Sample Behavioral Interview Questions
Sample Behavioral Interview Questions
Sample Behavioral Interview Questions
Personal
1. Why makes you the best candidate for the position? Why should we hire you?
2. Describe a time when you had to motivate yourself? Why was that necessary?
3. Describe a time when you brought value to your organization. Why was that
important and how was it recognized?
4. Describe how you would assist FIU in fulfilling its mission. (Provide the candidate
with a copy of the FIU Mission Statement)
Service Orientation
Building Trust
1. Think of a situation where there wasn't a trusting relationship with another coworker. What did you specifically do to try to build a more trusting relationship?
What was the result?
2. Describe a time when you had to really "walk the talk." How difficult was it? What
were the results?
3. Describe a time when you had to go the "extra mile" to gain and develop trust
among colleagues, staff or constituents. What did you learn from your experience?
4. How would you coach someone else on building trust?
Communication
Interpersonal Relations
1. Describe the type of people you enjoy working with and the leaders to whom you
report.
2. We have a good team-oriented environment. Give me an example of a successful
team experience from a previous job.
3. Give me an example of an unpleasant teamwork experience. How did you manage
the situation?
4. Describe a workplace situation in which you had to deal with a difficult customer or
co-worker. How did you deal with it? What were the results?
5. Please tell me about a situation that required you to work closely with someone with
whom you disagreed or had a personality conflict. How did you deal with the issue?
6. Give me an example of when you had the most difficulty communicating with
people. Why was it so difficult?
1. Tell me about a time when you had a lot of work to accomplish in a short time. How
did you manage that situation? What was the result?
2. Think of a time when you had to manage multiple projects and meet certain
deadlines and explain the most difficult part of that situation. How did you deal with
it?
3. Think of a time when you had to organize one of your busiest workdays. What was
the day like and how did you organize the day's work?
4. Think of a time when you had both large and small projects to complete. How did
you go about setting priorities and completing those projects? What challenges did
that present?
1. Give me an example of an important work related goal you set and tell me about
your plans to reach that goal. What did you learn from this experience? How did the
outcome affect others?
2. Describe one of the most difficult problems you faced on the job. What made the
problem difficult to resolve? How did you solve it?
3. What was your most challenging decision in the last six months? What made it
challenging?
4. Give me an example of a time when you were faced with a complex work related
matter and you could not decide on the best course of action. What did you do?
5. What kind of problems have people recently called on you to solve? Describe your
methodology for resolving the problem.
6. Tell me about a specific work situation when you prevented a problem before it
occurred. Why were you successful in preventing the problem? Describe the lessons
learned from your actions.
7. Describe a scenario in which you worked diligently on a project and it did not
produce the desired results. Why didn't you get the desired results? What did you
learn from the experience?
Professional/Leadership
Technology Proficiency
1. Please name the different types of software that you use on a regular basis.
2. What types of software are you interested in learning?
3. Give an example of the time when you had to learn some new software. How did
you become proficient in its use?
4. Please explain the role technology has played in a previous job. How did you feel
about that role? What other technology would have been helpful?