Organisation

1. How do you stay organised?

2. How do you determine priorities?
3. How do you manage competing demands?

Communication

1. Tell us about a time when a miscommunication created an error at work. What happened, and what
did you contribute to the solution?
2. Describe when you effectively communicated unpleasant news or a difficult idea.
3. How do you respond to constructive feedback?

Decision-making

1. Tell us about a time when you had to decide quickly. What happened?
2. What steps do you take to ensure your decisions are effective?
3. What was a difficult decision you had to make in the last year? What made it difficult?

Initiative

1. Tell us about a time when you identified a problem and how you came up with the solution.
2. How did you go beyond the expectations or requirements of your previous role?
3. Did you ever find a better way to complete a task? What did you do?

Personal and interpersonal

1. Tell me about a time when you felt under pressure. How did you cope with that situation?
2. Has one of your previous roles ever shifted significantly? How did you handle it when your
responsibilities changed?
3. Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a manager's decision. How did you communicate with
your supervisor?

Remote work

1. How do you develop and maintain your schedule while working remotely?
2. What communication tools do you rely on to stay in touch with team members across multiple time
zones?
3. What was a time when you didn’t know how to do something? How did you seek out the proper
information to complete your task?

Managerial and leadership

1. How do you delegate tasks and priorities to your team members?

2. What do you do if a direct report continually underperforms? What steps would you take to improve
their performance?
3. What kind of leadership inspires you most? Why?

A job interview is an opportunity to share more about your unique skills and experiences. Beyond
answering common interview questions about the role and how you’d fit it, you’ll also likely
answer behavioural interview questions, which potential employers ask to learn more about you.

Behavioural interview questions explore your past work experiences so recruiters, hiring managers,
and search committees can learn more about your personality, performance, technical skills,
workplace skills, and strengths. Behavioural interview questions also help potential employers discover
important details, such as how you work with others, how efficiently you communicate, and how you
handle difficult situations.

This article reviews common behavioural interview questions, what employers want to know when
asking each type, and how you can best formulate your response.
21 common behavioural interview questions

In addition to the sample questions below, you’ll also find highlights about what employers typically
want to know when asking each question and helpful details you can incorporate into your answer.

Organisation

1. How do you stay organised?

2. How do you determine priorities?
3. How do you manage competing demands?

What they’re really asking: What kind of management style do you need? Can you work
autonomously, or do you need a lot of structure and direction?

What your answer can feature: Tools. Beyond sharing past examples about how you’ve stayed
organised or reprioritised your work, mention any tools you use to accomplish those tasks and stay on
top of things. This will help show employers more about your technical abilities and know-how.

Communication

1. Tell us about a time when a miscommunication created an error at work. What happened, and what
did you contribute to the solution?
2. Describe when you effectively communicated unpleasant news or a difficult idea.
3. How do you respond to constructive feedback?

What they’re really asking: How do you communicate with others? How will you interact with your
team members?
 What your answer can feature: Clarity. Behavioural interview questions about communication allow
you to show off your skills rather than recount them. It helps to be clear and direct as you respond
because both are valued aspects of communication.

Decision-making

1. Tell us about a time when you had to decide quickly. What happened?
2. What steps do you take to ensure your decisions are effective?
3. What was a difficult decision you had to make in the last year? What made it difficult?

What they’re really asking: Can you think critically? Do you have problem-solving experience?

What your answer can feature: Process. Talk about your decision-making process as much as the
actual decisions you made. This will allow you to show off your critical thinking skills—a key
transferable skill in the workplace.

Initiative

1. Tell us about a time when you identified a problem and how you came up with the solution.
2. How did you go beyond the expectations or requirements of your previous role?
3. Did you ever find a better way to complete a task? What did you do?

What they’re really asking: Are you a self-starter? In what type of situation do you feel comfortable
taking the lead?

What your answer can feature: Impact. Pick examples that emphasise an impact you had—even a
small one—as a result of taking initiative. You want to help a potential employer connect your
motivation with quantifiable results. As much as possible, draw on specific data to highlight your
accomplishments.

Personal and interpersonal

1. Tell me about a time when you felt under pressure. How did you cope with that situation?
2. Has one of your previous roles ever shifted significantly? How did you handle it when your
responsibilities changed?
3. Tell me about a time when you disagreed with a manager's decision. How did you communicate with
your supervisor?

What they’re really asking: Do you work well with others? How do you handle more difficult
situations?

What your answer can feature: Solutions. You inevitably need to frame the problem when discussing
previous conflicts or stressful situations. But your story shouldn’t stop there—share any solutions you
identified, the benefits that resulted, and what you learned from the situation.

Remote work

1. How do you develop and maintain your schedule while working remotely?
2. What communication tools do you rely on to stay in touch with team members across multiple time
zones?
3. What was a time when you didn’t know how to do something? How did you seek out the proper
information to complete your task?

What they’re really asking: Can we trust you to do the work without close supervision?

What your answer can feature: Relevant knowledge. If you’ve worked remotely, explain what you did
to make things run smoothly. If you haven’t worked remotely, research common tools that remote
companies use (like Slack and Zoom) so that you can provide specific examples of what you would do.
It also doesn’t hurt to ask what tools the company has to ensure employee success.

Managerial and leadership

1. How do you delegate tasks and priorities to your team members?

2. What do you do if a direct report continually underperforms? What steps would you take to improve
their performance?
3. What kind of leadership inspires you most? Why?

What they’re really asking: What kind of leader are you? How do you manage team members? How
will you keep things operating smoothly?

What your answer can feature: Innovation. Share how you’ve approached management and
leadership with an innovative, flexible attitude where possible. Joining a new company in a
management role can often mean learning how to adapt to new processes while bringing many of your
ideas to the table.
Tips for answering behavioural interview questions

Practice doesn’t always make perfect, but it can help you feel more comfortable and confident when
you interview. Practice answering the questions above on your own, or ask a friend or family member
to play the role of interviewer. Working with a partner to prepare can help you practice other
important elements, like eye contact and facial expressions.

Here are some additional tips to help you develop responses that show your strengths, personality,
and character.

Take your time. You don’t have to jump to an answer as soon as you hear the question. It’s acceptable
to pause, but doing so may signal your confidence to employers. Take a breath, gather your thoughts,
and begin answering. And if you need more information or context, ask for clarification.

Use the STAR method. The STAR method stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result. It’s a formula worth
memorising because it can help structure your responses to behavioural interview questions.
 Situation: Start by establishing the situation and sharing any important details.
 Task: Recount your specific task or responsibility.
 Action: Describe, step-by-step, what you did to address the task or responsibility.
 Result: End with the impact of your actions.
Expand on your resume. Recruiters appreciate it when you can quantify your work on a resume,
sharing what you achieved and how much. For example, instead of saying that you managed three
people, you should explain what your team achieved under your management.

Enter an interview knowing a few of those details. Don’t assume a potential employer will remember
everything you listed on your resume. Answering behavioural interview questions is a chance to
reiterate some of what you shared in that document while expanding on it.