Behavioral Competencies At Work

Adjusts easily to the new workplace, culture and people.

Sees the bright side of every situation instead of whining about the change.

Ability to change approach as the work demands.

Willing to learn and adopt new tools and methodologies.

What will you do if your teammate's work style does not align with yours, taking into account the fact that you have a deadline to meet?

How will you adjust when introduced to new technology at the workplace for which you must dedicate extra time?

What would you do if your manager does not approve of your work, no matter how dedicatedly you complete the task?

Did you face any issues transitioning from school to college? If so, how did you handle them?

Demonstrates an ability to follow instructions and directions to complete the assigned tasks.

Follows safety guidelines and does not compromise on one's own as well as other's safety in the workplace

Understands the need for standard operating procedures in the workplace to ensure consistency and quality.

Creates systems in place to ensure compliance to rules, standards, policies etc. and there are checks in place to identify deviations from these promptly.

How do you lay the groundwork for a healthy break policy?

Do you create a checklist? If so, are you able to accomplish it?

What does a normal day in your life look like?

How often do you get late for work?

Thinks positively about oneself instead of having a negative mindset.

Knows what one is good at and how one appears to others.

Self-motivated being who enjoys what one does.

Emotional stability which enables one to have a calm and focused approach towards oneself and others.

What is one specific thing you do that undermines your self-worth and causes you not to like yourself or your life?

In what aspect do you compare yourself to others?

Tell me about a time when you showed self-confidence to create positive motivation in others. Give me a specific example and the results.

What is more important – how others value you or how you value yourself?

An inclination to think out of the box, creative and excellent in problem-solving.

Never fail to help others because they trust themselves and others around them.

More prone to taking risks since they consider any risk as a challenge or puzzle to be solved.

Never back down attitude due to minor setbacks which they use as learning opportunities.

How will you get your work done in a scenario wherein you have a report launch lined up in 10 days, and all freelance designers need at least ten working days to design your report?

What would you do if you have been toiling day and night to crack a public service exam, but you did not make it to the cutoff list by just one mark?

Would you invest in cryptocurrency if an expert business analyst and friend of yours predicts a surge in the rates of cryptocurrency for a limited period?

How do you feel if your research work of two weeks gets trashed by the reporting manager and hence you need to work on the project from scratch?

Works for long hours and does overtime without losing effectiveness.

Maintains good pace to fulfil set objectives.

Performs mentally or physically taxing work effectively.

Ability to working on multiple tasks even with little to no rest.

You are on the verge of finishing a task when your manager assigns you a new task for which you must start preparing at the backend. What would you do to make up for both the tasks?

What motivates you to come to the office each day?

What are the conditions when you must put extra hours to finish a project? Would you rather work on weekends or finish the task during working hours?

What are the activities that make you lose track of time?

Maintain transparency in all the transactions at the workplace.

Keep the company's trade secrets/intellectual property confidential.

Upfront and honest about his activities and maintains integrity while undertaking any task.

Disagree with superiors, but in private.

What are the hidden criteria that aids an appraisal?

How do you feel working in your current position?

Do you prefer working individually or as part of a team?

What problems did you face in your previous roles and how did you deal with them?

Actively seeks feedback from others, incorporates it to improve learning and doesn't get disheartened from negative feedbacks.

Takes note from past mistakes and improves after coming across better ideas.

Displays readiness to learn something new by accepting unique challenges.

Always ready to try new things in addition to routine work to widen one's learning horizon.

How do you feel and further act upon an assignment, for which you have received negative feedback from a colleague?

How would you proceed with your work, when your trainee comes up with a better plan of action than you?

Would you attend training sessions introduced by the management, not compulsory for everyone?

Your project requires software which would simplify your work? Would you take someone's assistance? If not, what would be your plan of action?

Predisposition to become angry at work, even with little or no provocation.

Broods over past mistakes, regrets them and overthinks, thus making it even worse.

Gets affected by memories of even minor annoying incidents.

Often gets upset and cannot control oneself in front of others.

You have made a long due outing plan with friends, but it gets cancelled at the last moment. What do you tell your friends?

