Behavior Based Interviewing
Interview Guidelines
What is Behavior Based Interviewing?
Behavior based interviewing focuses on experiences, behaviors, knowledge, skills and abilities that are
related to the job at hand. Founded on the premise that past behavior is the best predictor of future
performance, behavior based interviews are far more probing than traditional interviews, and as a result, are
much better for determining a candidate’s potential success. The goal of a behavior based interview is to
have the candidate describe specific life experiences that can be used to rate the presence or absence of the
skills required to perform the job.
Process:
1) Analyze the job
Review the job description. Identify a list of capabilities and characteristics (knowledge, skills, abilities
and traits) required for success in the position. Compare these capabilities with company employee and
supervisor competencies. Determine the mandatory competencies for the job. The competencies you
must have will become the foundation for interviewing and selection.
2) Plan the interview
Develop at least one behavior based interview question for each mandatory competency. Be sure to
prepare probing, open-ended questions that will elicit specific responses from the candidate. Probing
questions will draw out responses that describe the candidate’s thoughts, feelings, behaviors and
delivered results.
3) Conduct the interview
A. Establish rapport with the candidate and get general background information.
B. Obtain behavioral information on the mandatory competencies using the behavior based
interviewing questions.
C. Describe the position.
D. Sell the position and Otis.
E. Close.
4) Evaluate
Assess the candidate’s responses against each competency. Document your assessment on the
Behavior Based Interviewing Evaluation form. The successful candidate should ideally be the one who
rates the highest on the majority of the mandatory competencies.
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Behavior Based Interviewing
Questions
When preparing to conduct a Behavior Based Interview, you can design your own questions or choose from
the following examples:
General
Core Competency: Customer Focus
Believes that the customer, whether external or internal, always comes first. Anticipates customers needs
and delivers top quality in a timely and efficient manner. Customer satisfaction has top priority.
Please tell me about a specific time when you exceeded customer expectations. What was the deliverable,
how did you achieve the exceptional results?
Describe a time when you had a conflict with a customer (internal or external). What was the nature of the
conflict? How did you handle it? What was the end result? If you had to do it over again, what would you
do differently? Explain.
Tell me of the most difficult customer service experience that you have ever had to handle. Be specific and
tell me what you did and what was the outcome.
Describe any job or experiences you have had where you dealt with a customer.
 What did you like about the experience? Why?
 What did you dislike? Why?
 To what extent do you want customer interactions to be part of your future job?
As a custmer yourself, what are the keys to making sure that you are satisfied with the service or products
you receive?
 Describe a time you received outstanding customer service.
 Describe a time when you received poor customer service. What were the factors that made that
service so bad? How did you react?
Tell me about a time that you had to interact with a customer who was difficult or frustrating to deal with.
 What worked successfully with the customer? What didn’t?
Describe a situation in which you had to provide outstanding service to a customer or to someone you
wanted to impress.
 What made what you did extraodinary?
 How did the customer respond to your efforts?
Core Competency: Collaboration & Teamwork
Able to serve as a member of a team actively sharing ideas and resources in support of the group’s efforts
to succeed. Encourages cooperation within the department as well as with colleagues from other
departments.
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Give an example of when you were a member of a team that was successful in meeting a goal or objective.
What made the team effective? What was your role in the team’s success? Be specific.
Describe a situation in which you had to enlist the assistance of someone outside your department to solve
a problem. What was your approach?
What was the most successful team that you have been a member of?
 What made the team so successful?
 What was your role on the team?
Describe some work teams or other teams that you have been on.
 What do you like most about being a member of a team? Why?
 What do you like least? Why?
Tell me about a time when you worked with a group of people whose personalities clashed intensely and
often.
 What was the source of the conflict?
 How did the conflict affect members of the team?
 What were you able to do to resolve the conflict and move the team forward?
 What was the final outcome of the situation?
Describe a group project that you recently participated in.
 Why were you selected to participate on the team?
 What did you learn from the experience?
Describe a time you served as a role model or mentor to someone.
 Why were you selected?
 To what extent were you successful?
Focus on Results
Give me an example of an important goal which you had set in the past and tell me about your success in
reaching it.
Describe a situation in which you showed determination. How did you go about it?
Business Competence
Tell me about a situation when you had to solve a complex problem. How did you use your technical skills
and what was the outcome?
What, in your opinion, are the key ingredients in building and maintaining successful business
relationships? Give me examples of how you have made them work for you.
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Give me an example of knowledge or skills you possess which you feel are relevant to Otis’s business.
Planning Ahead
Describe a major project for which you were responsible. What was your approach to its implementation?
What were the results?
Influence Ability
During involvement with a project, how did you motivate / influence the group to overcome a difficult
situation? What was the outcome?
Summarize a situation where you took the initiative to get others going on an important issue.
When have you inspired someone to work hard or do a good job? How did you do that?
