Breaking down behavioral interview questions in 4 simple steps

How many windows are there in Montana? If you were a flavor of ice cream, what flavor would you be—and why?

Zany interview questions are the stuff of legend, not the sort of thing to expect when you interview with Johnson & Johnson. Of course, we do want to get to know you better through the interview, learn about your working style and how you approach challenges. That’s where behavioral interview questions come into play.

Here’s a quick breakdown of behavioral interview questions—what they are, why they matter and how to prepare—so you can answer with confidence.

What are behavioral interview questions?

Behavioral interview questions ask you to talk through specific situations you’ve encountered in the past, whether on the job or in the classroom. These are open-ended questions like:

• Tell me about a time you had to complete something on a tight deadline. What was the project? Who were you working with? What was the end goal, and how did you approach this challenge?
• Describe how you’ve worked to achieve a specific goal in the past. What was the goal? What steps did you take to achieve it? How did you benchmark success?
• Give me an example of a situation where you disagreed with a coworker or peer. What was the cause of the disagreement? What was your approach to resolving it? What was the outcome?

The underlying idea is to get at how you’ve handled situations in the past in order to give your potential employer insight into how you’ll handle similar situations in the future. Of course, your response is also a chance to demonstrate your communication skills, but there’s more to it than just that. Let’s dig a little deeper.

How do you identify behavioral interview questions?

What does a behavioral interview question look—or, er, sound—like? In general, you can be confident that you’re in the presence of a behavioral interview question when you hear any one of the following three priming phrases:

• “Tell me about a time ...”
• “Describe how you responded when ...”
• “Give me an example of a situation ...”

Of course, there are infinite other permutations, but these three are fairly common. You’ll also find that a lot of behavioral interview questions tend to begin not so much as questions, but as long descriptive statements, with questions suddenly tacked on at the end.

Setting aside the structure of these questions for now, it’s worthwhile to consider behavioral interview questions from the perspective of interviewers and hiring managers. Understanding their goals will help you answer with aplomb.

Why do employers use behavioral interview questions?

Why have they become such a staple for recruiters and hiring managers today?

From a high level, there’s one key thing to realize about behavioral interview questions from the outset: While behavioral interview questions ask about specific behaviors, they’re really a lens through which employers hope to better understand your working style and approach to problem solving.

To make this clearer, consider the following two questions:

• Tell me about a time when you needed to motivate coworkers or peers. What did you do? What was the result?
• Can you give me an example of a situation where you may have made a mistake at work? What were your next steps, and what were the consequences?

In both instances, your job is to take a challenge that was specific to you—the need to motivate peers, the unfortunate slip-up you made—and present the actions that you took within an organizational context of teams, processes, reporting, hierarchy, goals and so on. How you present that story may clarify aspects of your strengths and weaknesses, as well as your priorities around things like risk and accountability, that can be useful for employers when deciding on the best-fit candidate for a given role.

In other words, there really aren’t right or wrong answers here. There are things you’re good at, and things you’re less good at. Behavioral interview questions aim to minimize the latter and maximize the former, in the hope of setting you up for success in the future. However you decide to answer, try your best to emphasize skills and capabilities related to the job that you’re applying for.

How should you answer behavioral interview questions?

Now that we’ve broken down behavioral interview questions in detail, identified their structure and decoded their meaning, it’s time to get to the heart of the matter. Namely, how should you go about answering these questions come interview time?

Four final steps can help you listen and respond to behavioral interview questions with confidence.

1. Prepare three answers

As a baseline, it’s a good idea to have three stories ready to go in the event that you’re asked a behavioral interview question: one about a challenge (and how you overcame it), one about a setback (and what you learned from it) and one about an accomplishment (and what you did to achieve it). Aim to keep your responses in the range of two to five minutes.

2. Practice (and polish) your responses

The more rehearsal time you can put in before your interview, the calmer you’re likely to feel. If possible, pair up with a friend and ask for feedback. Keep practicing until you feel like your delivery is flawless—to the point that it doesn’t seem canned.

3. Be prepared to answer all parts of the question

Your interviewer will likely be interested in the situation, what action you took and the result of that action. So be sure to include all these pieces in your response. And try to present this information chronologically as much as possible (e.g., by carefully outlining the challenge or problem before jumping ahead to the solution).

4. Take your time

These aren’t yes-or-no questions, so you’re going to need to answer at some length, in a structured manner and with relevant details. As long as you’ve prepared ahead of time, that shouldn’t be too hard. But breath control matters more than you might think in these situations—it’s not called being “long-winded” without reason. So give a thoughtful pause before you reply, take a deep breath ... and begin speaking on the exhale. You’re off to a great start already!

Armed with these tips, hopefully, you’re feeling empowered to handle behavioral interview questions with more confidence—which should add to your momentum as you move through the hiring process.