Hi, I'm James Ball, Founder and Director
at The Interview Academy and today I'm going to talk to you
about behavioral or competency interview questions.
I'm going go through exactly what they are,
how you should go about answering them,
and I'll also go through a couple of examples with you
so that it all makes a lot of sense.
This video will help you to prepare and practice answers
that are specific to you and will put you in a position
where you're never thrown by this kind of question again.
So grab some paper and a pen
and let's get going.
So what is a behavioral question?
You may have heard them called competency
and situational questions before.
But essentially, they are all the same thing.
They are used to assess you in a variety of skills
and characteristics based on your history
and previous actions.
The major difference from other interview questions
is that you're required to answer in a lot of detail.
You have to give real-life examples
to back up everything you say.
They allow the interviewer to focus on key characteristics
with laser-like precision.
As I'll show you with the use of follow-up questions,
they're a tool that doesn't let you off the hook
until you've given a full and detailed answer.
You'll definitely recognize them.
They usually start with something like
"...describe a situation when",
"...tell me about a time when",
or "...give me an example of when".
You'll be scored on your answers usually
by some kind of hidden criteria.
So you might get asked,
"Describe a time when you had to work as part of a team".
Or "Give me an example of when you've had to take the lead in a project".
Remember them now?
The most important thing you need to remember
when answering them is not to leave out any information
when you answer.
Give as full an answer as you possibly can.
Interviewers love asking these types of questions
because they give them the best possible opportunity
of getting the most detail out of a candidate.
Plus they demonstrate exactly how you acted
in certain situations in the past
which means that the interviewer doesn't have to guess
what your character is like based on vague answers
to other interview questions.
And if you're lying, it's going to be obvious
because you're probably not going to give a detail
that you would do if you're telling the truth.
And after a bit of pressure, you're almost certainly
going to mess up.
So basically, you can expect to be grilled
if an interviewer doesn't think you're expanding enough
on your answers.
Behavioral questions are really tricky and they tend
to trip unprepared candidates up.
That's why I've created this video.
I'm hoping it'll help you to get it right.
So let's take a look at the best way
to answer competency questions.
I'm going to go ahead and assume
that most of you would have at least have heard
of the 'STAR Method'.
But just in case any of you haven't,
it's basically a mnemonic that you can use
to help you to remember how to stretch your answers
to behavioral questions.
It helps you to give the most detailed
and impressive answer you can.
If you use it right, your interviewer won't need
to ask any probing follow-up questions.
Here's how it works.
S strands for situation.
T stands for task.
A is for action.
R, the most important bit, stands for result.
Now go and write that down if you're not sure on it.
S for situation, T for task, A for action, R for result.
When you're asked any competency question,
you need to answer with a story.
That story should be something impressive
from your past which shows how great you are
in terms of whatever skill they're trying to assess.
Now it should be pretty clear
what skill they're looking to assess
from the question that's been asked
so don't stress about that too much for now.
Start by setting the scene for your interviewer.
Tell them what the situation was
and that's your S by the way.
Then to make it clear, state what task you had to complete
as a result of the situation, and there's your T.
Followed by your action, which is your A,
that you took to complete a task.
And finally, explain what the result,
or the R, was of your action.
Make sure that the story is a positive one.
You never want to tell a negative story about yourself.
So there you go.
That's basically how the STAR Method works.
S-T-A-R,
Situation, Task, Action, and Result.
That's the easiest and best way
to answer any behavioral interview question.
Remember, if you don't give enough detail in your answer
then your interviewer will almost certainly probe you
with more questions such as:
What was the specific challenge you faced?
How did you resolve the situation?
And how did you come to that decision?
So now you know what it is and how it works,
let's go through a couple of examples.
Imagine an interviewer asks you,
"When was the last time you had to think on your feet?"
With this question, you want to talk
about something at work or education-related
that has happened to you in the past.
Pick something which shows how quickly
you think on your feet under pressure
which is obviously the skill they're looking to assess.
So, you could say, "A colleague and I were supposed
"to be doing a sales presentation
"for a really important client,
"but my colleague called in sick that morning."
That's your situation.
This will immediately tells the interviewer
a couple of things.
Number one, you can do presentations,
and number two, the company trusts you to deal
with important clients.
That's great stuff.
Next, you need to clarify what task you are facing
as a result of your sick coworker.
