A behavioral interview is a friendly conversation that uses open-ended questions to draw out stories about how a candidate has actually worked. Instead of checking résumé facts, it explores judgment, collaboration, stress, disappointment, and management style. section 21.3.4
Useful questions invite specific stories and leave room for natural follow-ups:
- What was the best program you worked on, and what made it your favorite? section 21.3.4
- What was the worst program you wrote, and what made it the worst? section 21.3.4
- Tell me about the worst bug you had to track down. section 21.3.4
- What was the best or worst collaboration experience you had with a colleague? section 21.3.4
- Who was your best boss, and who was your worst? section 21.3.4
Keep questions short and let the candidate do most of the talking—about 85 percent of the interview. Their stories provide more useful evidence than interviewer monologues, while follow-ups build rapport and clarify how they work. section 21.3.4
Afterward, interviewers first give objective feedback based on the behavioral answers, then share summary judgments and explain them. This order limits group influence during evaluation. section 21.3.3
