In this guide
Interviews and salary conversations
Behavioural and technical interview questions: what's the difference?
How behavioural questions test what you have done and technical questions test what you can do now, with a preparation plan and an example of each.
Two different questions
| Behavioural | Technical | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical opening | “Tell me about a time…” | “How would you…”, “Walk me through…”, “What is…” |
| What it tests | How you have actually behaved | Knowledge and skill you can use now |
| Good answer | A specific past example with your actions and a result | A correct, clearly reasoned working or explanation |
| Main risk | Staying general or describing the team | Guessing silently or bluffing |
| Preparation | An evidence bank of examples | Practice problems and revision of fundamentals |
Preparing for the behavioural half
List the main responsibilities of the role and find one past example for each. Use a simple structure, such as situation, task, action and result, so you do not lose the thread under pressure. The STAR guide covers this in detail.
Illustrative example
Behavioural question for a payroll officer
- Question: Tell me about a time you found an error after a process had already run.
- Answer: “In March I noticed overtime for one site had been paid at the standard rate. I checked the rule change that caused it, worked out which eleven people were affected, agreed a correction run with my manager the same day and wrote to each person explaining the difference and when it would arrive. I then added a check on rate tables to the monthly sign-off so it could not recur.”
Preparing for the technical half
Ask the employer what format the technical part takes: live problem, written test, exercise on a shared screen, or questions about your past technical work. Then revise the fundamentals named in the advert rather than trying to cover everything in the field.
- Talk through your reasoning as you work. Interviewers often score the approach as much as the answer.
- State assumptions out loud (“I'm assuming the data is already clean”).
- If you do not know something, say how you would find out, and do not invent an answer.
- Check your result before you present it as final.
Illustrative example
Technical question for the same payroll role
- Question: An employee starts mid-month on an annual salary. How would you work out their first payment?
- Answer: “I'd confirm how the organisation pro-rates, because some use working days and some use calendar days. Then I'd calculate the daily rate on that basis, multiply by the days worked, and check deductions and tax are applied to the part-month correctly before it goes into the run.”
When a question is both
Some questions blend the two: “Tell me about a technical problem you solved.” Treat these as behavioural questions with technical content. Give the situation briefly, spend most of the answer on how you diagnosed and fixed the problem, and finish with the result.
Common questions
Which matters more, technical or behavioural answers?
It depends on the role and the employer. Many treat technical ability as the entry requirement and behavioural answers as the deciding factor between capable candidates.
Is it acceptable to say I don't know in a technical interview?
Yes, if you follow it with how you would approach finding the answer. A confident wrong answer usually counts against you more than an honest gap.
Put it into practice
Prepare with interview practiceDrafted with AI assistance and checked against Luceria’s editorial standards. Examples are illustrative, not real people’s results. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.