What are behavioural interview questions?

Behavioural interview questions can help predict a candidate’s future performance by looking at their past behaviour. They can revolve around interpersonal matters, leadership attributes or how a person acts under pressure. These questions are more specific than standard interview questions, which may not reveal a candidate’s core skills, such as problem-solving and resilience.
Related: Skill-Based Hiring vs Degree-Based: Explanation and Pros and Cons

15 top behavioural interview questions

To support your hiring process, here are 15 top behavioural interview questions you can use when hiring your next employee:

1. Tell me about a mistake you made at work. What happened to cause the error, and what did you do afterward?

   This question can help you identify candidates who handle mistakes gracefully, which can be valuable traits in an employee. When you evaluate their response, consider the level of responsibility they took for their actions, what they learned, and how proactively they prevented similar mistakes from happening again.

2. What is the last new skill you learned, and how did you do it?

   Employees who continue learning and growing can provide your business with increasing value. This question can allow candidates to explain their process for learning and development and whether they value learning as a part of their professional experience. You can also compare their answer to your company’s training procedures to help determine whether they will be a good fit.

3. How do you approach conflict in the workplace? Share an example of a conflict you handled well and explain its success.

   Ask about workplace conflict to understand the candidate’s communication style and stress management strategy. When they share a specific example of a conflict they resolved successfully, you can also note their interpersonal skills and professionalism when discussing those with whom they have experienced tension or conflict.

   Related: Strategic Interview Questions to Ask Candidates

4. What steps do you take to manage workplace stress?

   Some workplace environments involve an average amount of stress, and hiring employees with good coping skills is advantageous. This question can help you determine if a candidate has strategies to manage stress and how they think about stressful circumstances at work. You can also compare their response with any stress-management tools available to your employees.

5. Tell me about your most significant professional achievement to date. How did you accomplish that goal?

   Asking candidates about their accomplishments and how they achieved them can give you insight into the types of work they are proud of and their ability to make a plan and follow through with it. This question can also provide candidates an opportunity to share their accomplishments.

6. Explain a challenge you’ve faced at work or in your life. How did you overcome that challenge?

   This question can help you determine how readily a candidate uses obstacles or challenges as a basis for opportunity and growth. Those who think of problems as challenges or puzzles to solve might demonstrate greater tenacity and resilience in pressing circumstances. This mindset may be valuable for your business, especially if the role they are interviewing for requires quick thinking and problem-solving.

7. What is your approach to solving complicated problems? What’s an example of a time when you used your skills to resolve a complex issue?

   Most employees need critical thinking and problem-solving skills to succeed in the workplace. This question allows candidates to explain the process they use to solve problems. You can use that information to determine whether their process suits the challenges you often face in your business.

8. How do you communicate with management and supervisors? For example, when was the last time you successfully shared an idea with a leader in your current role?

   Practical communication skills are an essential part of almost any role. Asking this question can help you determine how a candidate interacts with supervisors and can reveal their attitude and responsiveness toward taking direction. This question can also give you a sense of a candidate’s persuasiveness and rhetorical ability.

9. Are there any professional decisions you would change if given the opportunity? Explain.

   This question allows candidates to reflect on their choices and explain ways they’ve learned from them. Learning from failure can be an important part of success, and knowing if and how a candidate learns from failure may provide the information you need in your hiring process.

10. Explain the process you used to set and achieve a goal in your career.

    Making a plan and following through can help candidates succeed in most roles. Asking this question provides interviewees a chance to explain their own decision-making process. It can also show you the kinds of goals and accomplishments they find important.

11. Tell me about a successful presentation you’ve delivered. What process did you use to succeed?

    This question can help you understand the process a candidate uses for planning projects and collaborating with others. It can also give you a sense of their public speaking and communication skills.

12. What is the most meaningful part of your current role?

    This question can help you understand what motivates and inspires a candidate. You can use their response to determine whether their priorities align with your company’s mission.

13. How do you handle repetitive tasks at work?

    Some roles require a commitment to complete repetitive tasks. This question can help you decide whether a candidate is a good fit for this type of job. It can also help you understand a candidate’s overall attitude toward completing tasks in the workplace.

14. How do you motivate others around you?

    This question can reveal a candidate’s leadership potential. Asking how candidates motivate their teammates can also show how they approach teamwork and collaboration. You want to ensure the candidate is an excellent cultural addition to your business, and teamwork is essential.

15. Explain an unpopular decision you made at work and how you handled it.

    Asking this question allows candidates to convey their confidence with others in the work environment. Their response can also show you their level of professionalism in communicating about challenging experiences.

Related: Interview Questions and Answers

Behavioural interview tips

To create a successful interview process, try following these additional tips:

1. Stay flexible. If a detail comes up in an interview that seems relevant, remember to ask follow-up questions to clarify a candidate’s thought process. Notice and respond to points of particular interest to the role you’re interviewing for and your priorities as an employer.
2. Ask consistent questions. Asking every candidate the same questions provides an even basis for comparison, which can help you make the most reasonable hiring decision.
3. Ask open-ended questions. Questions that have a “yes” or “no” answer may provide less information than questions that include words like “how” and “why.” For example, instead of asking, “Have you ever experienced conflict at work?” ask, “Tell me about a time when you experienced conflict at work. How did you overcome it?”

Related: Beyond the Gut Reaction: How Social Intelligence Leads to Better Interviews

Frequently asked questions on behavioural interviews

What are the benefits of behavioural questions?

Here are five top benefits of behavioural interviews:

• A great way of getting to know the candidate on a personal level
• Standardization of the interview process
• Ability to customize the interview based on the response
• Promotes discussion and information sharing
• Generates insights that are not present in the resume

Related: Interview Scoring Sheets: Rating Candidates

What do behavioural questions reveal?

Behavioural interview questions and answers look at how a candidate handled past situations in different professional settings to help determine how they may behave in the future.

Related: 15 Situational Interview Questions to Ask Candidates

When conducting a behavioural interview, offer follow-up questions and encourage the candidate to give specific details about the situations they are describing. Continue to ask what they learned from the various situations to help establish a pattern of behaviour. By asking behaviour questions, you can help determine whether the candidate will be a good fit for your organization.

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