Behavioral questions

A detailed guide on how to prepare for behavioral questions (often called PEI) for consulting firms. Includes common questions, sample answers and free materials.

In most interviews, you will be asked at least one behavioral question.

These questions typically begin with a phrase like:

"Tell me about a time when you...."

Companies across several industries - e.g. tech companies, retailers, consulting firms, finance firms and universities - use this type of question. Amazon, for example, heavily bases its hiring process on behavioral questions for generalist positions. In consulting, these questions account for approx. 50% of your overall evaluation.

Given the vast amount of material available, this guide will focus on the main ideas and share some of the best resources I've found.

Why interviewers ask behavioral questions

Interviewers like these questions because they help them get a more realistic and nuanced sense of how you work. It’s their way of assessing your capabilities based on your actual past experience and performance.

If you were a recruiter trying to assess if a person works well in a team, what would convince you more: hearing that they totally love working on a team or listening to a story that shows exactly how they put it into practice?

These questions help interviewers assess if you:

• Have the values or capabilities required for the role

• Choose relevant, high-impact answers

• Communicate clearly and concisely

• Are convincing

• Are prepapred for the interview (e.g. knowledge of the structure, etc.)

Questions & sample answers

A recruiter can ask many different behavioral questions, but they usually fall into these core categories.

Analytical thinking: How to effectively use statistics and data?

"Give me a specific example of how would you use data to make an important decision"

Problem- solving: How much resourceful you are while dealing with a difficult situation(s)

 "Give me an example of how you would solve a difficult situation, using good judgment and logic"

Proactivity & drive: How much are you driven by passion and ambition

"Give an example of a time when you went above and beyond the call of duty. What was the outcome?"

Teamwork: How much are you cooperate with others

" Give an example of how you have successfully empowered a group of people to accomplish something"

Leadership: How would you lead and inspire teams, peers, and clients

"Give an example of a time in which you were able to build motivation in your co-workers, or your team at work"

Adaptability: How would you embrace and deal with change

"Describe a major change that occurred in a job that you held. What specifically did you do to adapt to this change?"

Success & failure: How does failures help you to gain experience

"Describe a time where your work had a significant impact on your organization´s goals or results"

"Describe a past experience when you did not achieve what you wanted; what happened and what did you learned from it"

Influence & negotiation: How would you shape other people's actions and decisions, and how would you get what you want in a negotiation

"Describe a situation in which you were able to successfully influence someone to see things your way. What was it that made your efforts successful"

Entrepreneurial mindset: How would you identify opportunities, handle challenges, take initiative, and embrace change (there is some overlap with proactivity & drive)

"Tell me about a time you identified and solved a big problem in your company"

If the position you are applying to is technical, they can ask you behavioral questions in the context of that specific work (e.g. "Tell me about a situation when you managed to solve X problem using Y tool").

Here you have hundreds of samples. Don´t feel overwhelmed by all the categories. Preparing the interview is much easier than it seems (read next).

How to prepare good answers

These three tips are key to acing your interview preparation:

#1 Prepare a few extra stories

• Research the values of the company and any info they provide about behavioral questions. Firms like MBB or the Big Four usually tell you what sort of skills they are looking for. For example, McKinsey focuses on personal impact (a mix of problem-solving and success), entrepreneurial drive, inclusive leadership, courageous change (i.e. adaptability) (read here). Amazon uses its 16 leadership principles as the basis of its questions (read here).

  
  

• If the firm doesn´t specify what to focus on, don´t worry. Prepare stories for the questions above - most companies ask for the same skills with different names.

  
  

• If behavioral questions are not a core part of the process, preparing one story for each category is usually enough. If they pay a lot of attention to this interview section, you will need two to three for each. If early during your response, the interviewer stops you and says, "Do you have another story? it´s often a sign that they think the example isn´t the best fit and they are guiding you to a better one).

  
  

• Be strategic. Remembering 5-9 strong stories is manageable; remembering 25 isn´t practical. Pick stories that aren´t only interesting but that can also fit into more than one story category. For instance:

  
  

  A story about a big problem and how you brought the entire team together to solve it fits into both "problem-solving" and "leadership" (and potentially ecen "teamwork").

  
  

  Take time to think strategically about what stories you pick to reduce the number of examples you need to prepare.

