Give me an example of a time you took on a leadership role. How did you handle yourself in that situation?
Behavioral Interviewing
The most common questions you might encounter.
Formulate Your Response
Behavioral interview questions are the most common questions asked by employers. There is always a method to the madness, use the STAR method to set you up for success!
Keep Reading to Learn:
- What behavioral interview questions are
- The STAR method
- Examples of behavioral-based interview questions
Behavioral Based Interview Questions
This type of interview question is used by employers to get interviewees to tell specific stories about situations where they have used skills that the employer is seeking.
If you've ever been interviewed before, chances are you've been asked a question that starts one of these ways.
| "Tell me about a time when..." | "Can you give me an example of..." | "Tell me how you would..." |
|---|
The STAR Method
The STAR method is a simple formula for answering behavior-based interview questions. You can also use the STAR method any time you want to discuss examples from your past experience in an interview.
A Sample Story
Situation:
Set up the story. What was going on? Where was it? Who was there?
Task:
What was the problem (if there was one)? What task do you need to accomplish? What is your role in the situation?
Action:
What did you do to accomplish the task? What sort of actions or steps did you take? What skills did you use? What did the others involved do?
Result:
What happened as a result of your, and perhaps the others' actions? It doesn't have to be a perfect ending - just make sure you can articulate what you learned!
A Sample Story
Tell me about a time when you took on a leadership role. How did you handle the situation?
Situation: In my junior year I was the professional development chair of the Women in Business club at St. Thomas.
Task: That meant that I was responsible for bringing in speakers to our meetings to talk about career-related topics. Things mostly went smoothly, but there was one particular situation where we had a challenging time scheduling with a guest. They were the Director of Finance at a large company and I was really nervous to be working with them!
Action: Initially, when I scheduled with them weeks in advance, they readily agreed to our meeting date and said they were happy to come. So we created marketing materials and started letting everyone know they were coming. Two days before the meeting, they canceled and asked if they could reschedule. So I worked with them to do that, and we pivoted our meeting and re-did the marketing for their new presentation date. But they canceled again the day before. This time instead of rescheduling, I politely let them know that it might be better if they could come to our open house event instead of a scheduled presentation.
Result: Fortunately, they agreed with me. I'd been really concerned that I wouldn't be assertive enough and they'd push to reschedule again. I learned a lot in this situation about being flexible and honest and that people are more understanding than I might think!
Sample Questions
Check-out the related links section to find more common behavioral interview questions you could come across.
Tell me about a time when you had to manage multiple, important tasks. How did you prioritize? What did you do in that situation?
Describe a time when you had to interact with a difficult (customer, client, coworker, etc). What was the situation and how did you work through it?
Next Steps
Write it down!
A great first step to practicing your STAR stories is to write them down! Draft ideal response with the STAR method to get you started.
TIP: Take a look at the job description and see what skills and attributes are called out. They might be things like time management, ability to work independently or as part of a team, flexibility, analytical skills and many others. You can think of STAR stories that highlight those skills, knowing that they'll probably ask questions to get you to talk about them!