How do I answer behavioral interview questions?

Answering with STAR

• Situation: when, which team, what was happening, in a sentence or two
• Task: your role and the goal
• Action: what you did yourself and why you decided that way. Spend half the answer here.
• Result: the outcome in numbers and what you learned

Questions that come up most

• Conflict: a time you disagreed with a colleague
• Failure: a time you failed or made a mistake, and what you changed afterwards
• Priorities: a time you had to drop something for lack of time
• Initiative: a time you did something nobody asked you to
• Growth: the most useful feedback you've had

How to prepare

Instead of a different story for every question, write up about five stories in STAR form and adapt them to the question. One project often holds a conflict, a failure and a priority call.

Follow-ups tend to be "Why did you decide that?" and "What would you do differently?" Prepare an answer to both for every story.

In SpeechShield

The Full answer style gives conclusion, reasons and an example; Concise gives the conclusion and key reasons; Key Points gives a few keywords. Experience comes only from your resume, so it doesn't make up stories, and follow-ups build on your earlier answers.