*UPDATE* The full list of all 893 Behavioral Interview Questions is Now Available! *****
Hunting for jobs through a few good hints on the questions that’ll get you there.
You read that right!!! Two.. holy-moly… hundred (200!!!) behavioral interview questions.
If these don’t tickle your fancy, then I don’t know what will.
Do these, share these, and feel free to comment!
Job Hunt: Interview: 200 Behavioral Questions: Round # 08
Click Here to Learn How to Answer These Questions and More
| Attibutes | Questions |
| Impact | • Give me some examples of when someone remembered you after only a brief introduction. Why do you think they remembered you? |
| Initiative | • Tell me about your greatest career achievements. Why did you pick those examples? |
| Initiative | • What changes did you develop at your most recent employer? |
| Integrity | • Tell me about a time when you gave the benefit of the doubt to someone and were glad you did. |
| Integrity | • Tell me about a time you saw someone at work stretch or bend the rules beyond what you felt was acceptable. What did you do? Why did you take that action? |
| Interpersonal Skills/Influence | • Give some instances in which you anticipated problems and were able to influence a new direction. |
| Judgment/Problem Solving | • Tell me about one of the most difficult (or one of the best) decisions you made in the last year/six months. What made it so difficult? What process did you use to make the decision? |
| Leadership | • Describe a time you had to make a decision that you knew would be unpopular. |
| Leadership | • Tell me how you have developed trust and loyalty between you and your direct reports. |
| Management | • Tell me about the worst hire you ever made. |
| Management | • Walk me through the process you used to fill the last position you filled. |
| Organizational Awareness | • Give me an example of a time where your understanding of your organization enabled you to get something you needed that, had you lacked the understanding, you probably would not have gotten. |
| Organizational Awareness | • Give me an example of a time you used your political savvy to push something through for approval. |
| Planning & Organizing/Work Management | • Give me a specific example of a time when you did not meet a deadline. How did you handle this? |
| Planning & Organizing/Work Management | • Tell me about one of your best accomplishments, including where the assignment came from, your plans in carrying it out, how you eventually did carry it out, and any obstacles you overcame. |
| Practical Learning | • Tell me about a job that you had that required you to learn new things. |
| Practical Learning | • Tell me about the changes or issues that are being discussed or taking place in your area of expertise. How are these issues or changes affecting the way you do your job? |
| Teamwork/Collaboration | • Describe the most difficult working relationship you’ve had with an individual. What specific actions did you take to improve the relationship? What was the outcome? |
| Teamwork/Collaboration | • Give me an example to convince me that you understand why groups do what they do. |
| Teamwork/Collaboration | • Tell me about a time where your understanding of what a group valued helped you work effectively with them. |
| Teamwork/Collaboration | • Tell me about a time you needed to gain the trust and support of one of your peers in order to be successful on something. |
| Teamwork/Collaboration | • Tell me about a time you worked as a team member on a team that had one or more unproductive members. What did you do? Why did you choose to do that? How did it work out? |
| Technical/Professional Knowledge | • Tell us how you keep your job knowledge current with the on going changes in the industry. |
| Tolerance for Stress/Energy | • Tell me about a time a deadline was moved up on you and how you handled it. Did you accomplish the task on time? How (or why not)? |
| Tolerance for Stress/Energy | • When you have a lot of work to do, how do you get it all done? Give an example? |
| Adaptability | • Describe a time a change effort you were involved in was not as successful as you or the company would have liked. |
| Adaptability | • Describe a time you had to separate the person from the issue when working to resolve differences. |
| Adaptability | • Describe an instance when you had to think on your feet to extricate yourself from a difficult situation. |
| Adaptability | • Tell me about a time you were able to become more comfortable in an environment that you were originally uncomfortable in. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Describe a situation where you had to use conflict management skills. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Have you ever had to settle conflict between two people on the job? What was the situation and what did you do? |
| Communication | • Describe a work situation that required you to really listen to and display compassion for a co-worker/employee who was telling you about a personal or sensitive issue. |
| Communication | • Give me an example of a presentation you did for a small group that resulted in the group agreeing to do what you wanted. |