Diversity
Describe a time when you have had to work with people whose skills or interests were very different from
your own. How did you address the differences?
By providing examples, convince me that you can adapt to a wide variety of people, situations and
environments.
Core Competency: Adaptability
Ability to adapt to and prosper in a changing environment. Able to introduce and implement new ideas.
Able to multi-task and handle the pressure created by changing people and priorities with urgency as well
as tact.
Tell me about some situations in which you have had to adjust quickly to changes over which you had no
control. What was the impact of the changes on you?
Recall a time when your manager or supervisor was unavailable and a problem arose. What was the nature
of the problem? How did you handle that situation? How did that make you feel?
Give me an example of when you had to work with someone who was difficult to get along with. Why was
this person difficult? How did you handle that person?
Which do you prefer, a job which requires you to do different things or a well defined job which is, for the
most part, the same every day? Explain why?
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Describe a situation when you had multiple tasks to complete under very tight time constraints.
 How did you determine which tasks to complete first?
 How did you handle having to do a number of things simultaneously?
When in your life have you experience the most change?
 What did you like most about that experience? What did you like least?
 How did you go about preparing for the change?
 How did you deal with surprises that you hadn’t anticipated?
 How would you describe, in general, the way you deal with change.
Describe situations in your work or school life in which you were under pressure.
 In general, how do you deal with pressure situations?
 What were some of the most effective ways you dealt with pressure?
 What were some of the least effective ways?
Describe a situation when you were faced with a great deal of change by a new environment and/or new
people.
 How comfortable were you as a result of the change?
 What steps did you take to adapt to the change and how long did it take you to become productive?
 What advice would you give to a friend or colleague who is about to face a major change?
Continuous Learning & Improvement
What steps have you taken to improve your performance at your current job? Why did you decide to do
that? What have been the results?
What are your long range goals and objectives? How are you preparing to achieve them?
Core Competency: Communication Skills
Expresses ideas in a clear and articulate manner and is an active and probing listener. Understands the
need for and is able to use appropriate styles and terminology for different audiences. Writes in a clear
and concise manner and is able to present logical convincing conclusions.
Can you give an example of when poor communication negatively affected a project you were involved
with? How could you have corrected the problem?
Tell me about a situation when you had to communicate an idea or information that was not well received.
Describe a situation in which you were able to use persuasion to successfully convince someone to see
things your way.
Tell me about a time when you used your communication skills to resolve a problem or a misunderstanding
between yourself and a colleague, fellow student or friend.
 What was the cause of the problem or the subject of the understanding?
 How did you express your view to the other person? How did he/she respond?
 At what point did you know that the issue had been resolved?
 What would you have done differently?
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Why do you think people have trouble communicating?
 What advice would you give to people who are having difficulty exchanging ideas and reaching
agreement?
 Tell me about a time that you did this and describe how you went about it? What was the outcome?
What is the largest audience you have ever had to speak to, either at work, at school or at a club or
organization?
 Why were you selected to speak? What was your topic?
 How did you prepare for your presentation?
 What did you enjoy most and least about the experience?
 What did you learn about yourself?
Give me a sense of how you go about preparing to write a letter or a memo.
 What steps do you take to make sure that you are writing makes sense and is to the point?
 Tell me about your most effective written communication at work or at school?
 Do you enjoy writing? Why or why not?
Listening
Walk me through a situation in which you had to get information from a number of people to make an
important recommendation. How did you go about getting the information? How did you summarize all of
the information gathered? What was the end result?
Team Leadership
Think about a time when you had to bring people together who did not see eye to eye. How did you get
them aligned to achieve desired results? What challenges did you experience?
Give an example of a time when you assumed leadership of a team. How did the group respond? How did
lead the group to its goal?
Supervisory
Strategic Leadership
Please explain how you ensure that members of your organization have the most current information.
Describe the most difficult/challenging leadership situation you have experienced and how you handled it.
Empowerment
Can you give an example of when you have provided someone else with an opportunity for visibility and
challenge?
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Developing Organizational Talent
Can you give an example of when you have helped someone turn a mistake or failure into a learning
opportunity?
Forward Thinking
Please tell me about a time when you had to manage a project. What steps did you follow and what were
the results?
Business Creativity
Tell me about some innovative projects you have initiated and what prompted you to begin them.
What do you consider to be the most significant creative accomplishment in your career?
Core Competency: Analytical Thinking
Able to identify, understand and sort through the critical components of an issue through careful analysis.
Listens actively, explores fully and uses sound judgment. Can distinguish between perception and reality
and propose relevant and implementable solutions to problems.
Describe a complicated problem you have had to deal with on your job. How did you identify or gain a
better understanding of the problem? How did you resolve it?
How do you gather information to analyze a problem? Please give an example.
Describe an important or difficult decision that you had to make recently at work or at school.
