In this post, we going to give you 4 tough behavioural interview questions and answers! These 4 questions come time during job interviews. So, if you have a job interview coming up soon for any role or company, read on to discover how be the standout candidate.
We are going to show you how to structure your answer to difficult behavioural interview questions to get the highest scores possible as well as give you 4 brilliant example scripted answers to common questions!
THE BEST WAY TO STRUCTURE YOUR ANSWER
The STAR Technique is the ideal strategy to employ when answering behavioural questions.
The acronym STAR stands for situation, task, action, and result.
- Begin your response by telling the interviewer about the SITUATION you were in.
- Second, tell the interviewer of the TASK that was required to be completed.
- Next, provide specifics regarding the ACTION you took to complete the task.
- Finally, end your response by telling the interviewer the RESULTS of your actions.
EXMAPLE ANSWER 1: “TELL ME ABOUT A TIME WHEN YOU DIDN’T SEE EYE TO EYE WITH A COLLEAGUE” (SCRIPTED ANSWER)
“SITUATION: I was in a team meeting discussing the launch of a new company product. A colleague of mine was adamant the best way for us to promote the product was through local newspaper adverts. I disagreed.
TASK: It was my task to explain, using facts and evidence, why the best way to promote the new product would be through online advertising.
ACTION: After listening to his arguments, I explained that we had a better chance of converting sales by targeting people online by age, gender, demographics, and interests. I showed him an example of how a company had been able to surpass all previous company launches by shifting their advertising online. I also explained that we could track the return on investment if we advertised online, something that was not possible using newspaper adverts.
RESULT: After listening to my reasoned argument, he agreed my suggestion was more beneficial to the company, and the new product launch yielded a 37% increase in sales compared with previous launches.”
EXAMPLE ANSWER 2: “TELL ME ABOUT A TIME WHEN YOU HELPED A TEAM OR COMPANY SAVE MONEY” (SCRIPTED ANSWER)
“SITUATION: In my previous role, I was concerned about how much we were spending on delivery costs. Every day, we were sending out hundreds of orders to customers, but our delivery company did not appear to be providing value for money.
TASK: It was my task to evaluate our delivery expenses to see if I could save the company money.
ACTION: I spent the next three hours conducting an analysis of the past twelve months delivery costs, and I was staggered at how expensive they were. Even though the number of orders we were sending out via our delivery company had doubled, their prices had increased by a third. I decided to call the delivery company Area Manager to explain my concerns, and to negotiate a fairer price.
RESULT: After half an hour on the telephone outlining my concerns, he agreed to reduce the delivery fees back to their previous price for the next twelve months which ended up saving the company more than five thousand dollars in total.”
EXAMPLE ANSWER 3: “TELL ME ABOUT A TIME WHEN YOU EXPERIENCED A STEEP LEARNING CURVE” (SCRIPTED ANSWER)
“SITUATION: In my previous role, my manager asked for a volunteer to cover the work of a co-worker who was going to be off work for four weeks. Although I was very busy working on several projects, I was keen to learn my co-worker’s skills because I eventually wanted to gain promotion in the company. Therefore, I volunteered to do her work.
TASK: It was my task to learn all of her duties as soon as possible to ensure the additional work I was responsible for was competed to the same standard.
ACTION: This was a very steep learning curve because I had not experienced this type of work before. She was responsible for analysing and extracting company sales data which was then used by senior managers to make key decisions for the business. I decided to do the majority of learning in the evenings after work when I had the time. I created a list of the things I needed to learn, and then set about working through each one. During the day, I then put what I had learned into practice.
RESULT: At the end of the four week period, when my co-worker returned to work, I had developed my skills significantly. The new skills I had gained gave me a different perspective on my own duties and responsibilities which helped improve the standard of work I delivered for the company.”
EXAMPLE ANSWER 4: “TELL ME ABOUT A TIME WHEN YOU HAD TO BALANCE SPEED OF DELIVERY WITH QUALITY” (SCRIPTED ANSWER)
“SITUATION: A situation occurred in my previous role where a supplier let us down at the last minute. A large number of orders had been placed online by our customers. However, it would no longer be possible for us to send out the products on time due to the supplier issue. The earliest the supplier could deliver the products for us was in four days’ time.
TASK: It was my task to decide what steps to take. I had the option of using an alternative supplier, but they had a reputation for delivering sub-standard products. I was not prepared to take the risk of using a supplier that had a poor reputation. Although speed of delivery was essential, quality was not something I was prepared to compromise on.
ACTION: I decided to personally telephone all of our customers to explain the situation, apologise, update them on the new delivery date and offer them a 10% discount on any future orders. There were twenty customers in total for me to call, and all of them were prepared to wait the additional time for their orders to arrive.
RESULT: Once the products had been delivered to all twenty customers, I found a new supplier that had a great reputation for quality and speed of delivery, and moving forward, the same situation never happened again.”
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