Behavioural Based Questions - Interview Prep Guide

Behavioural Based Questions - Interview Preparation Guide

Gathering requirements

Q: Referring to a specific example, can you tell me how you have prepared for and facilitated a requirements gathering workshop with your stakeholders?

- Firstly, can you provide context on the example/project you are going to use to answer this question

- How did you identify your stakeholders?

- How did you prepare?

- What challenges did you face?

- How did you ensure your message was understood?

LOOK FOR: preparing / tailoring material for target audience, structuring the material, encouraging client interaction, checking their understanding, desire to improve, ability to push back / manage scope creep, influencing skills

 Documenting/ Functional Specification

Q: Following on from the example provided in the previous question, can you talk me through the process you then took to prepare your documentation?

- What was the type of documentation did you produce? (e.g. business requirement doc, functional spec)

- What tools or methodologies were used?

- How did you ensure that the functional spec/documentation was followed by developers, testers, etc?

LOOK FOR: using the appropriate processes and tools, experience in preparing and documenting

Requirements / functional specs

Issue Resolutions

Q: Can you give an example where there was a problem of some kind that you had to deal with during the testing phase or in production. Please relate this to either the project discussed above, or another project you have worked on.

LOOK FOR: experience resolving production/ testing issues, problem solving, working with colleagues to understand and resolve issues.

Handling Resistance/ Stakeholder Management

Q: Have you ever met resistance whilst attempting to introduce a point of view or an idea? Talk us through the situation, what action you took and the outcome.

LOOK FOR: presenting an argument, demonstrating assertiveness, negotiation skills, influencing skills, ability to push back

Quick Learner/ Self Starter

Q Think back to the last time you started in a new project, role or company where there was a steep learning curve.

How did you get up to speed? What challenges did you face?

LOOK FOR: resourcefulness, proactive, able to seek out information, comfortable with minimal support

Dealing with difficult people

Q Tell us about a time when you had to work with someone who you found difficult to get along with. This could be either a co-worker or a customer.

LOOK FOR: experience of dealing with different kinds of people, able to handle difficult situations are they open, understanding or easily annoyed, interpersonal skills, conflict resolution

Exceeding Customer Expectations

Q: Have you ever been recognized for exceeding customer expectations? Talk us through the circumstances and what you did to exceed the customer’s expectations.

LOOK FOR: Highly effective at building customer relationships, understanding the customer’s requirements, desire to go beyond what is expected.