Prepare eight stories of your own experiences in the past one to two years. These eight should be split into two groups of four. The first four should be entirely positive. The second four should start with a negative event and end positively through action on your part.

Your examples are easier to remember and avoid rabbit trails if you think in terms of three parts to the experience. The first is setting the scene. What did you observe or what problem arose that caused you to take action? The second is the action you took. The third is the resolution or positive outcome from the situation.

Include details but don’t get bogged down in them. One of the best behavioral interview tips is to include numbers in your example. This quantifying detail is appreciated by potential employers. Including too many details can cause your interviewer to turn you out. Remember that they will ask you more questions about the same event so tell what happened but leave some information to answer other inquiries.

Think about your thought and decision making processes. A common behavioral interview question is asking you to describe how you came to that decision or what your thought process was. Think these through so you can say it calmly and clearly.

Stay calm and collected throughout the interview. If you need to think about an answer, simply say, “That’s a great question. Let me think a moment.” Collect your thoughts and then answer. This is much better than jumping in to the answer too quickly with random or rambling statements. All the preparation behavioral interview tips will be worth nothing if you lose your cool and forget what you prepared.

Above all else, tell the truth. With a behavioral interview’s deeper questions about personal experience, it is much easier for an interviewer to assess whether or not you are lying. They can also call references and ask for verification.