20 behavioral technician interview questions (and answers to look for)

A successful behavioral technician needs to have both a wide range of technical skills and the right attitude for the job. They must be compassionate, proactive, and resilient in difficult situations.

Finding the right candidate with this combination of hard and soft skills can be challenging. The key is to ask the right questions during the hiring process.

In this guide, we’ll cover 20 behavioral technician interview questions you should ask and the answers you should look for to find the perfect hire. We also share top tips for conducting interviews at your organization.

Why are pre-employment assessments important when hiring a behavioral technician?

Pre-employment assessments play a key role in hiring behavioral technicians. They enable you to look beyond a candidate’s resume and get deep insights into their personality, work motivation, personal values, and more.

With pre-employment assessments, you can quickly gather reliable information about applicants for a behavioral technician position. The results can help you decide who to invite for an in-person interview, saving your company time and money.

These assessments also reduce bias during the interview process. Candidates whose resumes might normally be overlooked can shine in pre-employment testing. This ensures you make the best hire for each position and helps you build a diverse team over time.

What traits should you look for in a behavioral technician?

A behavioral technician must do many things well. They’re responsible for helping patients with developmental or mental health needs, so they must always demonstrate kindness and a deep understanding of individual differences to provide compassionate care.

They also have to balance the needs of multiple patients, collaborate with family members and other healthcare providers, and remain positive even when patients are feeling overwhelmed or being uncooperative.

With these demands in mind, here are some of the key traits a behavioral technician should have:

• Compassion

• Empathy

• Patience

• Positivity

• Helpfulness

• Optimism

• Resourcefulness

• Ability to multitask

• Honesty

• Resilience

• Ability to collaborate

• Attention to detail

• Professionalism

20 behavioral technician interview questions and answers

Let’s explore some questions you can ask behavioral technician candidates to determine whether they’re the right fit for your open role.

Questions to assess compassion and empathy

Behavioral technicians need to exhibit empathy for their patients. Patients will respond more positively if their behavioral technician cares about what they’re going through and is invested in their success.

Compassion can also help behavioral technicians develop relationships with patients’ family members. This is particularly important if a technician will be working with children.

You’ll want to prioritize candidates who develop strong relationships with others and are emotionally invested in their work. You should also look for candidates whose empathy drives them to find creative solutions to problems.

Here are some questions to ask behavioral technician applicants to assess their compassion and empathy:

1. How do you react when someone asks you for help?

2. Can you describe a fulfilling relationship you had with a past patient?

3. What motivates you to work as a behavioral technician?

4. How do you approach delivering bad news to a patient?

5. How do you feel when a patient has a breakthrough?

6. How do you feel when a patient isn’t making progress, and how do you respond?

Questions to assess patience

Behavioral technicians also need to exercise a great deal of patience. There will be days when patients are struggling or aren’t cooperating, and behavioral technicians need to be able to handle those situations without becoming frustrated.

Look for candidates who can give specific examples of how they’ve dealt with challenging situations. Ideal applicants will be able to put a positive spin on a difficult session and won’t carry frustration from one patient session to the next.

On the other hand, candidates who anger easily or who aren’t able to let go of frustrating situations may not be a good fit for your business.

Some questions to ask to assess a behavioral technician’s patience include:

1. Can you give an example of a time you had a frustrating session with a patient? How did you deal with it?

2. How do you de-stress after a difficult session with a patient?

3. How would you respond if a patient refused to work through exercises with you or didn’t follow their treatment plan?

Questions to assess positivity

Positivity and optimism are often contagious. When a behavioral technician is optimistic about a treatment plan, patients are more likely to follow it and work through the required exercises.

Conversely, patients who feel their technician has a negative outlook are less likely to work hard and achieve results. Technicians who describe themselves as pessimists or exhibit a gloomy outlook may not be the best hire.

Ask these questions to assess how positive a behavioral technician candidate is:

1. How do you feel when working with a new patient? Can you explain why you feel this way?

2. How do you respond if a patient isn’t progressing throughout their treatment plan?

3. Would you describe yourself as an optimist or a pessimist, and why?

Questions to assess administrative skills

The role of a behavioral technician involves handling several administrative tasks in addition to working with patients. They need to file paperwork, keep track of patients’ progress, submit hours for billing, keep their certifications up to date, and communicate with their colleagues.

These tasks require behavioral technicians to effectively multitask, pay attention to details, and communicate with others.

Look for candidates who are organized and have systems for ensuring they don’t miss any work. Candidates who are disorganized or unfocused may not be the right fit for your role.

Here are some questions to evaluate a behavioral technician candidate’s administrative capabilities:

1. How do you keep track of deadlines and tasks you need to complete for patients?

2. Do you enjoy multitasking?

3. What strategies do you use to ensure your work is accurate?

4. What software or tools have you used to communicate with colleagues? What’s your preferred communication method?

Questions to assess communication and collaboration skills

Behavioral technicians often work in a collaborative environment. They must share information about patients with colleagues to develop holistic treatment plans. They must also work with family members to communicate updates and plans and create buy-in.

Therefore, behavioral technicians need to have qualities such as:

• Good communication skills

• Ability to work well with others

• Willingness to compromise

• Ability to problem-solve in groups

Behavioral technicians who don’t work well with others or have difficulty communicating with other patient care team members may not be ideal for your role.

Questions to ask to assess a candidate’s communication and collaboration skills include:

1. Can you give an example of a time you had to persuade a patient’s family of your treatment approach?

2. Who do you go to when you need help with a patient or want to look at a problem from a different angle?

3. What do you think the ideal number of people is for a team to make decisions about a patient’s treatment plan?

4. Can you give an example of a time you found a compromise with a colleague or a patient’s family over a treatment plan? How did you arrive at that compromise?

How to roll out interviews at your organization

The best way to interview behavioral technician candidates is through a pre-employment assessment platform like TestGorilla. We recommend combining soft skills, hard skills, and personality tests to create comprehensive assessments that offer a clear picture of each candidate’s capabilities. 

TestGorilla offers personality tests like the DISC test and Enneagram test to help you get a better sense of a candidate’s traits. You can pair these tests with soft skills tests – like for communication and motivation – and role-specific skills tests. 

In total, TestGorilla offers more than 315 expert-designed tests. Mix and match these to create the perfect assessments for your hiring campaigns. 

Additionally, TestGorilla also makes it easy to incorporate the behavioral questions above into your process. Add custom questions to any assessment and ask candidates to write out their answers or respond with a voice note or video.

You can create your first TestGorilla assessment using 10 of the most popular tests at no cost by signing up for our free-forever plan. Paid plans, which offer access to all of TestGorilla’s tests, start at just $75 per month.

Use these questions with skills testing to hire the best

It’s important to understand all the qualities that a behavioral technician can bring to your business. That includes not just their hard skills and professional experience but also their personality and how they respond in different situations.

The best way to evaluate candidates is to incorporate some of the 20 behavioral technician interview questions we presented into your hiring process. TestGorilla makes it easy to combine these custom questions with personality, soft skills, and job-specific tests.

Start improving your hiring process today by signing up for a free TestGorilla plan. You can also schedule a 30-minute live demo with a TestGorilla representative or take our product tour anytime.