Do you have more good memories than bad ones?

You want to watch a live football match on TV, while your parents wish to watch a news bulletin. What would you do be able to watch the match?

How often do you think about the past? What did you learn from your mistakes?

Absence of admiration from others can cause a great deal of personal distress.

Arrogant and rude while dealing with peers or clients.

Microscopic vision on their wants and needs, while remaining oblivious to the needs of others.

Not receptive to others' distress due to lack of empathy.

How many selfies do you take in a day?

What is your immediate response if a friend compliments your new shoes?

Can friends on Facebook see your tagged picture?

How often do you look at your face while video calling a friend?

Completes tasks that have been assigned individually or to the team.

Accepts mistakes rectifies them, learns from them and tries not to repeat the same errors.

Seeks little or no guidance on how to go about executing work.

Acts as a role model for giving credit to the team members for their success and stand with them during failures.

How will you handle a situation when you have goofed up big time, but the root cause/person behind the cause is unknown to the management?

How would you manage a looming deadline?

You are back to work after sick leave; meanwhile, there has been miscommunication due to your absence. What steps will you take to make up for it?

You have hit rock bottom with an initiative. What did you learn from it and how did you change your action plan?

Deep dives into understanding every detail of the task at hand.

Knows the importance of giving excellent performance and hence tries to excel in everything.

Maintains consistency in work irrespective of how challenging situations become.

Considers quality of output to be of paramount importance by encouraging everyone to speak up against anything subpar.

What kind of analysis do you put in place to evaluate, improve and manage the quality of services you provide?

How do you anticipate the needs of your customers for products and services they are unaware of?

Describe when you figured out an area of improvement and the measures you undertook to tackle it.

Which checking process have you in place to ensure that you meet accuracy standards?

Handles disappointments or rejections without letting it affect day-to-day work.

Sticks to the plan and does not give up until the objective is achieved.

Re-engineers or creates new processes and systems to get around obstacles.

Analyzes the environment to identify long-term risks and proactively designs contingency plans.

What stresses you out in life or work and, how do you cope with it?

Have you turned any of your dreams into reality?

You have been arriving at the wrong conclusion every time you solve an equation. What would you do to arrive at the right answer?

You are amid semester exams in a different city while your mother meets with an accident. How would you manage to stay focused on studying?

Understand one's core strengths and actively seek opportunities to use them effectively.

Understands one's areas of development and looks for ways to improve them to be more successful on the job front.

Regularly reflects on one's achievements and failures to understand gaps in skill sets.

Practices self-control and recognises one's pressure points.

What are your two key weaknesses which you think you need to work on and why?

Where do you see yourself in five years? What are you doing to further that goal?

What has been a major setback in your life? How did you pull yourself through it?

What life lessons have you learned in n number of years and how have they shaped the way you think?

Takes necessary measures to meet goals and figures out ways to track the progress to ensure successful completion of goals.

Determined to achieve benchmarks over time and resist external agencies which keep them away from attaining the goals.

Provides necessary resources and encouragement to team members to work towards accomplishing their goals and tasks.

Takes calculated risks, based on learning and experience to raise the bar.

How do you stay prepared when there is an urgent client call scheduled for the day, but you have several in-house responsibilities?

Will you go out of your way to arrive at the outcome you committed to delivering? If so, how would the events unfold?

How do you set your goals? Describe your action plan to achieve them and strategy when failing to do so.

How would you approach a situation when you have an important deadline but, you know you will not be able to deliver on time?

Retains faith in his/her approach even if it is not immediately successful.

Does not lose control when confronted with criticism or resistance.

Ability to assess when to continue and when to give up on an unattainable goal.

Tries over and over again against all the odds.

Would you still pursue your business model which neither your friends nor family have trust in?

How would you feel and what would you do when you are unable to reach the correct answer to a math problem even after trying multiple times?

What would you do when you realise there has been no difference in your body weight despite three months of workout and healthy diet?

How will you respond to the chief who has shunned away your creative script which you produced toiling day and night?

Smart employee who always finds out a way to get work done.

