Our clients often tell us they need quick access to behavioral interviewing questions for potential candidates to make sure values are aligned. See if any of these help you.
BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEWING
SELF AWARENESS
EMOTIONAL SELF-AWARENESS
- Give me an example of a time you had mixed feelings about something and how you sorted through it.
- Give me an example of a time your feelings had an impact on your experience or others’ experience.
- Is there a specific emotional signal you have that helps identify what you are feeling?
- What are the top three feelings you most frequently have?
- Tell me about a time you had a negative feeling at work. Why did you have it and what did you do about it?
ACCURATE SELF-ASSESSMENT
- Give me an example of feedback you received at a past job and how you used that feedback.
- What goals for improvement have you made the most progress in? Least progress?
- What was the hardest feedback you ever heard from a co-worker or boss? What did you do about it?
SELF-CONFIDENCE
- Give me an example of a time that you had to be very decisive. What did you do or say?
- What do you do to ready yourself for a big project, meeting, or presentation?
- What do you do to maintain your confidence?
SELF-CONTROL
- Give me an example of a time when you were very frustrated with a customer or co-worker. What did you do or say?
- What methods do you use to control yourself or keep yourself in check? How effective are you at managing your emotion, on a 1-10 scale?
- What triggers you or pushes your buttons the most with customers?
COMMUNICATION
- Tell me about a time when you were a new leader. What things did you communicate to your team, the customer, or the organization?
- How would you describe your communication style?
- What do you find is the best way to engage your audience?
- What has been the hardest thing for you to communicate as a professional? How well do you do it? What would you do differently?
- How would you communicate differently between an internal and external customer?
ADAPTABILITY
- Give me an example of a time you had to totally change or adapt a new strategy in working with someone. What did you do or say?
- What do you find to be the hardest part in dealing with change?
- Give me an example of a time you changed your strategy or ideas based on what someone else told you.
- On a 1-10 scale, how adaptable are you? What else could you do to improve?
ACHIEVEMENT ORIENTATION
- What has been the most challenging goal that you set for yourself and achieved?
- What has been your most challenging goal that you set for yourself and didn’t achieve?
- What is an example of a calculated risk you have taken recently?
- Explain how you decide if you will take a calculated risk.
- In this position, what obstacles do you anticipate you will have to deal with?
- How long do you think it will take before you make a significant contribution to the team and company?
INITIATIVE
- Give me an example of extra efforts you have taken to get a sale. What did you do or say?
- What is the biggest initiative you have taken and championed at work?
- How did it work out? On a scale of 1-10, where 10 is the highest, how would you rate the result? What would you have done differently?
EMPATHY
- How do you read others’ non-verbals?
- Give me an example of how you demonstrate that you are open to new ways of looking at things.
- Tell me of a time when a customer, co-worker, or employee was very upset with you. What did you do or say?
ORGANIZATIONAL AWARENESS
- Give me an example of how you might use the politics of the organization to help get something done.
- What would you do to find out about how this company really works?
- How long do you think it would take you to understand the underlying structures of this organization?
SERVICE ORIENTATION
- How do you know that your customers are satisfied with the service you are providing?
- Give me an example of satisfying a customer need that was beyond his or her expectation.
- How do you find out what the customer really needs? Is there an example of providing for a need that the customer didn’t initially think of?
- How well do your customers trust you, 1-10? What makes you say that?
DEVELOPING OTHERS
- Give me an example of how you go about developing your people.
- What is the best example of your successfully mentoring someone?
- Give me an example of the most challenging person you were developing.
- What was the most challenging part for you?
- When do you find is the best time to give someone feedback?
INSPIRATIONAL LEADERSHIP
- Describe a situation where you were the leader of an initiative.
- What strategies did you use to position yourself as the leader?
- What methods did you use to communicate your vision?
- How did you stimulate enthusiasm and make the vision compelling?
- Describe a situation where your leadership was lacking. What would you do differently?
CHANGE CATALYST
- Tell me a time that you personally led a change effort. How did it go?
- What strategies did you use to get people onboard?
- How did you execute the change effort?
- What was the most successful change initiative you have been involved in and what made it so successful?
- How would you rate yourself as a change agent, on a 1-10 scale, where 10 is high? Why?
INFLUENCE SKILLS
- Give me an example of your best and worst persuasion experiences.
- What do you find is the best way to persuade someone?
- How do you deal with objections to what you are trying to sell?
- Give me an example of your strategy for selling a new idea to a client or your team.
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
- Describe a situation at work that was conflictual for you. What did you do to de-escalate the conflict?
- Give me an example of a solution you created that was a win-win for the people involved?
- Tell me what steps you take to resolve conflicts.
TEAMWORK
- Give an example of how you dealt with someone who strongly opposed some ideas you had.
- What would be your initial strategies to build relationships?
- What kind of questions would you like to ask people/
- What is the main thing you want to convey about yourself to people on your team or to a new customer?
BUILDING BONDS
- Give me some examples of what you do or say to build strong relationships with customers and co-workers.
- Tell me an example of an opportunity you received from networking.
- Who is the best person you know at building and cultivating relationships? What does he/she do or say?
TRUSTWORTHINESS
- Tell me about a time that was challenging for you to follow your own values, when there was pressure to do otherwise.
- Tell me a time when you made a mistake and how you deal situations when you don’t know or need advice.
- How would you develop your credibility in this organization?
- In many organizations, it is difficult to ask for help. How do you deal with that?
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
- Give me an example of a project where follow-through was very important. What systems did you employ to carry it out?
- Tell me a time that you had to personally take responsibility for getting something major done. What did you do? How did it turn out?
- Tell me a time when something dropped through the cracks in a project. How did you correct it? What would you have done differently?
- What is your method for time management? What is the most challenging thing for you with time management?
