More and more, employers are shifting from the traditional interview to a more behavioral-based format.\u00a0 Today I\u2019ll explore behavioral and situational questions.\u00a0 I\u2019ll define them, let you know why they\u2019re being asked, list several examples, and finally offer some tips for handling them effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People often confuse these two types of questions, but they actually have different definitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With behavioral questions, the interviewer is asking you to share a time when something happened and how you dealt with it.\u00a0 This makes sense, since how you behaved in the past is a pretty fair indicator of how you\u2019d handle the situation in the future.\u00a0 If employers have already identified the types of behavior they seek in a future employee, why not get right to the point of understanding your past behavior?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With situational questions, the interviewer provides a hypothetical scenario, then asks what you\u2019d do in that situation.\u00a0 They want to understand your problem solving thought process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reason candidates often use the two terms interchangeably lies in the fact that we try to answer them in the same way \u2013 ideally by sharing our past experiences (behavioral) even if the question posed was a hypothetical one (situational).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some examples of behavioral questions might include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tell me about time when you overcame a challenge\u2026 about a time you reached a goal\u2026 about how you worked as part of a team\u2026 about how you\u2019ve handled conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So how should you answer behavioral questions?\u00a0 Remember, they\u2019re asking you to recall a time when\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Think of S.A.R. \u2013 scenario\/situation, actions, results.\u00a0 Briefly describe the problem or challenge.\u00a0 Outline the steps you undertook to address the problem.\u00a0 Lastly, let them know how things turned out, ideally quantifying your answer with dollar amounts, percentages, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some examples of situational questions might include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What would you do if you were given an assignment and you knew there\u2019d be no way you could get it done on time?\u00a0 What would you do if you saw another employee stealing or otherwise violating company policy?\u00a0 How would you respond to criticism you felt was unwarranted?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How should you answer situational questions?\u00a0 Remember, they\u2019re providing a hypothetical and asking how you\u2019d deal with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019ve actually encountered their hypothetical scenario in your past, then answer the same as you would when addressing a behavioral question.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t encountered their scenario, then let them know you don\u2019t recall having dealt with that exact situation, but relay a S.A.R. from something similar.\u00a0 If you have nothing similar with which to compare it, then talk about how you\u2019d envision addressing the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many employers still conduct traditional interviews where the focus in on standard questions like your strengths\/weaknesses, goals, describing your past jobs and why you left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet for those behavioral interviews, you\u2019ll also need to be prepared.\u00a0 I hope today has given you a bit of a game plan on how to handle them with more confidence.\u00a0 Good luck!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ore and more, employers are shifting from the traditional interview to a more behavioral-based format. Today I\u2019ll explore behavioral and situational questions. I\u2019ll define them, let you know why they\u2019re being asked, list several examples, and finally offer some tips for handling them effectively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-774809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-career-and-financial-advice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":778490,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774809\/revisions\/778490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodwill.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}