Nine behavioural questions for a friend to ask you, in order
Sergei Skrylkov, Founder, Trippi · facts checked against the product on 2026-09-30
Behavioural questions — “tell me about a time when…” — are the easiest to prepare alone and the hardest to answer well out loud, because the follow-up is where a prepared story falls apart. A friend reading this script gives you both: nine questions in the order a real interviewer tends to ask them, and a follow-up for each that checks whether the story holds. It takes about forty-five minutes, including feedback.
Setup
- Before the call, write six stories in one line each: a failure, a conflict, something you built, a time you changed your mind, a time you led, a time you followed. Every question below is answered by one of them.
- Start the call in Google Meet, or Zoom or Teams in the browser. Send your friend this page.
- Ask your friend to note which story you used for each question. Using the same story three times is a real problem, and you will not notice it yourself.
Check the length of a story before the call with the answer timer; the real round is described on the behavioural interview page, and how practice calls work in general on interview practice.
The script for the interviewer
- 1“Tell me about yourself.” Follow-up: “Why did you move from your last role to the one before it — or the other way round?” — about ninety seconds
- 2“Tell me about a time you failed.” Follow-up: “What was your part in it, not the team’s?”
- 3“Tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager.” Follow-up: “What exactly did you say to them?” — ask for the actual sentence
- 4“Describe a time you had too much work and had to drop something.” Follow-up: “Who did you tell, and when?”
- 5“Tell me about a time you had to work with someone difficult.” Follow-up: “What would they say about you?”
- 6“Give me an example of a decision you made without enough information.” Follow-up: “Looking back, what information would have changed it?”
- 7“Tell me about something you are proud of that is not on your resume.” Follow-up: “Why is it not on your resume?”
- 8“Tell me about a time you changed your mind.” Follow-up: “What convinced you?”
- 9“Why this company?” Follow-up: “What would make you leave in the first year?” — the one that catches people
Timing
| Part | Minutes | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Question 1 | 3 | Answer in about ninety seconds, then the follow-up. |
| Questions 2–8 | 28 | Four minutes each. The answer should be one to two minutes; the rest is follow-up. |
| Question 9 | 4 | Short answer, harder follow-up. |
| Feedback | 10 | Story by story: which one was clear, which one ran long, which one was used twice. |
What your friend should listen for
- An action, not a situation. Many answers spend a minute on context and ten seconds on what you did. Your friend should note how long the “what I did” part was.
- A result with a number or a fact. “It went well” is not a result. “We shipped two weeks late but kept the client” is.
- Blame. Any sentence that makes someone else the villain. A real interviewer notices it immediately.
- The follow-up answer. If the follow-up to “what did you say to them?” is vague, the story was probably too general.
Switching roles
After feedback, swap. When you ask the questions, you will hear how long a two-minute answer feels from the listener’s side — longer than you think — and how quickly the follow-up exposes a general answer. Keep a list of the follow-ups that made your friend hesitate; they are the ones to prepare for.
What Trippi Cue shows during this rehearsal
When your friend asks “tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager”, the question appears in the Cue window as text, translated under it if you want, and a short card follows with the order to tell it in: the decision, your reason, what you said, the outcome. It does not know your stories. Put the six one-line stories into the note (“About this meeting”) before the call, and the cards can point to the right one. Then answer in your own words.
It listens to the call tab after you click its icon, not to your microphone. It hears your friend and never hears you, so it cannot score or review your answer; the feedback comes from your friend. This is a rehearsal: use it to practise with a person until the answers come easily, then go into the real interview on your own. Where we stand on interviews.
FAQ
Behavioral, specifically.
How many behavioural stories do I need?+
Six well-prepared stories cover most questions. The script above tests whether you can choose the right one quickly.
Should I use the STAR method?+
It is a useful order — situation, task, action, result — as long as the action gets most of the time. Your friend can check that.
How long should a behavioural answer be?+
One to two minutes is the usual convention. The answer timer on this site shows how long a written answer runs when spoken.
Does Trippi Cue grade my answers?+
No. It never hears your voice, because it does not use your microphone. It shows your friend’s question and a structure; your friend judges the answer.
Read next
Six stories, nine questions, one honest friend.
Trippi Cue is in the Chrome Web Store. One click on the icon when the call begins, and nothing before that.