Grabs any learning opportunity and comes out as a quick learner.

Looks at setbacks as a medium to grow and improve further.

Continuously looks for more challenging tasks.

What career would you opt for/change in your current career if you were given a chance to start all over again?

What is your aim in life? How far are you from achieving it?

Consider you are hired for the job but, your work does not align with your career goals. What would you do?

You have been given an option to start a new project in addition to the ongoing but, that requires more time and resources. Would you take it up to let a co-worker take it?

Use a situation for personal advantage by manipulating others.

Create a false positive impression to achieve personal goals.

Determined to succeed if it requires bending the rules.

Want people's contributions with minimal investment of their own time.

What would you do if you are getting late for an urgent meeting and the traffic light turns yellow?

What would you do if you're in a long queue outside a restaurant, but you catch a friend about to enter?

Would you take the initiative to convey it to your manager if a couple of team members have planned to flunk in the manager's absence?

What do secrets mean to you and how good/bad are you at keeping them?

Feel no guilt whatsoever, when one's actions harm others.

Unwillingness to look from others' perspective.

A closed mindset which is not open to accepting changes.

Unfriendly and ignorant to customer's requirement.

How would you feel if your boss reprimands you for coming late almost daily?

What would you do if your team is getting lectured for making a mistake that you committed?

How do you respond to a friend who often advises you to be polite while speaking?

When another person is sad or frustrated, do you experience the same emotions?

Get easily bored without high levels of stimulation.

Take uncalculated risks.

Do not adhere to rules and regulations if they get in the way.

Indulge in unusual and risky acts to keep up the excitement level.

Would you like to take a safe drug that would bring you strange experiences?

Your cousin has shared a business idea with you and needs the necessary resources to set-up. Would you invest in it considering you have no experience in the domain?

Do you enjoy when someone makes an unexpected joke or comment that starts everyone laughing a little nervously?

What would you do and how would you work at a place where you have to do the same things daily?

Possess the eagerness to work on new tasks or tasks that others don't want to take up.

Continuously looks for areas where he or she can contribute.

Looks for opportunities for the team to take on new challenges as well showcase their skills and abilities

Minimizes potential problems by anticipating and preparing for them in advance

Give an example of how you acted to prevent a larger problem from occurring.

Tell me about a time when you thought through the consequences of a specific action in planning a project. What barriers did you discover?

Describe a situation in which you forecasted a problem and prepared a strategy for handling it. How did it turn out?

How will you deal with resource crunch when you have given a task to your team, but one of the members goes on an unplanned leave?

Does not back down when faced with challenges, instead calmly tackle challenges to learn and grow.

Proactively works towards learning goals and takes responsibility to achieve the same.

Confidence in one's abilities drives one towards perfection.

Self-motivated to improve one's knowledge.

When encountering a person blowing his own trumpet, how do you bring them to become an effective contributor?

Describe the one time you failed to deliver superior quality work as committed to your client and the reason behind the same.

What do you do when you manage to finish your work before time?

What kind of high standards do you set for yourself /subordinates? How do you work towards attaining them for yourself and the team?

Takes responsibility for their work, including problems and issues.

Treats everyone fairly and with due respect.

Uses applicable professional standards and established procedures and policies when taking actions and making decisions.

Identifies ethical dilemmas and conflict of interest situations, and acts accordingly to avoid and prevent them.

Have you ever called in sick when in fact you had some other plans?

As a famous artist, you are offered 50,00,000 Lakhs to endorse a product which you don't like personally. Would you still take up the endorsement?

Would you mind flirting with a customer to bag a major deal if the other party considers you attractive?

Have you ever made a product sound better than it is, to market it?

Stays calm even in adverse or difficult situations.

Ability to think when faced with emotional or stressful situations.

Maintain stability with regards to one's emotions while keeping balance with work.

Reacts positively when dealing with stressed-out team members.

How would you respond if your manager gave negative feedback in front of your peers?

How do you prepare for a presentation to an important client the day before it's due?

Can you describe a time when your stress resulted in making errors at work?

