Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Business Plan Writer & Financial Projections
What Is a Behavioral Interview? Questions Small Businesses Can Use
Past Behavior Beats Polite Promises.
You spend an hour interviewing, everyone is polite, the candidate says all the right things, and you still hire the wrong person. Business consultant Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, shows you how behavioral interview questions get real answers, and how to score them so the best candidate wins.
Last Updated: 11/08/2026 · Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
The Definition
What Is Behavioral Interviewing?
Short Answer
Behavioral interviewing asks candidates to describe what they actually did in specific past situations, rather than what they would do in a hypothetical one. It is based on the idea that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. Answers are scored against a simple scale, by each interviewer separately, before the candidates are discussed.
A behavioral question = tell me about a time + a real situation from the job + a score for what they did
Doctor Owl, in Plain English
“Anyone can say they are good with customers. Ask for the time a customer was angry, and listen to what they did next.”
How This Guide Works
Need the answer fast? Read the Short Answer above and the numbered steps. Want the full picture? Follow Alton, an ant who can fix anything from Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series, as he spends forty minutes of an interview talking about metal. His story shows up in a few short gold notes along the way. The math sits in one section, clearly marked.
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Meet Alton: An Ant Who Talked Through the Interview
Some lessons stick better as a story. Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series teaches business through a forest full of small business owners. Doctor Owl, a dry-witted consultant who lives in the Lone Oak, helps them fix the same problems real owners face.
Today he sits in on an interview at Alton & Pippa, the repair shop. Thanks to its new fixed-price packages, the shop is busier than ever, and Alton needs a third pair of hands. The candidate is a polite sparrow. Doctor Owl keeps count. By the forty-minute mark, Alton has steered the conversation to metalwork twenty-two times.
Why It Matters
Why Do Regular Interviews Miss Bad Hires?
Most interviews are two people being polite for an hour. The owner asks whether the candidate is good with customers or works well under pressure, and the candidate says yes. Nobody learns anything, because a hypothetical answer costs nothing to give.
Owners also talk too much. They describe the job, tell stories, and fill silences, and the candidate gets to listen instead of showing how they work. Behavioral interviewing flips the time: the candidate talks, and the stories are real.
In the Fabled Forest
The shop’s last hire, a beetle, had walked in and said he could fix clocks. When Alton asked whether he could fix clocks, the beetle said yes. He could not.
Ask Better Questions
What Makes a Good Behavioral Interview Question?
- It asks for a real event. A specific past moment, not a what-if.
- It comes from the real job. Build each question from a situation your business actually faced in the last year.
- It asks what they did. Then follow up: what happened next, and what would they change?
- It is the same for every candidate. Pair it with a structured interview so answers can be compared fairly.
In the Fabled Forest
The second candidate, a young wren, got a better question by accident. Asked about a repair that went wrong, she described her uncle’s mill pump: she replaced a worn washer, it leaked worse, and she worked out why. Her four-minute story revealed more than the sparrow’s forty-minute interview.
Score the Answers
How Do You Score Behavioral Interview Answers?
Use a simple three-point scale for each question. One: no real example, only what they would do, or someone else’s work. Two: a real example with some detail. Three: a real example where they clearly owned the problem, took action, and learned something.
Each interviewer scores separately, before talking it over. Then compare. If you agree, decide. If you do not, discuss the specific answers, not the impression. Follow up with a reference check that asks about the same behaviors.
In the Fabled Forest
That evening Pippa wrote five questions, each from a real job that had come through the shop that year, with a column for scores. At the wren’s second interview, Pippa did the asking, and Alton worked hard at staying silent. Scored separately, both of them gave her 13 out of 15.
The Numbers
How Does a Scored Interview Add Up?
Here is the shop’s scoring sheet: five questions from real jobs, scored one to three.
| Score | What it means |
|---|---|
| 1 | No real example, only what they would do, or someone else’s work |
| 2 | A real example with some detail |
| 3 | A real example: they owned it, acted, and learned |
| Wren’s total | 13 of 15 from each scorer, separately |
Step 1: Five real questions. 5 questions × 3 points = 15 possible.
Step 2: Two independent scores. Pippa 13, Alton 13, once he remembered there are no half points.
Step 3: The offer. A paid trial day, then a job: 7 coins weekly for a three-day schedule, then 12 for five days once she knew the packages.
Illustrative numbers in forest coins, from the book. Build your own questions from real jobs.
Step by Step
How Do You Run a Behavioral Interview?
Four steps for your next interview.
Write five questions from real jobs.
Each one asks for a real story based on something your business faced this year.
Set a one-to-three scale.
No real example, some detail, or clear ownership and action.
Let the candidate talk.
Ask, follow up, and stay quiet. Your job is to listen.
Score separately, then compare.
Each interviewer scores before discussing. Then decide.
In the Fabled Forest
Doctor Owl’s scroll for Alton covered two rules: real stories beat hypotheticals, and each person scores alone before any discussion. Pippa hung it by the register.
Alton’s Full Story
Did the Wren Get the Job?
This page gives you the short version. The book gives you the whole afternoon: twenty-two small marks on the back of an invoice, a brass buckle on a satchel, a beetle who said yes to everything, a wren with a tool roll and a scratched wing, and five questions written at the counter after closing.
Every chapter of Human Resources for Small Businesses works the same way. One owner, one problem, one real idea you can use on Monday, plus a one-page worksheet to do it.
A Business Consultant’s View
What Follow-Up Questions Does a Consultant Use?
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA · Business Consultant
The follow-up question is where Dr. Paul finds the real answer. A candidate’s first answer to a behavioral question is often rehearsed. He teaches owners to ask three follow-ups every time: what exactly did you do, what happened as a result, and what would you do differently? Rehearsed stories fall apart under the second question. Real ones get more specific. He also has owners write questions from situations their own business faced recently, so the interview tests the actual job. And he insists on scoring before discussion, because the first person to speak in a hiring conversation usually decides it.
FAQ
What Gets Asked Most About Interview Questions?
What is a behavioral interview question?
What are good behavioral interview questions for a small business?
How do you score behavioral interview answers?
Keep Going
More on Choosing Well
This is foundation 5 of 20. These pages build on it. New to a term on this page? Every one is in the human resources glossary.
Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, business consultant and author with 14+ years of experience and 1,000+ clients served. Hiring, paying, or managing a team and want a second set of eyes? See business consulting and prices.
This page is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal, financial, employment, or other professional advice. Figures are illustrations. The Fabled Forest and its characters are fictional. For decisions about your own business, consult a qualified professional.