human connection

4. Body language and posture

To summarize this section

• Have a proper, clean desk
• Check your tech

Also Check: What Are Some Questions To Ask During An Interview

How To Make The Best Impression

Before you head out to your interview, review these tips and strategies for behavioral interview success. Be sure youve got the appropriate interview attire ready to wear, have questions of your own ready to ask the interviewer, and are prepared to follow up after the interview with a thank-you note.

Get Familiar With Your Resume

This is one of the more important interview preparation tips, and one of the easiest. Glance over your resume if you havent in a while. Be ready to explain past job changes in a positive light. If you left a job because your manager was horrible, say that you went to an organization that had more supportive management. Its all about how you phrase it. Well look at more examples of how to deliver this in Part II coming up.

Also think of a couple of challenges and accomplishments in your last 1-2 positions. Interviewers love specific examples of accomplishments.

Thats it, youre done with Part I. At this point youve already done more than 80% of job applicants, and you have good answers prepared for some of the most common interview questions. Lets move on

Don’t Miss: Where Can I Watch The Meghan And Harry Oprah Interview

Facebook Behavioral Questions: Role

Our last category focuses on the questions that are specific to certain roles, such as what made you get into design? for product designers. While you should expect a combination of each of the previous four categories in any interview, the following questions apply most to data scientists, product managers, product designers, and software engineers.

Right, now lets get into some questions.

Example behavioral questions asked at Facebook: Role-specific

• Tell me about a recent / favorite project and some of the difficulties you had
• Tell me about a product you lead from idea to launch
• Tell me about a time you struggled on one of your software projects
• Tell me about a data and analytics project you’ve worked on
• Tell me about what made you get into design
• How do you influence product?
• Which part of the design process interests you most?
• Why do you want to be a product designer rather than a UX researcher?

Example Question And Answer

Now that weve gone over all this, lets put it into practice with an example behavioral question and a S.T.A.R. method interview answer.

Can you tell me about a time you went above and beyond your expected duties?

Situation: I was a part of a team working on a presentation meant to help us secure a major new client for our company. The weather was bad, and as a result my supervisor got caught in a snowstorm and was unable to make it back in time. It looked like we were going to have to cancel the meeting and potentially lose the client.

Task: I had been looking for ways to take on more responsibility, so I volunteered to finish up the presentation.

Action: I worked with my supervisor via the phone and between the two of us, we were able to go ahead with the scheduled meeting.

Result: As a result of my initiative, we not only landed the client, but I was also recommended for a promotion.

Heres another question.

Tell me about a time when you took the lead on a difficult project?

Heres our answer broken into the STAR Method. The quality we are highlighting is Leadership:

Here are a few more behavioral questions that you can practice answering using the STAR Method. Use the example above to guide you.

Recommended Reading: How To Prepare For Your First Interview

I: Job Interview Preparation

Each step below will prepare you for the actual interview. None of this is very time consuming but it will set you apart from everyone else applying for the job, making it easy for the company to decide who to hire

Here are the basic interview preparation steps to remember. Ive put the estimated time next to each one.

Outcome : You Get Offered A Position Other Than The One To Which You Applied

Depending on the company, if youre deemed a mismatch for the job to which you applied you may be considered for a different position. The likelihood of this happening is related to the type of company to which the job is attached.

Steve Picarde, Sr. is President of PI Midlantic, a Predictive Index consulting firm out of Annapolis, Md. Picarde shares, If the job youre applying to is in an aggressive sales environment, it could be black and white: you either have the aggressive yet personable qualities or you dont. However, a hotel is like a mini-city where there are many different roles available for all personality types. Companies who have the tools and the talents and are committed to putting applicants and employees in the roles that are best for them are most likely to bring you onboard even if you dont fit the behavioral profile of the job. If the hiring managers understand applicants needs through behavioral test results, they can better utilize them overall.

Don’t Miss: Who Was Interviewed On Npr This Morning

Top 5 Interview Tips When Answering Behavioral Questions

These are not questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no. behavioral interview questions are open-ended, so you can take them in a direction that presents you in the best light.

Behavioral interview questions are asked not only to see how well you perform tasks, but also to see the strengths you demonstrated to overcome obstacles, deliver quality results, and interact effectively with people.

Tell your stories to answer these questions. Provide examples of real work situations where you were successful where you had a challenge and you overcame that challenge:

How To Master The Star Method For Interview Questions

By Mike Simpson

Job interviews can be a stressful experience for job seekers, especially when faced with the dreaded behavioral-style interview. Not to worry! In this post, we are going to go over one of the best ways to answer behavioral questions, and that is by using the STAR Method.

As we have learned in previous posts, behavioral questions evaluate how youve handled situations in the past and what you would do if faced with a similar situation again in the future.

Beyond simply finding out if a candidate has the knowledge to do the job, behavioral questions help a hiring manger determine if a candidate also has the skills and experience.

BONUS PDF STAR METHOD CHECKLIST:Download our “Behavioral Interview Questions PDF Checklist” that gives tips on how to answer 25 of the most common behavioral questions using the STAR METHOD!

These questions are designed to trip you up and one wrong answer can mean the difference between being hired and being left in the dust.