| Customer Service Orientation | • Give a specific example of a time when you had to address an angry customer. What was the problem and what was the outcome? How would you asses your role in diffusing the situation? |
| Customer Service Orientation | • Give me an example of a situation you handled where even your enemies would have to say that you demonstrated outstanding customer service. |
| Customer Service Orientation | • How do you go about establishing rapport with a customer? What have you done to gain their confidence? Give an example. |
| Information Monitoring | • Tell me about the most difficult time you have had in the last couple of years gathering the information you needed for a task or project. |
| Initiative | • Tell me about a time you found and took advantage of an opportunity to make an improvement in your position or department/team/group. |
| Innovation | • Describe a time when you made a suggestion to improve the work in your organization. |
| Innovation | • Describe the most creative oral presentation you have ever made. |
| Innovation | • Give me an example of a time when you didn’t bend on a policy, procedure, or operation, and later wished you had. |
| Innovation | • Tell me about the last time you thought “outside the box”. (NOTE: Make sure they explain both why and how they did it.) |
| Integrity | • If you can, tell me about a time when your trustworthiness was challenged. How did you react/respond? |
| Integrity | • Tell me about a specific time when you had to handle a tough problem that challenged fairness or ethical issues. |
| Integrity | • Tell me about a time when your trustworthiness was challenged. How did you react/respond? |
| Judgment/Problem Solving | • How quickly do you make decisions? Give an example. |
| Leadership | • Describe a situation when you were able to have a positive influence on the actions of others. |
| Leadership | • Give me an example of how you have celebrated an individual’s or your team’s success in the past. What was the occasion? |
| Leadership | • Have you ever had a subordinate whose work was always marginal? How did you deal with that person? What happened? |
| Management | • Give me an example of a time you had to take disciplinary action with a direct report. |
| Management | • How do you handle a subordinate whose work is not up to expectations? |
| Organizational Awareness | • Give me an example of a time when a company policy or action hurt people. What, if anything, did you do to mitigate the negative consequences to people? |
| Planning & Organizing/Work Management | • Give me an example of an important goal you had to set and how you accomplished that goal. |
| Practical Learning | • Give me an example of a time you took the initiative to find out about a new or upcoming product/service change. |
| Practical Learning | • Tell me about a time where your industry knowledge enabled you to identify a potential problem and develop a strategy to address it. What in your knowledge base enabled you to detect the potential problem? |
| Risk Taking | • What is the riskiest decision you have made? What was the situation? What happened? |
| Teamwork/Collaboration | • Describe for me a time you developed and maintained (or strengthened) a relationship with a person or group inside/outside your organization. Why did you develop the relationship? How did you develop it? What did you do to maintain/strengthen it? |
| Technical/Professional Knowledge | • Describe a time when you applied a new piece of technology to an existing task or project. What benefits resulted from the technological application? How did you determine there would be a benefit? |
| Technical/Professional Knowledge | • Tell me about a time where you prepared a budget larger than any you had ever prepared before. Did you meet the budget? What was the variance? Did the budget need to be altered (if so, how and why)? |
| Tenacity | • Give me an example of a time you made a major sacrifice to achieve an important goal. |
| Tolerance for Stress/Energy | • Describe a time in which you were faced with problems or stresses which tested your coping skills. What did you do? |
| Tolerance for Stress/Energy | • Give me an example of a situation you have faced when the “pressure was on.” What happened? How did you handle it? |
| Tolerance for Stress/Energy | • Tell me about a time when you had to complete a project/task on a strict deadline with little or no direction. |
| Work Standards | • Being successful takes more than luck–it also takes hard work. Tell me about a time when you had to work very hard and make personal sacrifices to help your organization/department/team reach its goals. |
| Work Standards | • Tell me about a time that you willingly took on more work even though you were already busy. How were you able to get everything done? |
| Adaptability | • Tell me about a time you adapted your style in order to work effectively with those who were different from you. |
