John is the HR Professional for his organization. He is interviewing Sally for a sales position and he has asked Sally to provide an instance of how she worked with a tough customer in the past, how…

A prescreen interview is a brief, initial screening step used to verify minimum qualifications before scheduling a full interview - it does not involve in-depth behavioral scenario questions.

Behavior-based interviewing uses structured questions that ask candidates to recall specific past situations, the actions they took, and the results they achieved - a framework commonly called the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result). By asking Sally to describe how she handled a tough customer, what she did to resolve it, and what the outcome was, John is gathering concrete behavioral evidence of competency rather than hypothetical responses. Research consistently shows this technique is a stronger predictor of future job performance than situational or unstructured interview approaches.

A directive interview follows a rigid, structured script of closed-ended questions and does not ask candidates to elaborate on past experiences or describe outcomes.

A stress interview deliberately creates discomfort through provocative or challenging questions to observe how a candidate responds under pressure - it is not designed to elicit narrative accounts of past behavior.