How do you ensure that stressful situations in your personal life don't affect your work performance?

Make hasty decisions without thinking them through.

Have difficulty waiting for things they want.

Interrupts conversations and others' activities.

Blurt out inappropriate comments and act without regard for consequences.

Would you accompany a colleague who asks you out for a night out?

What would you buy in end of season sale? How often do you shop?

How would you react to someone who constantly insults you in front of your boss?

What is the worst thing you have done or said in anger?

Undertakes a complex task by breaking it down into manageable parts in a systemic, detailed way.

Effectively analyses the situation, collects input to make an informed decision

Applies formal methods and strategies to enhance creative thought.

Deals with problems without any presumptions or bias.

What do a fox, a hen and a farmer have in common?

If you were a pizza delivery man, how would you benefit from scissors?

A boy is walking down the road with a doctor. While the boy is the doctor's son, the doctor isn't the boy's father. Then who is the doctor?

A journalist has called you up for certain information, and you need approval from your TL to give a heads-up, but the TL is unavailable as she's gone for a board meeting. If you don't answer, the journalist may publish as per his wish. What would you do?

Skilled to resolve problems by finding effective solutions.

Uses rigorous logic and methods to analyse and understand why problems occur.

Seeks necessary help and resources to resolve issues promptly.

Helps team members learn from these situations and find ways to prevent the problem from recurring in future

What did you find the most difficult thing in your previous role and how did you manage to do it?

How do you analyse and assess risk? What steps do you take to mitigate risk once it's been identified?

What would you do if you face a problem that you are unable to solve?

You are about to deliver a project when you realise you have analysed the wrong data and hence, produced faulty statistics. What would you do considering there is half the time left to do double work?

Performs and completes work in an organised and orderly manner.

Understands and considers the impact of one's work on others and vice-versa.

Recognizes the priority of different tasks and plans accordingly to ensure efficiency.

Lays out short and long-term plans along with backup or contingency plans to ensure the organisation's success.

How do you determine priorities when scheduling your time?

Describe a time when you had several deadlines falling at the same time. How did you organise your time to get them all done?

What is the definition of an ideal work environment for you that makes you most productive?

How would you develop a month's pre-launch plan for your product?

Considers multiple perspectives and points of view before making decisions.

Understands the short and long-term implications of the decisions being made

Clearly communicates the decisions to the teams and provides a clear rationale for it.

Prepares for any negative outcomes of their decision on the organisation in the short, mid and long term.

How did you handle a project where you did not have all the required information?

What is the quickest decision you have ever made and what obstacles did you face?

Do you regret any business decision? If so, why?

How do you convey feedback to a reporting staff member?

Takes actions and decisions after considering the pros and cons of such a move on the organisation

Considers long term success factors and accordingly shape the direction of the organisation.

Considers challenges that are likely to arise in the future and accordingly prepare contingencies for them.

Design flexible plans by creating some benchmarks for a review process.

How do you set about creating a plan and how much time do you spend on it?

What are the important things without which you cannot create an effective growth strategy?

How would you change if you were given an annual target of 2x growth?

In what aspect would your competitors envy you the most two years down the lane?

Comfortable not having all the details before proceeding to work on a task.

Demonstrates willingness to receive and use information as and when it may come.

Provide outputs even with limited information and resources.

Gives necessary support and encourages the team during untoward times.

How will you go about creating a report when the only information available to you is the title?

You are nearing the project deadline. Meanwhile, you have an ad-hoc requirement. Will you decline the request?

Describe a time you had to make a tough decision (e.g. fire a team member or choose between two job offers.) How did you make sure you were objective?

If you were away travelling and weather conditions resulted in flights being cancelled, causing widespread chaos, how would you get back home?

Finds new ways of doing tasks.

Brings about change in the way things are done to improve work processes and makes them more efficient.

Looks for ways to innovate or adopt new policies to enhance work efficiency.

Recognizes and rewards new ideas and approaches at an organisational level.

When have you adopted an innovative approach to solving an issue?

How would you generate an analysis when there is a power failure at the workplace, your system has drained off, and you are required to present the report in a couple of hours?

