Interviewing Guide: Behavioural vs Situational Questions

Possibly the most crucial step in the hiring process is the interview stage. You do not know much about the candidates you are evaluating then. You have simply seen their resume and may have conducted a brief phone or video interview with them.

You can now sit in the same room with your prospects and speak with them face to face. You get the chance to discover everything there is to know about them and their capabilities. After each interview, you will most likely leave knowing whether or not the candidate is the right fit.

Asking the right questions

The more effective your interview questions, the more you will learn about your candidates. That may seem apparent, yet many interviewers want applicants to simply state why they are exceptional. However, the interviewer must take the initiative.

Even if you are new to interviewing applicants, you will most likely have a few questions prepared. Throw in a few situational and behavioural questions to get to know candidates better.

Behavioural interview questions request that the candidate recollect a previous situation and describe how they handled it. For instance, "Tell me about a moment in your previous job when..."

On the contrary, situational interview questions pose a hypothetical situation to the candidate and ask how they would manage it. For example, "How would you react if..."

The definitions above may appear to be different approaches to the same questions. That is partially correct, however, situational and behavioural interview questions can individually elicit unique responses.

Behavioural Interview Questions

Behavioural questions provide a strong indication of where individuals have succeeded and struggled in the past. Situational questions allow people to create the perfect response to your hypothetical scenario, whereas behavioural questions require them to relate to real-life experiences.

Many supporters of behavioural interview questions feel that the way a candidate worked in the past foreshadows how they would operate in the future. That makes sense, but these inquiries also help you learn about a candidate's personal issues. For example, a frequent behavioural interview question is, "Tell me about a former mistake you made and what you learned from the experience." 

Here are some more questions you might ask:

• Tell me about a time when you spotted a problem in your organisation and how you solved it.

• Tell me about a moment when you argued with a boss and how you handled the situation.

• What are your most proud professional achievements?

• Tell me about the greatest boss you ever had.

• Describe a period when you were dissatisfied with your job and why.

Behavioural interview questions ask the candidate to recollect previous experience and describe how they handled it.

Situational Interview Questions

Situational questions might throw candidates off guard. They force them to consider how they would deal with the role's obstacles. Experienced candidates have ready-made responses to frequent job interview questions. However, situational questions drive students to deviate from the script and seriously consider the situations they will face if recruited.

These questions not only provide a sense of how candidates will manage the role's specifics. You will also learn what they appreciate and do not care about. Here are some situational interview questions to consider:

• What improvements would you implement if you were in charge of our company or department?

• Tell me how you would manage an irate customer.

• Assume you have many assignments from various managers. How do you set priorities?

• How would you sell our product or service?

• How would you deal with an ineffective subordinate?

Situational and behavioural interview questions work best when they are specifically related to the position you are filling. It does not hurt to ask the sample interview questions in this article, but we advocate using them as inspiration when creating your own.

Understand the role's requirements so you can ask the candidates about real and hypothetical situations to see if they are the right fit for the job.