Behavioral Interviews and how to master them!

If you've ever interviewed anywhere, you have been asked a question that starts with "Tell me about a...." that's a behavioral question.

What is a behavioral question? A behavioral question is an open-ended question that seeks to understand the past behavior of the candidate.

What are they looking for when they ask you this type of question? The hiring manager, interviewer, or even the recruiter is looking to understand the actions you took during the situation you're describing.

How do you answer these types of questions? There are many approaches, but the simplest is to describe the situation, what you did, and what the outcome was. For individual contributor roles below the principal level, I like using the CAFE method:

CAUSE — Briefly list the reason you needed or wanted to complete a specific task. For example: to drive regional sales leads.

ACTION — Concisely describe what you did because of the aforementioned cause. For example: developed a regional marketing plan for sales.

FINDINGS — Describe some steps you took, as well as anything relevant you learned along the way. For example: used data from CRM to target specific states.

EFFECT — What were the results? List general results or specific including stats you may have on hand. For example: increased demo requests in IN by 150% in 2022

For Manager, Principal IC, or above roles, I recommend going one step further with the CAFFEINE method:

CAUSE — Briefly list the reason you needed or wanted to complete a specific task. For example: to drive regional sales leads.

ACTION — Concisely describe what you did because of the aforementioned cause. For example: developed a regional marketing plan for sales.

FOOTPRINTS — Describe some steps you took to complete the action. For example: You gathered CRM data for five target states.

FINDINGS — Detail anything you learned while completing the action. For example: You learned which key states had the most engagement via emails.

EXERCISES — What additional steps did you take with the new information? For example: You narrowed the targets to three states and created tailored emails.

IMPACT — What impact(s) did your actions and exercises have? For example: you increased demo requests in IN, VA, and MI by 150% in 2022.

NEW PATH — Based on the impact, did you take any additional steps? For example: You created sales enablement tools for reps working in those states.

EFFECT — What were the results? List general results or specific including stats you may have on hand. For example: your team initiated 8 new deals in the target states.

A couple of simple tips:

1. Before answering, take a breath. A short pause shows you're being thoughtful — not unprepared.

2. You can also ask the interviewer for a moment to collect your thoughts. This reads as composed, not stalling.