| Adaptability | • Tell me the steps you have taken to create a work environment where differences are valued, encouraged, and supported. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Describe a problem situation where you had to seek out relevant information, define key issues, and decide on which steps to take to get the desired results. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Give an example of when you “went to the source” to address a conflict. Do you feel trust levels were improved as a result? |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Give me an example of how your understanding of a community issue helped you address a business problem, issue, or concern. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Give me an example when your ability to look at problems and issues from a big picture approach served you well. |
| Communication | • Describe a time you wrote a report that was well received by others. |
| Communication | • Give me an example of a particularly difficult or awkward conversation you needed to have with someone. |
| Communication | • Give me an example of a time when you were able to successfully communicate with another person even when that individual personally may not have liked you. |
| Communication | • Give me an example of a time you failed to keep your boss informed of your actions or progress on a task or project. |
| Communication | • Tell me about a time in which you had to use your written communication skills in order to get an important point across. |
| Communication | • Tell me about a time you failed to communicate effectively with your direct reports/client/customer. How did you find out you had failed to communicate effectively? What was the implication of this failure? What did you do about the situation? What did you learn from this? |
| Communication | • Tell me about the most difficult or complex idea, situation, or process you have ever had to explain to someone. How did you explain it? Were you successful? |
| Communication | • Tell us about a time when you and your current/previous supervisor disagreed but you still found a way to get your point across. |
| Developing Organizational Talent | • Tell me about a time when you were able to provide a direct report with recognition for the work she performed. What did you do? |
| Initiative | • Describe a significant project idea you initiated in the last year. How did you know it was needed? Was it used? How did it work? |
| Initiative | • Give an example of an important goal that you set in the past. Tell about your success in reaching it. |
| Initiative | • Tell us about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done. |
| Initiative | • Tell us about the last time that you undertook a project that demanded a lot of initiative. |
| Integrity | • Tell me about a time when you took responsibility for a mistake before anyone else even knew that you had made a mistake. |
| Integrity | • Tell me about at time when you experienced a loss for doing what is right. |
| Interpersonal Skills/Influence | • Have you ever been in a situation where you had to bargain with someone? How did you feel about this? What did you do? Give an example. |
| Interpersonal Skills/Influence | • Tell me about a time when you gained acceptance of an idea or project from your boss. How did you get this acceptance? |
| Judgment/Problem Solving | • Describe a time when you came up with a creative solution/idea/project/report to a problem in your past work. |
| Judgment/Problem Solving | • Give me an example of a time that you misjudged a person or data. |
| Leadership | • Tell me about a time when you had to convince your team to do something they didn’t want to do. How did you do it? |
| Leadership | • Tell me about a time you found it necessary to tactfully, but forcefully, say things that others did not want to hear. |
| Leadership | • Tell me about a time you gave someone or a group what they needed even though they didn’t yet know it was needed. |
| Management | • How do you deal with people whose work exceeds your expectations? |
| Management | • Tell me about a time you discovered raw talent within your organization and recruited that person. How did it work out? |
| Planning & Organizing/Work Management | • Give me an example of a time when you failed to set clear directions for one of your direct reports or your team. |
| Planning & Organizing/Work Management | • Give me an example of a time when you used a systematic process to define your objectives even though you were not prompted or directed to do so. What type of system did you use? What payoff did you get from using the process? |
| Planning & Organizing/Work Management | • Give me an example of a time you had a lot of tasks put on your plate all at once. How did you decide what tasks to do and when to do them? |
| Planning & Organizing/Work Management | • Tell me about a time when you failed to gather sufficient information before acting. |
| Planning & Organizing/Work Management | • Tell me about the most significant project you have worked on in which it was crucial to keep track of details while still managing the “big picture”. How did you make sure the work got done? How did you keep focused on the overall goal while still managing all of the specific parts? |
| Practical Learning | • Tell me about a time you needed to learn something quickly for a new task or project. How did you go about it? |