If you are to meet Sundar Pichai for half hour, what futuristic plans would you suggest him?

In what project would you invest, given the case you have received funding of INR 10 Lakhs?

Listens to ensure a clear understanding of the message being communicated.

Asks appropriate questions to clarify doubts or concerns.

Probes to gather further information that might be relevant but unstated by the other person/party.

Consistently paraphrases to ensure no information is lost and accurate understanding of information.

HRs can test this competency through online assessments.

The assessments can include a few listening tests.

While communicating with the candidate, notice if he can ignore distractions and still stay focused.

You may conclude the interview by asking the candidate to describe a time when they were able to hang on to a key aspect of an industry leader's speech which others in the group missed out on.

Demonstrates ability to compromise and adapt to oneself when working in a team.

Understands common goals towards which oneself and others are working.

Willingly helps others without being asked to.

Understanding the potential strengths between partners and leverage it to ensure an organisation's success.

How would you manage to get work done and communicate back and forth changes in your report, given the situation that you are working with a freelance designer?

How would you complete a team task working with a laid-back teammate?

Would you rather make friends at the workplace or stick to professional relations?

What would an ideal team-building exercise look like?

Connects with immediate stakeholders regularly.

Builds relationships with others to gather information and inputs.

Prudent enough to gather resources from internal and external sources to ensure the task is accomplished efficiently.

Regularly connects with stakeholders to nurture relationships over time to build trust and to develop a basis for future interactions.

How did you recover from a situation in which you misinterpreted a message and made the situation worse?

You have finally managed to get a client for the next project, but he turns out to be difficult to deal with. In such a case, how will you try to keep him happy/contended?

Have you ever made a decision that cost you a client? What happened and what did you learn from that experience?

A long-term customer complains to you about the rise in product price and is about to end your business relationship. What measures would you take to retain them?

Distributes work among team members in an appropriate manner.

Provides team members with necessary help and guidance to ensure they can complete the task appropriately.

Leverages individual team member's strengths to ensure the work is done most efficiently and leads to the best outcomes possible.

Ensures that leaders and successors are groomed by being given adequate opportunities to take on key responsibilities and critical tasks.

How stressed and overburdened do you feel at work?

How do you determine if a specific person is fit for a certain task?

Would you invest in an expensive tool which one of your subordinates wants for his task? Give reasons to support your answer.

Have you figured out why your team misses out on the deadline? How do you handle such slips and ensure they don't repeat?

Open and transparent in one's transactions with internal and external stakeholders

Ensures that deals are done in a fair manner.

Does the right thing, regardless of the consequence one will have to face.

Answers difficult questions without hiding critical details from the team.

How would you justify breaking professional confidence in an organisational set-up?

Would you be willing to tell a white lie to protect the company's reputation in case you upset due to a little flaw converting into a major issue?

Would you report a dishonest co-worker to your manager? Give reasons to support your answer.

What would you do if you have been caught red-handed by your parents lying about your whereabouts?

Uses the appropriate medium of communication depending on the audience.

Break down explanations of complex processes, rules into everyday situations to engage listeners.

Speak at an appropriate speed, volume, tone and pitch to communicate the idea effectively to the audience.

Looks for cues from the audience to gauge their understanding.

What are the key areas you focus while preparing for a presentation?

What would you do if the board members disapprove your idea which took you a week to pull through?

What are the key elements that keep your audience engaged?

How do you confront hostile questions?

Finds synergies between the needs of various parties to arrive at solutions that are agreeable to everyone.

Understands when to compromise as well as when to stand one's ground.

Recognizes how to leverage one's position to make the outcomes as favourable to oneself/team/organisation.

Responds to opposing views in a non-defensive manner.

You are on the verge of closing a client deal with a retail giant, but they are bargaining a lower price which is way beyond the maximum discount that you can offer. How will you come to the same page to retain them?

There is a role of greater responsibility in your company which you have been anticipating taking up for a while, even though you lack few credentials. How will you still recommend yourself for the position?

Why do logical arguments sometimes fail to influence?

