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50 TOP BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEW

QUESTIONS TO ASK CANDIDATES
(2021)
Posted June 21st, 2021
According to the society of human resources management
(https://www.shrm.org/LearningAndCareer/learning/Documents/Behavioral%2
behavioral interview questions are a very effective interview technique
working across various types of organizations making them an important
part of the hiring process when evaluating a candidate’s work experience
and work style.

These types of interview questions help the interviewer create a structured

process by using the same set of standardized questions to compare and
evaluate multiple candidates interviewing for the same job opening.

What are behavioral interview

questions?
Behavioral Interview questions focus on a candidate’s past experiences.
They help employers gauge a candidate’s particular behavior in relation to
skills, abilities, and knowledge.

An interviewer will have the candidate describe a specific work experience

using situational questions revealing how they acted under similar
situations.
 What are the benefits of asking
behavioral interview questions?
By adding behavioral interview questions to screening process employers
can avoid hypothetical what-ifs by extracting concrete answers on how
candidates behave in different work situations and settings.

When conducting onsite interviews these types of questions are a verified

way to gauge a candidate’s potential and ability to communicate adapt,
lead, and reinforce a companies culture.

When an employer looks at candidates’ past behavior, skills, and critical

thinking experience they can reveal if a candidate has the attributes
necessary to match job description requirements.
What is a good response length for behavioral interview Questions?
Answers to behavioral interview questions should last between one and
two minutes on average, with factual answers being even shorter.

We list 50 behavioral interview questions to ask candidates that will help

you evaluate a candidate’s work experience, customer service skills,
communication style, and leadership principles
(https://www.apollotechnical.com/leadership-statistics/) under real
situations to make informed hiring decisions.

Common Behavioral Interview Questions

1. What makes an ideal coworker in your eyes?

2. How do you prioritize projects under pressure?

3. How would handle your schedule when it’s interrupted?

4. Have you ever bent company policy to satisfy a client?

:
 5. How have you handled setbacks at work?

6. How do you handle job training if it’s going poorly?

7. Have you ever calmed down an angry client? How?

8. Tell me about some regrets in your previous job?

Communication Behavioral Interview Questions

1. Tell me how you communicated with your previous managers?

2. Give an example of when you persuaded someone at work towards your

point of view. Was it a positive outcome?

3. Can you talk about a time when you were unable to get your point
across effectively? What contributed to this? Have your communication
skills improved?

4. Describe a time when you had to give a presentation in a group setting.

5. Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult client or
customer. How did you handle the stressful situation?

6. Can you talk about a time when you had to deliver bad news to
someone? What did you do to prepare and what was the outcome?

Teamwork Behavioral interview questions

1. Describe a time when you had to work with a difficult coworker. How
were you able to handle interactions with that person?

2. Give an example of when you needed information from a coworker who

wasn’t responsive? What did you do?

3. Describe a time when you worked as part of a team on a project. Explain

your role within the team and the actions you took to contribute to the
team.
:
 4. Talk about a situation when your team members disagreed with you.
How did you handle it?

5. Can you tell me about a time when a coworker was not doing their work
on a difficult project? What did you do?

6. Describe a time when you and your team members were forced to
compromise. Explain the results.

7. Have you ever been in a situation where you had to motivate others to
take action to support a major reorganization? How did you handle that?

Adaptability Bevahavioral interview questions

1. Describe a time where you did everything you could think of but still
failed to achieve your desired result. What happened and why were you
unsuccessful?

2. Tell me about a time when you made a mistake or overlooked a solution

to a problem and learned from it. What have you done as a result of this
experience?

3. Can you talk about a time when you had to embrace a new system,
technology, process, or way of thinking that was a major departure from
the previous way of doing things? Did it become a success story?

4. Tell me about a time when you were assigned a task outside your
normal job duties. How did you handle the assignment? Describe the
outcome.

5. Can you talk about a time when you adapted to a change and your
coworkers resisted changing from the old way of doing things?

6. Talk about a task that had a major obstacle. How did you get around that
obstacle to complete your task?

7. Can you talk about the biggest change you’ve experienced? How did you
adapt to the change?
:
 Ethics and integrity Behavioral interview
questions
1. Is their a time when a teammate or client questioned your honesty? How
did you react?

2. Tell me about a time when it was difficult to be honest because of the

situation. What was your thought process?

3. Can you describe a time when you followed a rule that you didn’t agree
with? Why did you follow it? Explain how you felt.

4. Tell me about a time when a co-worker was doing something wrong.

What did you do?

5. Have you ever been in a challenging situation at work where you were
dishonest? What happened?

Growth potential Behavioral interview

questions
1. Describe a situation when your superior was not around and a problem
developed. How did you handle the problem? What were the results?

2. Tell me when the last occasion you asked for direct feedback from your
manager and why?

3. Is there something that would motivate you to move from your current
position?

4. What is a big career goal that you achieved recently?

5. Was there a time you were passed over for promotion? Was it fair?

Prioritization Behavioral interview questions

1. Think about a time when you were overwhelmed and stressed. How did
you handle it?
:
 2. Describe a project you planned. Explain how you organized and
managed the assignment.

3. Have you ever worked on multiple projects at the same time? How did
you manage your time and what were the results?

4. Tell me about a time when you were able to delegate an important task
that succeeded.

5. How do you estimate a reasonable time to complete a task?

Leadership Behavioral interview questions

1. Describe a time when an employee approached you with concerns.
Explain how you handled the situation.

2. Tell me about a time when a project’s priorities had to change. Explain

the steps you took to start the change.

3. Can you talk about a time when you had to build credibility with
stakeholders? Describe the actions you took.

4. Can you talk about a time when you discovered new information that
affected a decision you had made already? Explain how you proceeded?

5. Talk about a time you presented a great idea to management but there
wasn’t a buy-in. What was your next move? Did you change their minds?

6. Do you know of any changes in our industry that may cause a

disruption? If so how should we go about meeting these challenges?

7. Tell me about something that challenged you as a leader? Did this

change your way of thinking? Did it improve your leadership abilities?

Give some of these example behavioral interview questions to ask

candidates a try in your next interview.
:
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