The task bit can be a bit difficult sometimes
because it often tends to roll
into a description of a situation.
If that happens, it's fine,
just try to keep your answer natural.
For the sake of this example, your task would be
to resolve a situation in a way
that wouldn't make the entire company look bad.
Bearing in mind that we had two hours left
until the presentation was due.
So with this example, you're essentially positioning
yourself as the hero of the story.
Your task was to save the day.
Positioning yourself as the hero of the story
is definitely the best way to go with competency questions.
Next, you need to tell the interviewer what you did.
So maybe say, "I called another colleague
"who I know was an expert in this field
"and she agreed to back me up,
"especially for any technical questions
"that I might get asked the end.
"I spend the hour learning and rehearsing the rest
"of the presentation as best I could."
That shows that you're willing to pitch in
when things go wrong, but also that you can delegate
and take control of difficult situations.
This is all very positive so far.
There's no need to bad mouth the sick colleague
or anything like that.
Let the interviewer make up their own mind.
So now it's crunch time.
You have to tell your interviewer
what happened as a result of your actions.
Remember, this should always be a positive thing.
There's no point in telling a story
that ends on a sour note.
So in this example, you could say,
"In the end, the presentatioin was certainly not perfect,
"but we were complimented on how natural it seemed
"and that we were clearly very passionate about the subject.
"We got the sale in the end,
"so it can't have been that bad."
So this answer says that you think on your feet,
plus you're clearly a great salesperson,
and passionate about what you do.
Always remember, be positive and remain positive
at all times.
However, you're not yet done because at this point,
your interviewer may ask you,
"If you could do it all again,
would you do anything differently?"
And so many people fall at this last hurdle with this question.
It's a real favorite because it shows
whether you have self-awareness and/or the willingness
to learn and grow from your mistakes.
If you get asked it, you could say,
"I'll make sure that we always have a stand-in
"who knows the presentation inside-out,
"just in case any unforeseen circumstances
"put the main speaker out of action."
And with those answers, you've proven your ability
to think on your feet, how quickly you act under pressure,
and that you learn from your mistakes,
as well as a number of mini-skills on the way.
All at the same is improving the business while you do it.
I've given you this example to show you just how easy it is
to come up your own interview answers
once you understand the 'STAR Method'
and how to implement it.
You can pretty much amend any story you have
to fit this method.
Before I go, I'll just go through one more example
to help you get your head around it.
Imagine the interviewer asks you,
"Tell me about a project you successfully completed
as part of a team."
This is a really common competency question
because employers like to know
if you can work well with others.
I would say: "At [company name] we were asked to host
an event for our client," and that's my Situation.
"It was my job to run the entire event
and get as many people signed up as possible.
This meant working with the wider team,
the venue managers and external suppliers
such as caterers and entertainers."
And that's my Task.
"Working with the venue staff, I managed to secure
a famous comedian for the event.
Then using some of my connections in the industry,
I managed to pull in some favors with discounted food,
a DJ, and alcohol.
Finally, working with the marketing team, we came up
with an email launch campaign
which filled the event within two days."
And that's my Action.
The event was a huge success.
My client raised over 10,000 pound for charity
and pulled in a handful of new clients for himself.
We'll be running it again next year.
That's the result.
And what would I do differently?
I'd utilize more of the venue's team
to take care of the nitty gritty stuff
such as decorations and reception staff, etc.
As it would allow me to dedicate more time
to the core tasks."
Again, this answer shows a variety of different skills
and competencies, not just teamwork.
I'm not going to lie, the STAR Method might take some practice
and it will definitely take some preparation on your part.
But after awhile, it almost becomes instinctive.
So to round up, use the STAR Method,
Situation, Task, Action, Result,
to answer competency questions.
Make sure you give a lot of detail
and always be positive.
Practice makes perfect, so it's a good idea
to have a go with your friends or famiy
or even on a video so you can crack it properly.
That's because you still want to come across
as naturally as you can.
You don't want to sound robotic
or like you're reading from a script.
You want this stuff to be second nature.
If you like some more examples of behavioral questions
and sample answers too,
then make sure you download our free guide
on behavioral questions by clicking the link below.
For more information on behavioral questions
and other videos on how to answer a range
of other interview questions,
make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel
by clicking on the subscribe button on this page.
Good luck with the interview.