Job interview behaviour questions

The idea behind this type of question is that past behavior is usually the best predictor of future performance, so future success is a given conclusion. One of the reasons that companies use behavioral questions in their behavioral interviews is that past behavior in an interview is usually interpreted accurately by a human resources manager.

Job interview questions

Some of the more common behavioral questions for a job interview include;

• Have you had any…

• What exactly happened?

• Describe a situation where…

• Describe how you reacted or dealt with a particular problem.

• What is your ideal customer…

These questions are designed to get into the mindset of a potential employee. It is important to remember that behavioral interview questions do not always lead to hiring the perfect employee. Sometimes it’s more about finding out if a particular candidate fits the job description and personality.

You can also make use of behavioural questions when screening a candidate. Using a list of interview questions that address common job-related challenges, you can get a sense of a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses in a particular area. If a candidate tends to “make up” answers to difficult questions or seems uncomfortable sharing their key strengths and weaknesses, you may not want to bring them into the office. On the other hand, if the candidate regularly “picks the brains” of other team members and shows entrepreneurial spirit, he/she may be an interesting candidate to work with.

The main advantage of behavioral questions is that they require a minimal amount of information to determine if a person is a good fit for your organization. As soon as you notice that a person does not communicate well, expresses frustration with routine tasks, has difficulty working with others, is overly time-pressed or has difficulty working independently, you can usually determine whether he or she would be a good employee.

The main disadvantage of using behavioural interview questions is that they do not give you enough information to determine whether the candidate is really suitable for the job. Although some of the questions may reveal personality traits that you would not otherwise discover, the answers may not tell you everything about a person’s thought process or decision-making process. The interviewer can’t know without asking the candidate a series of behavioural questions. It is possible that the candidate has just thought about the behavioural question and has not really answered it in the way you would like. Using other methods to determine if a person is a good fit for your organization and the job requires further interviewing, and is the only way to determine if behavioral interviewing is a good fit for you.