Behavioral interview
A behavioral interview asks a candidate for a concrete example from their past that is relevant to a role or competency, including what they did and what followed.
Ask for an event, not a promise
A behavioural question asks what happened in a particular situation, rather than what the person thinks they would do. For example: “Tell me about a time you had to change a plan after receiving difficult feedback. What did you do?” The answer can reveal the person’s account of their actions, choices, and result.
This is a question approach, not the opposite of a structured interview. OPM distinguishes behavioural questions about relevant past experience from situational questions about a hypothetical response; both can appear in a structured method.
The OPM Structured Interview Guide, published in September 2008, also treats clarifying probes as compatible with comparable opportunities and consistent meaning. A follow-up can clarify an event without turning one candidate’s interview into a different test.
STAR can organise an answer
Situation, Task, Action, and Result offer a way to put an example in order. The UK National Careers Service explains the STAR method as a framework for examples from work, home, or volunteering. It can help an interviewer ask what is missing and help a candidate recall the event.
It is not a scoring instrument. A candidate does not need to tell a polished four-part story to provide relevant evidence, and a fluent story does not establish competence on its own. Ask a short clarifying question when the event, the person’s contribution, or the outcome remains unclear.
Choose the evidence the role needs
Write each question around a competency that matters for the role, then decide what follow-up would make answers comparable. A past example is one source of evidence. For a skill that needs to be demonstrated directly, a work sample may answer a different question better.
Use the same underlying criterion for all candidates in the role. That preserves the difference between listening for an example and rewarding the person who presents one most smoothly.