#2 Use the STAR method

• Use the STAR method to keep your answers structured, clear and to the point. Write down the samples and practice them aloud. The % below refers to the recommended time allocated to each part; aiming for a total time of 5-6 min.

  
  

  Situation (~20%): Explain the context so that your interviewer understands the context. They don´t know every detail, but enough to understand why the story is relevant for the organization!

  
  

  During my first year at X company, one of my clients needed us to design a marketing campaign to sell more of their product Y. This was important because the sales had remained stagnant, and they needed to improve the P&L before the new product was released next year.

  
  

  Task (10%): Talk about the problem/opportunity you took responsibility for completing or the goal of your efforts.

  
  

  The project was assigned to my team. We had 3 months to define the strategy, develop the campaign and be ready for release. The problem began after one month: my manager got sick, and we didn't have any replacement.

  
  

  Action (60%): Describe the specific actions you personally took to complete the task or reach the end goal. It is key that first, you explain the high-level reasoning of why you decided to act like that (thought process), and what you did (specific actions)

  
  

  Reasoning: I knew the client was important to us and that I had an opportunity to take the leadership. The team had low morale, and I knew they couldn't continue without guidance, but no senior people had the time to do it (= thought process). }

  
  

  Actions: So, I did three things. First, I spoke to the partner to convince them I could manage the team. It was important that he trusted me, so I went already with a detailed plan of the deliverables and how I planned to coordinate the team. Second, I scheduled a one-to-one with the team to explain the situation and the next steps. This worked well because the team used the sessions to raise concerns and also asked me for specific ways in which I could support them. Finally, ....

  
  

  Result (10%): Explain the positive outcomes or results (ideally, highlight quantifiable results), and briefly share some lessons learned or take-aways.

  After three months, the marketing campaign was ready for release, and the client reached out the partner to ask for another assignment. This new project was sold at $x USD. Looking back, I believe it was important I acted fast in replacing my manager. I would do it again, although this time I would try to find a better balance between guiding the team and actually making time for working on my deliverables. I prioritized the first a lot, so ended up having to work during the weekends to meet my own deadlines.

#3 Practice aloud before your real interview

• Don't underestimate the power of practice. Practice answering possible interview questions out loud, but don´t memorize your answers word-for-word. Just repeat them a few times until you can tell them naturally. If you want to be fancy, practice in front of a mirror to get a better sense of how you’re presenting yourself.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Avoid talking generally about what "us" or "the team" did, especially in the Task and Action sections. Describe your role and use “I” statements.

  When giving examples of teamwork or collaboration, focus your response on how you personally drove the outcomes of the team´s efforts.

  
  

• Do not talk generically about the Action section. Share specific and clear examples of your actions, to help the recruiter understand exactly what and why you did things. For example:

  
  
  
  

❌ Weak Example (Too Generic)	✅ Strong Example (Specific and Strategic)
I talked to the stakeholders and convinced them to do A and B.	I knew I needed to do three things: First, convince the clients that the project was key to improve the situation by showing them the financial impact on X; Second, make the process of escalating the topic to senior management easier by giving them Y material directly; And finally, motivating them to act by convincing them they had the capabilities (I reinforced X and Z here).

• Avoid reusing stories. Do not use the same story in the same hiring process. Even if you tell the story to two different interviewers, they talk among themselves. So, if you were asked about proactivity in the first round, find an additional story for the second round (in case they ask about the same skill)

  
  

• Be truthful. It´s hard to sound credible when you are making up things, and even harder when you get follow-up questions and have to more invent facts on the spot. Many people spice up a story exaggerating some details. If you choose that is okey, but ensure the story still genuinely represents you and you feel in control of every detail.

Networking

Even preparing for behavioral questions is easier for people with connections in the industry or the hiring companies. This is because you can discuss potential stories, validate their strength, and conduct mock interviews to polish your answers.

• If you know someone working at a consulting firm (or tech), ask them for 30 min to run through your stories - at least the high-level ideas to ensure they are solid, and one or two mock stories for direct feedback.

  
  

• Also, there is plenty of material to read online (see links below), and you can find mock interviews on YouTube.

  
  

• Finally, reach out to people on LinkedIn who have or have had a similar position to the one you are applying for (read here for more detail).

Tips on how to answer behavioral questions

Mock answers

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