Prepare

Preparing involves you thinking and writing about specific examples of how you have previously demonstrated particular behaviours (skills, attributes) that the employer is looking for. These will include the selection criteria found in an advertisement and any other skills and experience that you think would be useful in a particular role or position of interest.

Many employers will use a mix of traditional and behaviourally-based questions when interviewing job applicants.

Use these sample traditional questions to help you prepare.

Behaviour based questions are used to probe your past behaviour to find out how you are likely to think and act in certain situations, and whether you can demonstrate the skills and qualities they are interested in. They usually begin with a statement like: 'Tell me about a time when...' or 'Can you a describe a situation where...'. In your answer you must discuss a situation in which you demonstrated the skills the interviewers are referring to. The example can be from any area of your life but work examples are better if you have them. This can include paid and unpaid work. You can also use examples from university studies or school (years 11& 12) and from extra-curricular activities and interests.

The recommended framework for answering the question is to use the STAR technique so that you remember all the important aspects of the example.

S = Situation – - describe briefly when and where the incident occurred and who was involved. You are setting the scene.

T = Task – what were you trying to achieve, what was the problem or issue to be dealt with

A = Action – what action did you take independently or to assist others to get to a positive outcome

R = Result – what was the outcome of your actions, state your success and any positive feedback received or what you learned if the outcome was different to what was anticipated. Explain what you would do differently in the future.

Example

You are asked: 'Can you tell me about a time when you had to organise a major event?' Using the STAR model, your answer might be something like this:

Situation
'Yes - earlier this year I had to organise the UTS Careers Fair.

Task
'To do this, I was required to market and advertise the Fair to both students and employers. I also had to organise venue hire, catering and booth construction, and exhibition equipment.

Action
'To market the Fair to students, we had a postcard designed and mailed out to our target audience. We also used banners, flyers and posters to advertise. In the week leading up to the Fair, we used a video wall for the first time.... [Describe succinctly each of the other tasks for which you were responsible.

Results
'We had 65 employers at the fair, which was the largest number of employers to attend to date. And there were over 2500 students, which was also a record number.'

Use these sample behavioural questions to help you prepare.

There are some questions which people generally find difficult to answer. Have a look at handling awkward questions for ideas about possible responses to some of these.

There are more examples of how to respond to a range of different questions in our Interview skills practice quiz