How to Answer Behavioral Questions

Once I started receiving Product Management internship interviews, I immediately began scouring the internet for tips for answering behavioral questions (BQs). I had spent the past three months preparing for the standard PM interview questions (design, strategy, estimation, and analytics) but had spent less time reflecting on the times I had to deal with difficult stakeholders and prioritize conflicting projects. Although many articles and YouTube videos existed and explained the famous STAR method, they seemed pretty outdated and irrelevant to how to conquer BQs in the Tech world – which is why I am writing this article!  

In this blog post, I will outline what BQs assess, a framework you can use to answer them, and an exercise that will help you think of stories that showcase your skills. 

Why Behavioral Questions?

Behavioral questions are extremely important in PM interviews. They provide a glimpse into the candidate's character, behaviors, and decision-making processes (and often past behavior is indicative of future behavior). PM interviews particularly rely on behavioral questions because a well-crafted response can demonstrate a candidate’s communication and analytical skills. More importantly, they illustrate if a candidate can tell compelling stories and convey the why behind their message.

Beyond the communication and analytical skill component, companies are also testing cultural fit, which means that interviewers will be looking for their company's core values within each candidate. Given this, it's important to research the company’s values before you interview. 

What Does a Good Response to a Behavioral Question Look Like?  

Okay, now that we know why interviewers ask BQs, we need to know what some of the standard behavioral questions are and what good and great responses look like. 

Sample Questions:

1. Why Product Management (insert whatever position you are applying for)?

2. Why [X] Company? 

3. Tell me about a time when you took a project from start to finish.

4. Tell me about a time when you had to deal with difficult stakeholders.

5. Tell me about a time when you failed. 

Good Response: 

1. Provides Context 

2. Communicates

   1. The problem you were facing

   2. How you solved it

   3. Your solution’s impact

Great Response Includes:

1. All of the above 

2. A one-sentence answer to the question

   1. The first sentence of your answer should be sufficient to answer the question if you were cut off

3. Clear & concise communication of

   1. What you did & Why you did it

   2. Your solution’s impact on the greater business and product goals

   3. What you learned from the experience

BQ Response Framework  

A lot of people swear by the STAR Framework when it comes to answering behavioral questions. Although it gets the job done, I think it can be tweaked to make your answer more tight and punchy. 

For those unfamiliar with the STAR Method, it stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Results. Situation explains the context in which your story takes place, task describes the problem or challenge you took responsibility for solving, action displays the method you took to solve the problem, and results communicate the outcome or impact you had on the project. 

This framework is great for providing a good answer but not a great one. It requires the interviewer to listen intently to all the components of your answer to know its conclusion. However, by adding a one-liner, in the beginning, summarizing your answer–like a thesis–the interviewer can get a good understanding of where you are going and miss some details without sacrificing their overall understanding.  

For this reason, I like to follow the K-STARL method. I know it doesn’t have as good of an acronym, but it helps ensure I always include the components of what in my opinion is a great answer. This is how it works – “K” stands for kernel, which essentially is your thesis or hook for your story. The first sentence of your response should be sufficient to answer the question if you were cut off–anything after the kernel is added detail. Interviewers can also use this kernel as the foundation of their notes. By giving the interviewer a concise, upfront answer you make their job easier since they can zone in and out and still know what you are talking about. I will walk through an example later, but your “kernel” should include what you did and where you did it. Next, you use the standard “STAR” method for the meat of your answer. Note that within the situation and task portion, you should answer “So What”. This will illustrate why the problem at hand is worth solving and its impact on the greater business and product outcomes. Then, you finish off with “L”, which stands for learnings. This is where you share what you learned from the experience. Learnings can make your answer a little long, so what I do is stop just before and say “I learned a lot of lessons from this experience, which I can get into if you are interested (or a variation of that).” This allows the interviewer to decide if they’ve heard enough or want to know more. If they do cut you off, I wouldn’t take it personally. The interviewer might just want to explore other questions they have or save time. The important thing is that you show them that you value reflecting. 

K-STARL Framework Breakdown

Example 

A question I got asked a lot was “Tell me about a time when you took a project from zero to one.” This question can come in different forms like “Tell me about a project you are proud of” or “Tell me about a time you had to work in a group”. Below, I will outline my response, so you can get a sense of how I used the ASTARL method.   

Example Response

Below is a redacted version of my answer to the above question. 

Kernel

• A project that I took from start to finish was a feature that I helped build this past summer when I was interning at Company X. 

Situation & Task 

• Company X is a (explanation). There I was tasked with improving (product), which is (explanation). Specifically, I was focused on increasing user retention and the overall user experience. 

So What

• This was a really challenging project because when we started we had no idea how to move those metrics, and Company X was taking a really big bet on entering the soccer market. Also, this project aimed to help us achieve our 500 million dollar revenue goal. But we were failing miserably, so I had 8 weeks to figure out how we were going to move these metrics before the season started and contracts needed to be renewed. 

Action

• I went about this by… (Here I explain the actions I took to solve this problem) 

Impact

• It was actually really exciting, from this feature we increased user sentiment by __%! One customer even came to us saying that this feature was a game changer, which for me was super rewarding. 

• This project was definitely challenging and I learned a lot, which I can get into if you are interested.

Learnings

1. Prioritize Ruthlessly

2. Get Scrappy with Data 

3. Celebrate the Small Wins

For each learning, I gave a quick explanation. Overall, I think that by including lessons you not only show that you reflect often but also that you know the skills that are important for the role you are applying for.  

Brainstorm Exercise

Through this exercise, we will work backward to craft a great behavioral question response. 

1. Step 1: Outline the lessons you’ve learned from various experiences 

   1. Questions to ask yourself 

      1. What lessons are important to the job?

      2. What qualities or characteristics are needed for the role? 

      3. What skills do I have that would make me a good fit for the position? 

2. Step 2: Think of stories or experiences that illustrate those learnings 

   1. Questions to ask yourself 

      1. How did I learn the above lessons? 

      2. What events were significant in my life? 

3. Step 3: Apply the framework to craft an answer that moves from your stories in Step 2 to the lessons you learned in Step 1 

Additional Tips for Crafting Your Responses

1. Diagram your story’s timeline and details out 

2. Start building your response part by part 

3. Keep it as natural as possible as if you were just talking to a friend 

4. Practice, Practice, Practice–you should know all the details of your story like the back of your hand so you don’t have to think as much during the interview 

5. Keep everything relatively simple–it makes it easier to communicate

6. Focus on what’s important–stories can get really complicated really fast, so just focus on the details that support the overarching story thesis. To help with this, you can always ask yourself if I removed this detail, would the person still understand what I’m saying

Hope this helps! If you are interested in how I landed a PM internship, check out my other articles :)