Now, weve got several more in-depth articles about behavioral interview questions , but just for a quick recap, here are some examples of some common behavioral questions:

• Tell me about a time you failed at a task you were assigned
• Have you ever had to work with someone you didnt like? How did you handle that?
• How do you handle setting goals? Can you give an example?

Tough questions, right?

Recommended Reading: Where To Watch Oprah Meghan Markle Interview

Tips For A Successful Interview

It must be remembered that unlike other questions you’d be asked, there are no right answers, per se.

That is, there can be countless right answers, as it’s based on your personal experiences.

However, there are several tips you can keep in mind to ensure the effective performance of your interview.

Why Prepare For Behavioral

The benefits of preparing for a behavioral interview goes beyond the interview itself.

Recommended Reading: What Are Good Interview Questions For Teachers

How To Spot Star Questions

During the interview, the hiring manager might not come right out and say that he’s moving onto the STAR portion of the interview. But you’ll recognize the questions because they’ll typically include something like “Tell me about a time when…” or “How would you react if…” There are typically two types of behavioral interview questions. The hiring manager will either ask you to describe how you responded to negative situations in the workplace, or have you discuss successes you’ve had and how you accomplished them.

Free: Behavioral Interview Questions Pdf Checklist

Ok the next thing you should do is download our handy “Behavioral Interview Questions ChecklistPDF“.

In it you’ll get 25 common behavioral questions along with tips on how to answer them with the STAR METHOD and the traps you need to avoid….

All in a beautifully designed pdf Jeff spent hours working on. —- He made me put that in

Don’t Miss: How To Thank An Employer For An Interview

Examples Of Star Interview Questions

While potential employers are always concerned with your hard skills as well as past performance in a job, they are able to find most of that from your resume. Thats why, when it comes to landing the job, the key to acing an interview comes down to telling great stories about your past achievements. We might all be experts in our field, but that doesnt mean were expert story tellers, which is where the STAR method comes in to save the day.

Ladders spoke with Denise Dudley, behavioral psychologist and founder of SkillPath Seminars, to learn what the STAR method is, how to use it in interviews, and how to practice this method of storytelling.

Personally I dont like acronyms because I think theyre very forced, but this one worksits the way to answer these questions in an interview, Dudley said.

What If You Cant Provide Relevant Examples At All

One of the beautiful things about behavioral interviews is that they allow you to showcase competencies. You may have developed these skills in a role unrelated to the position for which you are applying. So listen carefully to the question and provide an example that answers that question, regardless of where you have gained that experience. Again if you are not sure whether you can present an answer from another context, ask the interviewer.

Don’t Miss: How To Not Be Nervous For An Interview

Behavioral Interview Question #1

Q. Describe a time when you went above and beyond what was required?

In my previous job my manager asked for volunteers to do some work outside of normal hours. Basically, someone within the team had miscalculated the time it would take to complete an important project, and my manager needed someone to help out so that the deadline was not missed.

I immediately volunteered because I knew how important it was for this project to be completed on time, and to specification.

I took the work home with me that night and stayed up until 11pm working on the required task. I didnt mind doing the additional work as I know the business needs good feedback from its clients, and if the project deadline had been missed, there would have been negative consequences for the company.

The end result was the project was completed on time and to the satisfaction of the client. In fact, they were so pleased with the work we did for them that they have just commissioned us to do another project.

How To Master A Behavioral Interview

Behavioral interviews are now the standard in almost all hiring situations. From executives interviewing for C-suite positions to high school students looking for summer jobs, tell-me-about-a-time-when questions are ubiquitous.

Theres a good reason behavioral questioning has been adopted so widely — it works. The idea is that past behavior is a good predictor of future behavior coaxing out how candidates have handled specific situations in the past will tell an interviewer more than just rehashing a resume or asking about strengths and weaknesses.

Behavioral interviewing also gives interviewers the chance to assess soft skills, something that can be very challenging to do. Things such as the ability to handle stress, take criticism or successfully act as part of a team can all be assessed through behavioral questions.

While behavioral interviewing isnt a perfect predictor, it offers a more complete picture of a candidate and how theyll function in an organization. That means behavioral questioning isnt going anywhere any time soon, and interviewees need to be prepared for it.

The Challenge For Interviewees

A lucky candidate might be asked one of the questions they prepped for and knock their answer out of the park. But even if that doesnt happen, the self-review and added confidence that preparation imparts on an interviewee means that even totally unfamiliar questions become easier to answer.

Advanced Preparation For High-Pressure Candidates

Recommended Reading: What Does A Second Interview Consist Of

Facebook Behavioral Interview Questions

Now that youve gotten an idea of what to expect during the Facebook interview process, lets jump into some example questions.

To help you prepare strategically for your job interview, we have used Glassdoor data to identify the real questions asked in different Facebook interviews. The questions weve chosen come from our research on five Facebook tech roles: product manager, software engineer, program manager, product designer, and data scientist.

Youll notice that weve divided the questions into the following categories:

• General
• Leadership
• Role-specific

We’ve added these categories to make the list of questions easier to understand, starting with the general questions that apply to any job. Each category tests a different quality that Facebook is looking for in its candidates, and the frequency of each question type will vary depending on the role. For instance, interviews for managerial roles will include a higher number of leadership questions.