Introduction

If you are ready to look for a new Salesforce job, preparing for potential interviews is likely on the top of your priority list. However, practising for the traditional interview questions isn’t enough. In recent years, the behavioral interview questions, also known as the situational questions, has gained popularity.

As you may know that some traditional interviews often focus on open-ended questions that permit the opportunity for you to share what you think the interviewer wants to hear because they ask for opinion-based responses. On the other hand, behavioral-based interview questions help the interviewer understand how you’ve performed and behaved in the past with actual results and scenarios.

In this article, you’ll learn the strategies on how to answer Salesforce Behavioral questions and ace your interview!

What is a Behavioral Interview Question?

What are behavioral interview questions? They are the unpredictable queries that employers ask during job interviews.

A behavioral question (also known as STAR Interview Questions or behavior-based interview questions) is a question that aims at learning about your past “behaviors” in specific work situations.

For example, instead of asking hypothetical questions like, “How would you cope with politics at work?” they would instead ask situational questions like, “Describe a time you faced with a political situation at work. How did you react?”

Why do Employers want to ask Behavioral Questions during the interview?

Before knowing how to answer these questions, you may wonder the purpose of Employers asking these questions during the interview, right?

Learn about the potential of candidates

These behavioral interview questions make very clear that you are supposed to share a full story or a specific situation about adapting, balancing, persuading, etc. These questions give away the right answers; encourage candidates to share stories and avoid examples of failure.

Common behavioral interview questions focus on how you handled various work situations in the past, which helps Employers predict how you will behave in the future. Your response also reveals your potential, abilities, and personality.

Gain more insight into candidates’ skillset

What’s more, Behavioral interview questions typically focus on common problems faced at work. Employers are looking for examples that you have demonstrated key soft skills like these:

Analytical skills, creativity
Persuasiveness, negotiation
Attention to detail, planning and organizing
Integrity, reliability, motivation
Team building, leadership, management
Problem-solving, initiative, judgement
Handling stress, resilience, adaptability

Strategies to answer Behavioral Questions

Step 1/ Study the job description and the company

You want to study the job description and company you’ll be interviewing with to help you prepare for a behavioral-based interview. Carefully review the job description and identify any skills or traits they identify as required or preferred for the job. This will guide you in selecting stories to demonstrate your fit for the job.

If you can, find out some info about the last or current incumbent of the position and the types of employees the organization hires. This will help you come up with a list of competencies, attributes, and skills, which is discussed in the next paragraph.

Step 2/ Review your past experience and skills

Before your next job interview, sit down and review the significant projects that you remember, your achievements, specific skills, and attributes you come up with that are related to the job.

If you don’t have much professional experience, don’t worry. In entry-level positions, the hiring manager will be aware of a possible lack of real-world, on-the-job experience. Think about transferrable skills from other areas of your life. Consider your volunteer experience, extracurriculars, and any life experience that demonstrates your abilities.

Step 3/ Prepare good notes

After reviewing your skills and achievements, you should start to document them. Writing notes is helpful as it allows you to come up with stories and examples for behavioral interview questions.

This will be also beneficial for you when it comes to completing performance appraisals if you’re required to do so.

Step 4/ Use the STAR method

The STAR method is a useful strategy for responding to interview questions that require an anecdote. It’s an excellent way to organize your thoughts.

The STAR method can help you keep track of the information to include in your story. This helps ensure you’re sharing all the details the hiring manager wants to hear.

Understand the STAR method

There are four steps to answer the common behavioral interview questions using the STAR method:

(S) Situation: What is the context of your story? In setting the situation, you are telling your listener when or where this event took place. What was going on? Set the stage for your interviewer.
(T) Task: What was your role in this situation? Describe the task you were asked to complete. If there was a particular problem or issue you were trying to solve, describe that here.
(A) Action: What did you do? Describe the actions you took to address the situation with an appropriate amount of detail. What specific steps did you take and what was your particular contribution?
(R) Results: What did your actions lead to? Wrap up your answer by describing the positive results of your actions.

Sample answer for a Behavioral interview question

Using the above strategies, here is an example of how you might answer a behavioral interview question:

Question: Tell me about how you worked effectively under pressure.

Answer:

At Salesforce Company ABC, I was working as a Salesforce Consultant. My role was to consult with internal partners to ensure platform design drove value and efficiency. This particular role included a major new reporting feature that customers needed — so it was important to get it right.
I had been working on this key project that was scheduled for reporting to the client in 60 days. My supervisor came to me and said that we needed to speed it up and be ready in 45 days while keeping our other projects on time.
I made it into a challenge for my staff, and we effectively added just a few hours to each of our schedules. And it was my job to get everyone’s input on how to communicate it to customers — and I had to do it quickly because we wanted to give customers the courtesy of a heads up. I also had to work with the group to quickly put together talking points for our Client Account Managers and revise all of the training and Help documentation.
Our team got the job done in 42 days by sharing the workload and worked closely together. I had a great group of people to work with, but I think that my effective allocation of tasks was a major component that contributed to the success of the project. My manager was so happy with my performance that I was promoted to Manager level primarily as a result of my work on this project.

Step 5/ Practice answering behavioral questions

Be sure to practice out loud. If possible have someone conduct mock interviews with you. The more you practice your responses the more confident you’ll be during the interview.

Sample Behavioral Interview Questions

Behavioral interview questions require the interviewee to provide examples of times when they have performed the skills needed for the job. You need to provide specific examples to convince the interviewer you have the skills they need.

Here are several examples of common behavioral interview questions you might be asked in your next Salesforce interview. Take some time to prepare sample answers for each both to practice and plan so you will be prepared in future interviews.

Describe a time when you faced a stressful situation that demonstrates your coping skills.
Tell me about a time you learned a new skill. How did you approach it and how to did you apply your new learnings?
Can you tell me about a time you set and achieved a certain goal?
Can you tell me about a challenging situation you overcame at work?
Have you ever made a mistake? How did you handle it?
Give an example of how you worked on a team.
Tell me about a time you had to work with a difficult person.
What is your typical way of dealing with conflict? Give me an example.
Give me an example of a time when you motivated others.
Tell me about a time when you delegated a project effectively.
Give me an example of a time when something you tried to accomplish and failed.