Employers are initiating a new trend in employment interviewing.
You won't get the typical "Tell me about your strengths and weaknesses"
questions in a behavioral interview. Instead, you'll be asked to provide
specific examples highlighting skills that are necessary for the job.
Here are some examples of behavioral interview questions:
- Describe a time when you tried to persuade a person or group
to do something they didn't want to do.
- Give me an example of a time when you faced a lot of obstacles
to achieving a goal.
- Talk about a stressful situation you've experienced.
- Describe a time when you had trouble seeing eye to eye with
a colleague.
- Tell me about a project or role that you've taken on that is
outside your job description.
- Give me an example of when you worked with a group or team
of people to complete a project.
- Talk about a time when you were faced with a difficult decision
and describe how it turned out.
- Describe a time when you had to cope with strict deadlines
or time demands.
- Give me an example of a time when you were forced to make an
important decision without all of the necessary information.
- Tell me about a time that you made a presentation at work that
received a significant amount of critical feedback, much of it
negative. How did you handle the situation?
Sample Behavioral Question
Career counselors recommend you use the "STAR" method
to answer these types of probing questions. That's ST for situation/task,
A for action, and R for result. Bill Byham, author of "Landing
the Job You Want," gives an example of a successfully answered
question:
Question: Tell me about a time when you went out of your way to
satisfy a customer.
Situation/Task: I was working in the production department
of a large publishing company. We received a letter from a 9-year-old
girl who was unhappy because the gold design had worn off the cover
of a book we had published. She wanted a refund. My boss gave the
complaint to me to handle.
Action: I immediately requested a refund check from our
accounting department. I also called our printer, who investigated
and identified one run of books in which the covers had been improperly
printed. I obtained a copy of the book with a properly printed cover,
and sent the book, the refund check and a personal letter to the
girl, thanking her for pointing out the problem and apologizing
for the inconvenience.
Result: The girl's mother called me to thank me for the
response. She told me that she was going to recommend our books
to all her friends with children.
Preparing for the Behavioral Interview
- Think about a situation which matches the questions listed above.
- Write about your experience using the STAR method.
- Practice talking about the experience. You may wish to tape
yourself.
- During the interview, answer questions succinctly. Avoid rambling.
From "The New Job Interview" by Sherri Eng, San Jose
Mercury News
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