Behavioural Inter­view Practice: A Rehearsal and Review Routine

This guide is a routine for rehearsing and reviewing your answers to questions about past events. It assumes you already know what STAR is. If you want an explanation and annotated fictional examples, see our guide to STAR method examples. If a question asks what you would do in an imagined scenario, see our guide to situational interview questions.

The practice suggestions here are optional, so adapt the routine to your own schedule and to any limit or instruction the interviewer sets. Honesty, confidentiality and permission are not optional.

Set up your practice material

1. Read the advert and note what it asks for most clearly.
2. List real events from your work, study, volunteering or other experience that relate to those requirements.
3. For each event, write brief notes: the situation, what you were responsible for, what you personally did, what others did, what happened and anything you do not know.
4. Choose a few events to practice first.

One event can suit more than one question, but keep the facts the same each time. Do not mix actions from different events into one story. Partial and team roles are valid, and "helped" should not become "led" because it sounds stronger.

A rehearsal and review session

1. Choose a question. You can take one from the advert, from a list of common questions or from a friend.
2. Answer aloud. You can record yourself.
3. Listen back and ask four questions. Did I answer the question that was asked? Is my own part clear, including what other people did? Is the result honest, including if it was qualitative, unresolved or unknown? Is anything in the story from a different event, or something I cannot support?
4. Choose one change to try.
5. Answer again and compare the two versions.
6. Add a line to a short practice log: the date, the question, the event you used and the change you chose.

Optional experiments: try a shorter and a longer version of the same answer, or try answering with a few short prompts and then without them. Notice what lets you answer clearly, and keep what works for you. This routine sets no required length or number of sessions, but in a real interview follow any limit the interviewer sets.

Practice with another person

Ask a friend, mentor or adviser to ask questions you have not prepared for, and to follow up with questions such as "What was your part in that?", "What happened next?" and "How do you know?" Answer from what really happened. If you do not know, say so.

If you want to record the session, agree with the other person first, including what you will do with the recording and who may hear it. Use true events, and leave out confidential information about employers, customers or colleagues.

Review your recording

Listen once for content and once for delivery. For content, use the four questions above. For delivery, decide whether anything gets in the way of the answer, such as a very long set-up or an answer that trails off. Change only what you think is worth changing. A recording of yourself is for your own review. If a recording includes another person, such as a practice partner, do not share it without their agreement, and respect what you agreed and any confidentiality.

If a question does not fit your experience

If you do not have a real example, say so. You can offer related experience or, if the interviewer would find it useful, talk through how you would approach the situation. Keep these separate: related experience is something that happened, and reasoning about how you would approach it is hypothetical. Ask whether the interviewer would like that alternative instead of switching without saying so. Do not invent an event. Our guide on what to do when you don't know an answer covers this.

Common problems and what to try

• Your part is unclear. Say what you did and what others did.
• The set-up is long. Cut the background the listener does not need.
• There is no result. Say what happened, including that you do not know, or what you learned.
• The answer sounds memorised. Practice from short prompts instead of a written script.
• The story mixes events. Separate them, or choose one event and leave out what does not belong.

Practice with care

In a real interview, do not use any tool to generate answers unless the organiser has explicitly allowed it, and do not record the conversation unless the interviewer has agreed.

This guide is published by Muqabala. You can visit our interview practice page for your next practice session. Use any method that suits you, and check how any tool handles your data first. Do not paste confidential employer, client or personal information into a practice tool.