Behavioural Interview Meaning: What is Behaviour Interview
Behavioural interview is a technique that helps the employer or HR assess the candidate’s abilities and determine whether they can meet the job requirements or not based on their experience.
So, it’s more about how they had worked in the past—for instance, instead of giving them a future situation, you’d inquire them about the situations they handled in the past and how.
Table of Content
How Does a Behavioural Interview Differ from a Traditional Interview
| Category | Behavioural Interview | Traditional Interview |
| Definition | Meant for to ask questions that are focused on candidate’s experience. | Meant to gain general knowledge about the candidate and discuss whether they’re the right fit for this role as they ask you questions to know whether you’re the right company/employer for them. |
| Evalutation | Based on candidate’s demonstrated skills. | Based on candidate’s current response during the interview. |
| Predictive success Rate | More successful hires | Formulaic and repetitive |
| Results | More effective | Less effective |
What is the Purpose of Conducting a Behavioural Interview
Here are the top reasons why you should conduct behavioural interviews:
- This is an effective method to hire the best candidate and it can reduce the cost of bad hires, less productivity, and company’s growth in the long run.
- It can help you know what you need to know about the candidates you hire. So that, you can get a better idea of their skills and education.
- It can help you predict the future behaviour of your candidate more effectively and allow you to determine their future performance.
- It enables you to prevent the wrong decisions with logical reasons. For instance, many candidates have the perfect set of qualifications, and they look intelligent, but their performance of skills lack the amount of dedication needed. It helps you know that right off the bat.
What Types of Questions are Commonly Asked in a Behavioural Interview
Here are the different types of questions that you can ask in a behavioural interview:
- Demonstrate if there was a time where you got into a conflict with some of your team member and how did you handle it?
- Give me an example of a time where you made a costly mistake at work. How did you resolve that issue and what did you learn from that mistake?
- Describe how do you used to manage your time at work to complete your tasks?
- Tell us about a time where you failed to perform a task the right way. What did you learn from it and how did you handle the overall situation?
- When did you take a new initiative about your career? What was your major motivation behind doing so? Can you give us some details about how you did it and what steps did you take?
- Tell us about a time when you used your leadership skills to manage your team or motivate them to do something specific? What major changes did you make because of it, if any?
- Tell us about a time when you were assigned a task you had not been trained for. How did you complete that and what measures you took to make sure it goes well. How did it go?
- Tell us about a career goal you had and how did you achieve it?
- Tell us about a time when you had to make a tough decision. What was it and how did you handle the whole situation?
- Tell us your problem-solving process. How do you tackle essential issues at work?
- Share with us a situation where you identified a problem at work and implemented a solution that resulted in positive outcome.
- Describe a project that you did, and it demonstrated your attention to detail. How did you ensure the accuracy of your project?
How Should Candidates Prepare for a Behavioural Interview
Here are some tips for candidates to prepare for a behavioural interview:
- Make a list of all their past experiences and what they learned from it.
- Use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) technique to answer your questions.
- Never hesitate to ask questions to your employer in return.
- Always speak with confidence.
- Make sure you give clear and to the point answer.
- Be wary of your body language.
Conclusion
Behavioural interviews are important for companies.
If your current company doesn’t include them in their overall interview process, as an HR, you should suggest the management to include this technique in their interviews to hire better employees.