About the Behavioral Interview Method
The majority of companies today utilize the behavioral interview method to screen candidates.
The behavioral interview method is an assessment technique that involves asking candidates to describe specific situations from their past work or life experiences. The underlying assumption of this method is that a person’s past behavior is the best predictor of their future behavior.
This approach enables interviewers to gain insight into a candidate’s characteristics, competencies, and decision-making processes by examining how they have acted in real-life scenarios.
Core Questions
The behavioral interview method relies on a series of targeted questions—such as “When did this occur?”, “What were you thinking at the time?”, or “What specific actions did you take to address the situation?”—to gather detailed information about a candidate’s concrete actions and thought processes in representative events.
Based on the candidate’s descriptions of past work incidents, combined with the interviewer’s probing follow-up questions, this method evaluates the competencies the candidate has demonstrated and uses this information to predict their likely behavior in future roles.
Basic Steps of the Behavioral Interview Method
1. Briefly Describe Your Role and Responsibilities
Typical questions may include:
· What is your current job title or position?
· To whom do you report?
· Who reports to you?
· What were your primary tasks and responsibilities during different periods?
The interviewer’s primary objective at this stage is not only to understand the candidate’s job scope but, more importantly, to identify potential entry points for the subsequent in-depth exploration of behavioral events based on the preliminary information provided.
2. In-Depth Behavioral Event Interviewing
The interviewer will ask the candidate to recount key incidents. When responding, candidates should apply the STAR principle:
· Situation: Describe the context in which the event occurred, including the people involved.
· Task: Explain the specific goal or challenge you faced in that situation.
· Action: Detail the specific steps you took to address the situation.
· Result: State the outcome of your actions.
This stage is the core of the interview. Through purposeful questioning, the interviewer helps the candidate organize their thoughts and guides them to focus on key events that genuinely reflect their personal competencies. The interviewer will probe further into the details of the narrative until sufficient information is obtained.
Examples of Typical Behavioral Interview Questions:
1. What do you consider to be your key strengths and weaknesses?
2. Please describe the most challenging project you encountered in the past year.
3. Tell me about a situation that disappointed you.
4. Describe a project that you believe was unsuccessful.
5. What type of person do you find difficult to work with?
For instance, with the first question, many candidates tend to directly list their strengths or weaknesses without substantiating their claims using the STAR framework. As a result, their responses may fail to convincingly demonstrate their self-awareness to the interviewer. More importantly, the interviewer is unable to reliably predict whether the candidate will continue to leverage their strengths or effectively address their weaknesses if hired. By contrast, a response grounded in a specific, STAR-structured example provides concrete evidence of a candidate’s capabilities and growth mindset, thereby increasing the validity of the assessment.
