Finding the right employees for your business can be challenging. But, one of the most effective ways to assess new candidates is by conducting a behavioural interview. Regardless of the skills you’re looking for in a new employee, these types of interviews will help you get closer to identifying the best person for the job. In this article, learn the basics of behavioural interviewing and the best questions to ask your potential employees.

What Are Behavioural Interviews and Why Use Them?

Behavioural interviews explore candidates’ past experiences to surface patterns of behaviour. By seeing how they’ve handled specific situations and used position-relevant skills previously, you’ll gain insight into how they may perform under similar circumstances in the future.

Before interviewing candidates, it’s important to review the job description and find the competencies and skills that are required for the position. Based on those needs, you can create effective behavioural interview questions.

How to Create Behavioral Interview Questions

Behavioural interview questions can be framed using the following phrases:

• “Tell me about a time when you…”
• “When have you ever been…”
• “How have you used [skill] to be successful in the past?”
• “How did you handle …”

Wondering how these questions look in action? Here are a few examples related to specific skills you may be looking for in a new employee, and what you should look for in their response:

Teamwork

• Question: “Tell me about a time when you had to work with someone who was hard to get along with. How did you navigate interacting with them?”
• Ideal response: A successful answer demonstrates the candidate’s effort to see things from the other person’s point of view and look for ways to improve their relationship.

Initiative

• Question: “Describe a time when you did something that you were not expected to do. What did you do? How did you do it?”
• Ideal response: Look at whether the candidate expresses excitement and a willingness to try and learn new things.

Communication and Customer Service

• Question: “Give me a specific example of a time when you had to address an angry customer. What was the problem and what was the outcome?”
• Ideal response: See if the candidate responded to the angry customer with empathy, took ownership, tried to rectify the situation quickly, and communicated clearly.

Goal-Setting

• Question: “Describe a time when you set a challenging goal for yourself. How did you set the goal and what were the results?”
• Ideal response: Look at how driven and motivated the candidate is. How did they come up with the goal, organize a plan, and navigate challenges?

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

• Question: “Describe a time when you anticipated potential problems and developed preventative measures.”
• Ideal response: Listen to whether the candidate showed proactive thinking and quick action to mitigate issues before they became significant problems.

Find more examples of behavioural interview questions at LinkedIn’s 30 Behavioral Interview Questions To Assess Soft Skills.

What Is Your Role as the Interviewer?

During the interview, your job is to be an active listener who’s looking for the following key behaviors:

• Intelligent responses to given situations
• Good reactions
• Self-motivation and self-direction
• Problem-solving ability
• Positive, proactive, and can-do attitude

Don’t be afraid to dig deeper during the interview. If a candidate’s answer seems generic you should ask follow-up questions to clarify their response.

Also, avoid asking situational questions that are framed hypothetically, such as “How would you deal with…”.  The answer that results from a hypothetical question won’t prove anything about past experience or behavior. Candidates may just fabricate answers based on what they think you want to hear.

How Do You Evaluate the Answers?

The best way for a candidate to answer behavioral questions is by using the STAR approach. You’ll be able to tell if a candidate has prepared for their interview if they can answer using this format. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result.

• Situation – Candidates describe the context or situation to help you understand the scenario.
• Task – What was the candidate’s role or goal in that situation?
• Action – Candidates outline the specific steps they took to address the situation or reach the goal.
• Result – What was the outcome? This is where candidates share the impact of their actions.

If a candidate doesn’t answer a question clearly, you can guide them through responding in this format. For example, you could ask, “What was the situation?”, “How did you deal with that?”, and finally, “What was the result?”. As you learn the details, you’ll better understand the candidate’s experience.

By actively looking for STAR responses, it will be easier to find the responses you need to determine the candidate’s suitability for the job. In the end, a behavioral interview can be the difference between hiring an employee based on what they say they might do and hiring an employee based on their real-life experience and behaviour.

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