Behavioral Interviews

If an interviewer starts a question with ‘Tell me about a time when…’ or ‘Give me an example of a situation when...’, a little bell should go off in your head to alert you that a behavioral question is coming! Behavioral questions are some of the most common interview questions, based on the principle that the best way to predict future behavior is by understanding past behavior. These types of questions evaluate your skills, abilities and personality in relation to the position you’re interviewing for. Follow these tips for success:

Knowing what skills employers are looking for, anticipate the types of questions that will be asked. Start to build and plan answers in advance.

Highlight a variety of experience areas: jobs / internships, coursework, volunteer work and activities. Demonstrate that you’re a well-rounded candidate.

Even if faced with a question about a challenging situation or difficult colleague, avoid speaking negatively. Present the situation as a learning opportunity.

Quantitative and analytical skills

Technical skills

Problem-solving skills

Verbal and communication skills

Demonstrated leadership experience

Ability to work well within a team setting and independently

Organizational, multi-tasking and prioritization skills

Strong attention to detail

Build concise, thorough responses to behavioral questions. See page 58 for an explanation and example of the STAR framework.

▪ Tell me about a project or assignment that required you to analyze a large amount of information and develop conclusions.

▪ Tell me about a project or assignment that required you to use Trading Room resources and/or advanced features of Excel.

▪ Describe a time when you anticipated potential problems and developed preventative measures.

▪ Describe a time when you had to persuade someone else to see your point of view.

▪ Discuss ways you have coached or mentored others or helped others to accomplish their goals.

▪ Give me an example of a time when you faced a conflict while working on a team. How did you handle that?

▪ Describe a time when you had a heavy workload and competing deadlines. How did you set priorities?

▪ Tell me about how you check your work for quality and accuracy, especially when you must meet tight deadlines.

The STAR framework provides a concise, thorough framework for organizing responses to behavioral interview questions. Describing specific experiences adds credibility to responses about your skills and qualifications. Begin by analyzing themes within the job description to identify what the employer is looking for. Also, consider what you have learned from your own research and informational interviews. Then reflect on your experiences to identify situations when you demonstrated the skills, qualities, and knowledge required for the position. Draw from a variety of experiences to showcase that you are a well-rounded candidate.

SITUATION Set the scene and give the necessary details of your example.

TASK Describe what your responsibility was in that situation.

ACTION Explain exactly what steps you took to address it.

RESULT Share what outcomes your actions achieved.

REFLECT Take your answer a step further. Describe what you learned from the situation. Is there anything you might do differently in the future if you encountered a similar situation?

SITUATION: This past summer, I worked as a bank teller in York, ME. One day, an older couple came in very upset that they hadn’t received their monthly statement in the mail.

TASK: As a front-line employee at the bank, I knew it was important to listen carefully to their needs and reassure them I would do everything possible to resolve their issue.

ACTION: I started by apologizing for the frustration this issue caused and printed a hard copy of their latest statement. Next, I identified that they had recently been switched to e-statements rather than paper statements, so I re-confirmed their interest in receiving monthly paper statements and updated their settings in our system. Finally, I communicated the issue and resolution to them and ensured them I would share the issue with my supervisor to proactively correct other customers this may have impacted.

RESULT: As a result, this couple left with a paper copy of their statement and will receive copies in the mail each month moving forward. They thanked me for my assistance and left the bank much happier than when they arrived. By working with my supervisor, we discovered that a customer with the same last name requested estatements, but the change was made to the wrong customer account. So, we were also able to change the correct customer’s status to e-statements and proactively prevent a second issue.

REFLECT: This situation reinforced for me the importance of actively listening to customers and always communicating professionally. It also demonstrated the importance of getting to the root cause of an issue and correcting that, instead of just solving the immediate problem. I think these are valuable lessons that will benefit me in my next role.