Thinking about how to respond to a behavioral or ethical question? Or are you looking for some sample questions about your work ethic and integrity that an employer might ask you? In either case, we‘ve got you covered.
Hiring managers and employers ask several questions to assess your work experience, skills, background, and character. An ethical or behavioral question is asked to analyze your core values and integrity. This blog post is a detailed guide to help you prepare for ethical questions and answer them confidently.
So without further ado, scroll down to learn how to answer behavioral interview questions.
Ethical/Behavioral Interview Questions: What Are They?
An ethical question is one that an employer asks to assess your ethics, integrity, morality, or approach to problem-solving at work. The behavioral questions are asked by the interviewer to assess your moral standards. Furthermore, these questions assist the hiring company in determining your ability to work under pressure and deal with any ethical dilemmas at work.
As a result, it is critical to prepare to answer a behavioral or ethical question posed by an employer during an interview.
How to Answer Ethical Interview Questions?
A candidate must include learning about the hiring company’s culture in the workplace. This might help you answer an ethical question during the interview. Moreover, apply the STAR response technique to respond to any behavioral question efficiently.
The STAR format helps you align your answer to any ethical question and deliver it confidently. Here is the structure of the STAR technique:
- Situation: Describe a brief situation related to the ethical question asked by the employer. Make sure not to lose track, and create a situation in mind that corresponds with the question asked.
- Task: Now discuss what’s needed to be done to solve the ethical dilemma. Explain your role and the role you would assign to others to tackle the issue by respecting the rights of others and following the company’s policies.
- Action: Explain how you will carry out the tasks you mentioned in the step mentioned above. Align your line of action and explain each step confidently.
- Results: Finally cover up the whole situation by discussing the results. Explain how your actions solved the issue while maintaining the integrity and respect of the company.
When you are preparing for an interview, don’t forget to practice answers to the ethical questions you might have to answer. Follow the STAR response technique and brainstorm stories in your mind. The stories you practice should be related to the position you have applied for and the culture of the hiring company.
Commonly Asked Ethical Interview Questions
Here are some examples of generally asked behavioral questions during an interview:
Tell us about a time when you had to make an ethical decision.
This question might be asked by an employer to determine how you handled an ethical quandary at your previous job. Here is an example answer:
In my previous job, I discovered that my manager had unintentionally provided us with pirated software. So, I conducted the necessary investigation to confirm it was pirated. I had to face the dilemma of upsetting and embarrassing the manager.
However, I couldn’t stand using illegal software. So, I reached out to our manager and got the problem solved by advising a similar and cheaper version of the software.
What would you do if you witnessed a colleague engaging in unethical actions?
Showing integrity and morality at the workplace does not only involve you, it includes others as well. This question can be asked by an employer to assess your approach to maintaining ethical standards among your team members. Here is an example answer:
I will assess the severity of the situation first. Then I’d try to correct my colleague in a minor situation or notify my supervisor so that action could be taken. This reminds me of the time when I was a floor manager at a superstore. Despite its low sales, I noticed that an XYZ product used to run out of stock after a few days.
I looked into the storage room, but it was also empty. I felt like a detective and started noticing my colleagues when I noticed one team member stealing the product. I had no choice but to inform our manager. He took legal action against the worker. On my advice, he also implemented the rule of reconciling every product at the end of the day.
How would you respond if you made a mistake at work?
An interviewer can ask this question to see if you can take responsibility for your actions or not. When you have been asked a similar question, don’t think of defending yourself; rather, give the impression that you would acknowledge and correct your mistakes. Here is an example answer:
I would accept my mistake, of course. We are all humans, and we all make mistakes, don’t we? It reminds me of a time in my previous job when we had an audit team at our workplace. The team found a missing expense, which made me curious. Upon my private investigation, I found out it was my mistake, and I forgot to log the expense details.
Even though I could have logged the data into the system without anyone knowing, I chose to accept my error. I consulted the auditors right away and informed them about my mistake. They appreciated my honesty and advised me to take care next time.
Final Thoughts
It takes careful consideration, focus, and a confident but courteous response to respond to an ethical question. If the question perplexes you, consider asking for clarification and more information rather than responding with a poor answer. We hope our blog and examples helped you with answering a behavioral interview question.
