Behavioral interviewing is a technique to learn about the job candidate’s past behavior in specific situations. Why? Past behavior in a specific situation is a better predictor of future behavior than questions about a hypothetical future situation.


  1. What was the last project you headed up, and what was its outcome?
  2. Give me an example of a time that you felt you went above and beyond the call of duty at work.
  3. Can you describe a time when your work was criticized?
  4. Have you ever been on a team where someone was not pulling their own weight? How did you handle it?
  5. Tell me about a time when you had to give someone difficult feedback. How did you handle it?
  6. Tell me about a work incident in which you were totally honest, despite a potential risk or downside.
  7. What is your greatest failure, and what did you learn from it?
  8. What irritates you about other people, and how do you deal with it?
  9. Which do you prefer: flex time or a specific time when everyone should be at the office—and why?
  10. If I were your supervisor and asked you to do something that you disagreed with, what would you do?
  11. What was the most difficult period in your life, and how did you deal with it?
  12. Give me an example of a time you did something wrong. How did you handle it?
  13. Have you ever led a team where a personal crisis like an illness or death of a loved one caused a team member to be gone for an extended period of time? How did it impact the project and how did you relate to the team member when he or she returned?
  14. What irritates you about other people, and how do you deal with it?
  15. Tell me about a time where you had to deal with conflict on the job.
  16. If you were at a business lunch and you ordered a rare steak and they brought it to you well done, what would you do?
  17. If you found out your company was doing something against the law, like fraud, what would you do?
  18. What assignment was too difficult for you, and how did you resolve the issue?
  19. What’s the most difficult decision you’ve made in the last two years and how did you come to that decision?
  20. Describe how you would handle a situation if you were required to finish multiple tasks by the end of the day, and there was no conceivable way that you could finish them.

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