Whether it is called the behavioral interview, the
behavior-based interview, or the personal experience
interview, the behavioral interview is being used by more
and more employers to assess candidates. Let us help you to
gain the skills you will need to beat your competitors at
this type of interview!
In Part 1 of this series of two articles, we'll cover the
reasons you need to practice the behavioral interview, and
also what the interviewer is looking for.
In Part 2, we'll cover some behavioral interview questions
and how best to prepare for them. By the way, the
Careerfriend website
http://www.careerfriend.com/
holds a full list of questions on its behavioral interview
questions page! What is the behavioral interview anyway?
Perhaps it is better to answer this question by thinking
about what the �traditional� interview might entail.
Traditional interview questions might include �Why are you
applying for this position?� or �What do you know about our
company?�
In fact, I�m sure that you have a whole list of these types
of interview questions against each of which you have
written, rehearsed and memorized your answer. If you
haven�t, then you should!
It is reasonably easy though for you to know (or at least
take an educated guess at) what the interviewer wants to
hear when they ask each of these questions. Therefore it is
also reasonably easy to come up with the �right� interview
answer. And because of this, interviewers find it very
difficult to differentiate candidates based on their
responses to this type of interview question alone.
This is where the behavioral interview comes in!
The behavioral interview is based on the premise that the
best guide to your future performance is your past
performance. Each interview will draw upon one or a small
number of �experiences� � times in your life when you found
yourself in a situation or problem where you needed to take
a set of actions to resolve the situation or problem. The
behavioral interview is designed to allow you to tell the
interviewer about what actions you took.
This certainly appears to make sense. If, for example, I was
interviewing you for a role which required well-developed
negotiation skills, I would much rather hear about a time
when you used your skills in a tough negotiation than hear
about what you know about my company! Therefore, behavioral
interviews are a much better predictor of future
performance.
Another key attribute about good behavior-based interviews,
in my view, is that they should be more �input-based� than
�output-based�. What do I mean by that? I mean that I want
to know what you did, what you said, how you felt, and what
you thought (in other words, your �behaviors�) during your
tough negotiation more than whether it was successful or
not. The reason for this is that even if you had achieved
your desired outcome in the negotiation, I have no idea in
the confines of our interview room whether the person you
were negotiating with was a push-over, or the hardest
negotiator that walked the earth! I will be able to get a
much better view of that by finding out how you ran the
negotiation process, what you did and said at each stage,
and how you planned for the next stage of negotiation �
this is what I mean by the �input�.
So who uses behavioral interviewing techniques?
The truth is that most top-grade employers use behavioral
interviews. They have found it to be a much better way of
assessing whether a candidate is suitable for the job than
other �traditional� methods of interviewing.
It is also true that some less-trained interviewers may ask
behavioral interview questions, without realizing that they
are doing so! You can use this to your advantage, since if
you use the techniques in this report your answer will be
far more compelling than those from unprepared candidates.
Let me illustrate with an example:
A less-trained interviewer may ask, �What positions of
responsibility have you held?�
This information should be on your resume, so the
interviewer is asking the question either because they
haven�t seen or read your resume (which is possible) or
because they are hinting that they would like some more
detail behind the facts on your resume.
Either way, here is your chance to shine. Keep reading, and
I�ll show you how you can really impress your interviewer
by providing a behavioral interview styled answer!
What is the interviewer looking for at the behavioral
interview?
As mentioned above, the interviewer is looking for a set of
behaviors which the employer has decided are key for
success in the position. They could include taking
initiative, taking risks, persuading, manipulating complex
data, making decisions under pressure, facilitating
meetings, working within teams, leading teams etc.
It is important for you to have a clear idea of what
behaviors the interviewer will be looking for.
Sometimes you will find this on the company website under
their �careers� section. Sometimes you will find hints
towards what they think are important traits in their
people in the �about our people� or �about us� sections.
Remember to check the websites of other companies who
operate in the same sector � they are likely to want the
same things as your prospective employer!
Alternatively, use your network to reach out to people who
work at the company, used to work at the company, or are
otherwise involved with the company to find out what kind
of behaviors they value in their people. And again, don�t
just stop at your prospective employer, but also other
companies in the sector.
So that's it for this week - come back next week to learn
more about preparing for the behavioral interview!
- Jonathan Lewis
Jonathan Lewis is the founder and CEO of the Careerfriend
website (http://www.careerfriend.com), committed to helping
people succeed in their dream careers. The site provides a
wealth of free articles and resources covering career and
employer selection, through resume and cover letter
writing, to interviewing, salary negotiation and ongoing
career development. Jonathan's extensive experience of
attracting, recruiting, retaining and developing
exceptional people in management consulting and investment
banking allows him to offer clear, actionable advice which
has a great impact on people either looking for new jobs or
looking to succeed further in their existing jobs.
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