| Quality Orientation/Attention to Detail | • Describe a situation where you didn’t pay as close attention to the details as you should have. |
| Quality Orientation/Attention to Detail | • Tell us about a situation where attention to detail was either important or unimportant in accomplishing an assigned task. |
| Tolerance for Stress/Energy | • Give me an example of a time you had to think quickly on your feet to extricate yourself from a difficult situation. |
| Tolerance for Stress/Energy | • Have you ever worked in a situation where the rules and guidelines were not clear? Tell me about it. How did you feel about it? How did you react? |
| Adaptability | • Describe a time when you changed your behavior to fit a specific situation. (NOTE: Make sure you find out, at minimum, what the situation was, what the specific behavior was prior to and after the change, why the behavior change was made, and whether the behavior change was appropriate in retrospect.) |
| Adaptability | • Give me an example of a time when your values and beliefs impacted your relationship with a peer, co-worker, supervisor, or customer. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Tell me about a situation where the analysis that you performed was incorrect. If you had to do it over again, what would you do differently? |
| Communication | • Describe a situation in which you were able to effectively “read” another person and guide your actions by your understanding of their individual needs or values. |
| Communication | • Describe a situation in which you were able to effectively “read” another person and guide your actions by your understanding of their needs and values. |
| Communication | • Give me an example of a time you used written communication to share information that, in hindsight, you realize should have been shared verbally. |
| Communication | • Have you ever had to introduce a policy change to your work group? How did you do it? |
| Communication | • Tell me about a situation when you had to speak up (be assertive) in order to get a point across that was important to you. |
| Customer Service Orientation | • Describe a time you were not able to deliver a product or service to your customer on time. |
| Developing Organizational Talent | • Tell me about a time where you were not as effective as you would have liked to have been in managing an employee’s or a team’s work. |
| Initiative | • Describe a time where you took the initiative to act rather than waiting to be told what to do. |
| Initiative | • How did you get work assignments at your most recent employer? |
| Innovation | • Creativity often means stepping back from standard ways of thinking. Give me an example of a time when you were able to break out of a structured mindset and explore new or different concepts and ideas. |
| Innovation | • Sometimes it is essential that we break out of the routine, standardized way of doing things in order to complete the task. Give an example of when you were able to successfully develop such a new approach. |
| Interpersonal Skills/Influence | • Describe a situation where you were able to use persuasion to successfully convince someone to see things your way. |
| Interpersonal Skills/Influence | • Give me an example of a time when, because you failed to detect a person’s feelings or concerns, you–at least initially–mishandled the situation. |
| Judgment/Problem Solving | • Describe a time when you had to make a decision that you knew would be unpopular. |
| Judgment/Problem Solving | • Give an example of a time when there was a decision to be made and procedures were not in place? |
| Leadership | • Give me an example of a time where you were able to propose a variety of future scenarios to ensure that the proper course of action was taken. |
| Leadership | • Give me an example of a time you needed to give constructive feedback to one of your peers or someone higher in the organization about his behavior. |
| Leadership | • Tell me about a time you were highly motivated and your example inspired others. |
| Management | • How do you get subordinates to produce at a high level? Give an example. |
| Management | • Tell me about a confrontation you’ve had with a direct report. |
| Management | • Tell us about a situation in which you had to separate the person from the issue when working to resolve issues. |
| Management | • What is the toughest group that you have had to get cooperation from? Describe how you handled it. What was the outcome? |
| Organizational Awareness | • Give me an example of a time when, if you had taken more time to understand how your organization worked, you might have been more successful. |
| Organizational Awareness | • Give me some examples of how people in other parts of the organization use your department or group as a resource. |
| Organizational Awareness | • Tell me about the organizational climate at your current (or most recent) employer and give me an example of how that climate made it difficult for you to successfully accomplish a goal or project. |
| Planning & Organizing/Work Management | • Describe a time when you set a goal for yourself and did not achieve it because it was too high. What was the standard? Why was it too high? What were the ramifications of your failure to achieve this goal? |