You are house hunting in a new city where you have secured a job, but the house you finally like is beyond your budget. How will you negotiate with the owner to compensate the property in your budget?

Fairly good at understanding feelings, emotions and supportive during distressful times.

Remarkable ability to put himself/herself in other people's shoes.

Understands emotional components behind complex situations.

Respectful and considerate of others' viewpoint.

If you could share one thing with someone interested in a job that requires helping people, what would it be?

How would you comfort someone reluctant in sharing his problems?

When do you criticise someone and what is your criticism based on?

How do you feel and what do you do when you see a colleague crying?

Demonstrates an understanding and sensitivity to others who might be different from oneself.

Treats everyone with respect despite differences.

Actively tries to learn more about people who might be different from oneself and accommodate to a reasonable extent any special needs that they might have.

Finds ways to help diverse individuals work towards common goals and objectives.

What would you do if you see two groups of men quarrelling on a sensitive issue?

How comfortable would you feel working with someone belonging to the LGBT community as a colleague?

What according to you are the best practices for managing a diverse workgroup?

How would you make a co-worker understand if he has been ill-treating someone from a different ethnicity?

Understands when conflicts arise as a result of disagreements or miscommunication.

Takes appropriate and immediate action to resolve misunderstandings.

Ensures that conflicts don't fester for a long time.

Makes sure that conflicts within (or between) the teams are resolved immediately so as not to hamper the work environment.

How would you advise a team member who complained about a coworker's behaviour?

Can you remember any instance where you did not agree with your teammate's idea on a collaborative project? If so, how did you express your thoughts and what was the outcome?

How do you deal with angry customers who complain about the service you provide?

How do you deal with criticism at the workplace?

Provides team members with timely and constructive feedback.

Helps individual team members gain a better understanding of their strengths and areas of development.

Provides opportunities to team members to work on their areas of development on-the-job and outside.

Creates and encourages employees to take up learning opportunities to enhance their behavioural and technical skills.

How did you change your managing style to suit two different sets of assignments/team members?

What would you do if your mentoring did not help in better team/ team member's performance?

Describe a case when you provided constructive feedback to an employee.

How would you encourage your subordinates to try problem-solving on their own instead of reaching out to you for possible solutions?

Understands the rationale for change mandated by the organisation.

Effectively change and adapt oneself and work with new processes and systems.

Finds synergies between the old and new ways of doing things, to effectively transition during the change process.

Clearly highlights the benefits of the change in the short and long term.

How is the current process?

What was the need to change management?

What would the organisation achieve by doing so?

What will be the consequences if there is no such change?

Demonstrates a thorough understanding of the nature of one's business.

Understands the linkage between one's work compared to others in the team.

Knows the impact of one's work on the organisation as a whole.

Good knowledge of domestic and global trends and factors that could impact an organisation's productivity.

What do you hope to achieve in your new position and why?

How do you want yourself to be remembered?

For which job role would you apply and why given the scenario that you can only apply for one position?

How do you stay on track as per current market trends? What challenges do you face?

Explores opportunities for new businesses and expand existing lines of business.

Willing to take calculated risks for the organisation's growth.

Ability to distinguish between the potential for success and risks of failure that accompanies ventures.

Readiness to tackle challenges by implementing new strategies and thus accept the change in approach.

How long does it take for you to implement and fulfil the end goal since the time you have an idea?

Who is your greatest competitor?

Which are improvement areas are you currently working on? How did you identify the need to do so?

What are your favourite reads?

Providing compelling arguments that can win over the other side.

Demonstrates the ability to answer questions effectively to convince others of one's thoughts and opinions

Considers others' points of view and addresses them before they can bring it up themselves.

Possessing the charm to win over others despite others' arguments.

How would you persuade a colleague to do something he or she does not agree with?

How would you utilise an influential relationship to help you achieve desired goals at the workplace?

Describe an instance where you had to get work done from a team over which you have no authority. What approach did you follow and what was the relevant outcome?

What according to you was a breakthrough idea which you failed to sell to your manager? Why was it rejected and how did you feel about it?