A behavioral question will be very specific. For instance, when asked, “Tell me about a time when you overcame a crisis, solved a problem, dealt with failure, etc.”, the focus is on a specific “time” in your past when you __________. Here your answer must elucidate a particular action that you took at some point in your past.

In contrast, a traditional interview question would be “what if” type questions. For example, “What would you do if such and such situations were to occur?” The difference here is there are no past experiences to call upon. You merely put yourself in the situation and use your imagination for the answer. The interviewer is looking for your thought process and how you might think through a problem.