Achieving outstanding performance in the interview has always been a common aspiration for many candidates. With that being said, this article will briefly distinguish between two types of interview questions often confusing job applicants: ‘Situational vs. Behavioral Questions.’
Situational Questions
- Definition: “An interview technique that gives the interviewee a hypothetical scenario and focuses on a candidate’s past experiences, behaviors, knowledge, skills and abilities by asking the candidate to provide specific examples of how the candidate would respond given the situation described.” (SHRM, n.d.)
- Example: If you’re leading a team project, and a key team member unexpectedly resigns just before a crucial deadline. How would you handle this situation to ensure the project’s success?
Behavioral Questions
- Definition: “An interview technique that focuses on a candidate’s past experiences, behaviors, knowledge, skills and abilities by asking the candidate to provide specific examples of when he or she has demonstrated certain behaviors or skills as a means of predicting future behavior and performance”. (SHRM, n.d.)
- Example: Can you describe a situation in a previous job where you had to deal with a tight deadline? How did you manage your time and resources to meet the deadline, and what was the outcome?
To simplify, there are 2 big differences:
- Hypothetical vs. Past Experiences
- Future vs. Past Behavior
Although they are different, there is an effective method that candidate can use to leverage and fully show their potential, which is STAR Method:
- S – Situation
- T – Task
- A– Action
- R – Result
All in all, knowing different types of interview questions and having in mind the technique to deal with them would definitely be beneficial when facing an interview.
Reference: Sample job interview questions. Society for Human Resource Management. (n.d.). https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/tools/interview-questions