| Planning & Organizing/Work Management | • Describe how you have improved the organization of a system, process, or task in your current position. |
| Planning & Organizing/Work Management | • Give me an example of a stretch goal you set for a direct report. Why was this a stretch goal? Was the direct report able to accomplish the goal? What did you do to contribute to her success? |
| Planning & Organizing/Work Management | • Tell me about a time you had to complete multiple tasks/projects in a tight timeframe. |
| Practical Learning | • Tell me about your greatest success in using logic to solve a (technical/functional/job skill) problem. Why do you think you were successful? |
| Risk Taking | • Tell me about a time when you created a new process or program that was considered risky. What was the situation and what did you do? |
| Teamwork/Collaboration | • Give me an example of a time when you were less successful as a team leader than you would like to have been. |
| Teamwork/Collaboration | • We’ve all been part of a work team or project team where there is one person who just rubs us the wrong way. Tell me about a time this happened to you. What did you do? |
| Tenacity | • Tell me about a time you encountered significant resistance or a major setback on a project you were working on, but managed to work through it anyway. |
| Tolerance for Stress/Energy | • Give me an example of a time you had to juggle a number of projects and priorities. What were they? How did you manage to juggle them? |
| Tolerance for Stress/Energy | • Tell me about a time you did not handle a stressful situation well. |
| Work Standards | • Tell me about an important goal that you set in the past. Were you successful? Why? |
| Adaptability | • Describe a time when you were instructed to modify or change your actions to respond to the needs of another person. Do you feel that the demand was fair? Why or why not? |
| Adaptability | • When was the last time something came up in a meeting that was not covered in the plan? What did you do? What were the results of your judgment? |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Sometimes even though we study the data from all sides, we make errors in interpretation of the data. Tell me about a time that happened to you. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Tell me about a difficult problem you solved that had a significant positive impact on all or part of the organization. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Tell me about a time when you felt that a coworker or manager made you look bad. |
| Coaching | • Give me an example of a time when you had to talk to a direct report about his/her performance and were able to turn that employee around. |
| Communication | • Describe a time when you went out of your way to put someone at ease. |
| Communication | • Describe the most significant or creative written presentation you had to complete. |
| Communication | • Give me an example of a time where, in retrospect, if you had used your sense of humor, something at work would most likely have worked out better. |
| Communication | • Tell me about a time when you used your written communication skills to convey an important message. |
| Communication | • Tell me about a time when your failure to show compassion to someone at work was a costly oversight on your part. |
| Communication | • When you disagree with your manager, what do you do? Give an example. |
| Developing Organizational Talent | • Give me an example of a time you helped one of your direct reports develop or improve his (communication, negotiation, sales, etc.) skills. How did you determine that this was a developmental need? |
| Developing Organizational Talent | • Tell me about a time you needed to implement a new (or significantly raise an existing) performance standard for your team. What was the standard? Why did you need to raise it? How did you communicate the change? How did the affected employees respond when they were told? Were people able to meet the new performance standard? If not, why not? |
| Information Monitoring | • Give an example of a time where, because you didn’t have enough information, you felt it was wise not to voice your opinion on something. |
| Information Monitoring | • Tell me about a situation where, because you had a strong network, you were able to gather information that others were not able to secure. |
| Initiative | • Describe a situation when you demonstrated initiative and took action without waiting for direction. What was the outcome? |
| Initiative | • Give me an example of a time you went above or beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done. |
| Initiative | • Tell me about a time you felt “off track” in your career progress. |
| Integrity | • At times we are all faced with the situation of having to tell a customer, employee, boss, or someone else “No” because we don’t believe that “Yes” would be the right answer–even though it would be the easy answer. Tell me about a time you faced this kind of situation. |
| Integrity | • Give me an example of a time you had to present difficult information to someone, but were able to do it in a positive and helpful manner. |