 How did you go about reaching that decision?
 Did you get advice from others in making that decision? If so, did you seek that advice or was it
offered without you asking? Did you follow the advice?
 How did you know when you had enough information to make the decision?
 If you could, would you go back and change that decision? In what way and why?
Responding to a customer’s inquiry often involves a good deal of research and fact finding. Tell me about
a time – at work or at school – when your research enabled you to find a solution to a problem that
someone presented to you.
 What was the problem as it was told to you? Did that, in fact, turn out to be the problem?
 How did you go about gathering information to solve the problem?
 How did you know where to get the information?
 How did you apply the information to the problem?
 What was the solution?
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What kinds of problems do you like to solve? Why?
 What part of the problem solving process do you find most challenging?
 What part of the problem solution process so you find easiest?
 Do you prefer challenge or easy problems at work? Why?
Working with customers often requires that you identify and understand their needs. Tell me about a time
– at work or at school – when you were in a situation that required you to identify and understand what
someone was really asking for.
 What were the circumstances?
 What was really being asked for and how did you determine that?
 How long did it take you to identify the real need or issue?
 What solution did you propose and how did it work?
Judgment
Sometimes we have to make quick decisions. Tell me about a situation in which you make a decision too
quickly. Looking back, what would you do differently?
What is the toughest work-related decision you have had to make? How did you select your choice?
Customer Service
Sooner or later we all have to deal with a customer who had unreasonable demands. Think of a time when
you had to handle unreasonable requests from a customer. What did you do?
Describe a customer complaint that you resolved. How did you identify the problem? What creative
solutions did you generate? How did you measure the customer’s satisfaction with your resolution?
Core Competency: Professionalism/Ethics
Has an understanding of and a commitment to a set of values defined by candor and integrity. Viewed by
others as a role model. Demonstrates professional corporate behavior and understands the individual’s
responsibility to represent the company in a positive way. Always put the customer first and treats coworkers with respect.
What do you look for in a company in terms of its values and visions?
 Which companies do you know of that come closest to this? In what way?
In your opinion, is being ehical as important as being optimally effective?
 Why do you feel this way? Give an example of when this was a conflict you had to face.
What are your feelings about policies and procedures at work or school?
 Describe a policy or procedure you had to deal with that you believed was not the best way to
handle a situation. How did you resolve this?
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To what extent do you feel employees have responsibility to their company when they are now at work?
 What are those responsibilities? Describe situations when you have carried out those
responsibilities.
Core Competency: Interpersonal Skills
Able to build and maintain positive and productive working relationships with colleagues and clients.
Deals tactfully with differences of opinion. Has high energy level and perseveres until the job is done.
Able to adjust to new people and situations.
When dealing with people, what have proven to be your two or three greatest strengths?
 Give an example of when you demonstrated each of these strengths.
 How did you develop these strengths and why do you think they are particularly effective?
 What interpersonal skills do you think you need to develop further? How will you develop them?
Tell me about a time when you had a disagreement with either a colleague, fellow student or a friend.
 What was the source of the disagreement?
 What did you do to move the problem toward resolution?
 How did the problem finally get solved and what was your role?
 Looking back, what would you have do differently?
 From this experience, what did you learn about yourself?
Describe a situation in which you had to mediate between two people.
 How did you become involved?
 What did you do to calm the situation down?
 How were your efforts received by the disagreeing people?
 What finally was done to resolve the situation and what role did you play in that resolution?
At times it can be difficult to remain positive and enthusiastic when dealing with a person who is
expressing extreme dissatisfaction.
 How have you responded in a situation like that?
 To what extent were you able to calm down the person? How did you accomplish that?
 What was the eventual outcome of the situation?
Describe a situation when one of your ideas was strongly opposed.
 How did you handle the opposition?
 What was the outcome?
Core Competency: Initiative
Takes action above and beyond what is expected. Seeks different waysto do things better. Initiates and
influences events. Willing to take responsibility for actions and learns from new experiences. Welcomes
change as and opportunity to improve the status quo.
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Describe a situation in which you decided to do more than was required of you.
 What prompted you to make that decision?
 What steps did you take to implement that effort?
 What was the result of your going beyond what was expected of you?
Describe a situation when you were required to do something but were not given clear instructions and/or
the proper resources.
 How did you overcome these obstacles?
 What kind of risk, if any, was attached to your decision to go forward? How did you manage that
risk?
 How did you feel once you accomplished what you set out to do?
Have you ever submitted a good idea to your manager which was never acted upon?
 What did you do about it?
Give me an example of a task – at work or at school – which you found to be very difficult to complete.
 Why was it difficult and what did you do to make it less difficult?
 How did you stay focused and energized while doing things that were necessary but that you didn’t
particularly like to do?
Give me examples that would demonstrate that you are a self-starter.
 What about those situations made you decide to take the initiative and not wait for instructions?
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