Behavioral questions help companies determine if the candidate’s personality, motivations, and past experience are relevant to the role and company’s culture.

They are important questions and should not be ignored. Even the most skilled programmers have been rejected because of poor preparation for behavioral questions.

How do you know if the interview will be behavioral?

• If the person you will talk to is a recruiter, then it will most likely be a behavioral interview. This usually happens at career fairs or during the first round interviews.
• They are sometimes referred to as “15-minute chats” by recruiters.

Tips

• Go to Glassdoor.com and look for real interview questions from X Company
• Navigate through X Company’s website
• Read about them!
• Look for current news and come up with questions
• Study the preparation grid

Preparation Grid

The following Preparation Grid was taken from the book “Cracking the Coding Interview”.

Go through your resume and make sure you know everything about each project/job listed.

Use this grid to come up with different personal stories. You should know these stories by heart at the time of your interview.

Before the Interview

There are several things you should know about a company before your interview. A good tip is to print out a page containing the following information:

Make sure you have a grasp of all of these things before the interview.

Sample Questions

• Tell me about yourself
• Which was your preferred class at university?
• What are your strengths?
• What are your weaknesses?
• Which of your skills and experiences make you appropriate for this job?
• What motivates you in life?
• Why Company X?
• What makes Company X different from its competitors?
• Why do you want to work for this division of Company X?
• Why do you want this job at Company X?
• Have you ever had any issues with work/life balance?
• What skills do you think are required to do this job?
• Can you talk about a mistake you made in the past, and how you overcame it?
• Who is the most famous and influential person you would like to meet and why?
• Can you talk about a challenge you faced in the past? How did you overcome it?
• Can you talk through a time you worked with a coworker? How did you build that relationship?
• Can you tell me a time when you failed to meet a deadline?
• What’s more important- deadlines, or the quality of work?
• Can you tell us about an episode where you were short of time for delivering a large project? How did you overcome that?
• Can you give an example of a time you streamlined a process?
• Talk to me about your previous jobs.
• Which role do you usually play in a team?
• What would your teammates say about working with you?
• Why would your teammates choose to work with someone else instead of you?
• Would you rather be captain of a losing team or the regular member of a winning team?
• Why did you choose your college/university? Why did you choose that subject?
• Give an example of a time you acted as a leader.
• Describe a time when you worked in a team where there were disagreements.
• Describe a time you research a subject of interest to you. How did you go about that?
• Would you say you’re a perfectionist?
• What’s been the most important experience of your career? Why?
• Can you talk us through a time when you had to decline a client’s request? How did you approach that?
• Your friend is cheating on a test. He’s on his last warning. You’re the only one who knows he’s cheating. What do you do? Tell me about a time a project of you failed.
• Give an example of a goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it.
• Tell me about a time you had a disagreement on a team.
• Tell me about your proudest professional accomplishment.

For 30 more behavioral questions, click here.

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