| Integrity | • Tell us about a time when you took responsibility for an error and were held personally accountable. |
| Interpersonal Skills/Influence | • Give me an example of a time you were unhappy with the results of a negotiation you were involved in. |
| Judgment/Problem Solving | • Give me an example of a difficult decision that you made where there were no supporting facts to guide you either way. |
| Judgment/Problem Solving | • Give me some examples of the kinds of things you have talked to your boss about rather than handling them yourself. |
| Leadership | • Describe a time where, had you been able to predict a business/industry occurrence, you would have been able to make adjustments so that your company/department/team did not suffer from it. |
| Leadership | • Give me an example of when your staff reached a goal because they willingly followed your suggestions. |
| Leadership | • Tell me about a time that you sensed that something was wrong with one of your direct reports and talked to him about it. What was the result? |
| Management | • Tell us about a time when you had to inform a direct report that you were dissatisfied with his or her work. |
| Planning & Organizing/Work Management | • How do you decide what gets top priority when scheduling your time? |
| Planning & Organizing/Work Management | • Tell me about at time when you had too many things to do and you were required to prioritize your tasks. |
| Planning & Organizing/Work Management | • Tell me about the process you used to set goals for your department and your direct reports last year. |
| Practical Learning | • Tell me how you keep abreast of the professional/technical aspects of your position. |
| Teamwork/Collaboration | • Tell me about a time you needed to lead an intact project or ad hoc team toward a goal that you, personally, did not completely support or believe in. |
| Technical/Professional Knowledge | • Give me an example of a time when you picked up on a business or industry trend or change and made appropriate changes within your company/department/team to respond to or take advantage of the opportunity. |
| Technical/Professional Knowledge | • Give me an example of a time when you were responsible for selecting a new or improved technology. |
| Technical/Professional Knowledge | • Tell me about a time when you took a complicated, technical process and explained it to people who were not familiar with the process. |
| Tolerance for Stress/Energy | • Give an example of a time in which you had to be relatively quick in coming to a decision. |
| Tolerance for Stress/Energy | • It is important to maintain a positive attitude at work when you have other things on your mind. Give a specific example of when you were able to do that. |
| Work Standards | • Give me an example of a time you had to work on a project/task that you were absolutely dreading. |
| Adaptability | • Problems occur in almost all work relationships. Describe a time when you had to cope with the resentment or hostility of a subordinate or co-worker. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Describe a time when you were able to anticipate a land mine and plan your upcoming actions accordingly. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Describe a time where your logical analysis was seen as illogical or flawed by someone else. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Describe a time you failed to anticipate a potential problem and develop preventative measures. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Give me an example of a difficult problem someone recently needed your help to solve. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Give me an example of a time where you felt that a process was getting in your way of getting something done. |
| Analysis/Problem Assessment | • Tell me about a time you helped resolve a group problem. What caused the problem? |
| Communication | • Describe a time when an employee came to you with a personal pain he was experiencing. |
| Communication | • Give me an example of a time when your ability to employ a sense of humor made you more successful than if you had not used it. |
| Communication | • Give me an example of a time you had to be excellent at multidirectional communication in order to be successful at something. |
| Communication | • Give me an example of a time you were particularly perceptive regarding a person’s or group’s feelings and needs. |
| Communication | • Tell me about a disagreement that you found difficult to handle. Why was it difficult? What did you do? How did it work out? |
| Delegation of Authority & Responsibility | • Give me an example of a major project or task you delegated to one of your employees. How did you monitor the project or task? |
| Delegation of Authority & Responsibility | • Tell me about a time you encouraged a direct report to make decisions within his area of responsibility that worked out better than you expected. |
| Developing Organizational Talent | • Tell us about a time when a job had to be completed and you were able to focus your attention and efforts to get it done. |
Thanks for reading this far!!! Hope it helps!
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