Types of Interviews: Behavioral & Other

Interview type can also be broken down by the types of questions asked. Here are a few examples of those types of interviews.


Behavioral  

In behaviorial interviews, one of the most common types of interview, the interviewer asks questions about past performance with the idea that it tends to determine potential future behavior. 

 

Interviewers have a list of key skills or behaviors they feel are necessary for the position, and the questions will drive at situations in which the candidate would have the opportunity to showcase such skills and behaviors. To be sure, screening or phone interviews, one-on-one interviews and panel interviews are all likely to have a behavioral component to them. interview 

 

Sample behavioral interviewing questions:  

  • Tell me about a time when you had to accomplish a task with someone who was difficult to get along with.
  • Tell me how you handled an ethical dilemma.
  • Give me an example of when you had to show good leadership.
  • Give me an example of a problem you faced on the job or in school, and tell me how you solved it.
  • Give me an example of a time when you had to be relatively quick in coming to a decision.

Situational 

Rather than ask what you have done, recruiters using a situational interviewing style asks what you would do in certain situations. In this type of interviewing, you might be asked questions such as asking you to hypothetically persuade your work team that your new idea to redesign product packaging is better than the current packaging.


Stress 

Interviewers deliberately test the interviewee’s coping skills to see how they would handle issues that could arise on the job. To do this, recruiters might do things like be intentionally rude or argumentative to see how you react to stress. If you run into this kind of interview, remain calm, use good judgment and don't take it personally.

 

(Source: Interview Magic by Susan Britton Whitcomb)