Preparing For The Behavioral Interview

Of all the interviewing techniques utilized over the years to improve on the hiring of new employees, Behavioral Interviewing has stood the test of time. More and more often, Behavioral Interviewing is seen as the best way to separate the good candidate from the perfect candidate.

But the question remains: what exactly is Behavioral Interviewing?

Behavioral Interviewing is a technique in which employers ask questions about your past behavior in order to determine if you are a good fit for the job they are trying to fill.

Anyone can say they are a "great problem solver," or a "hard worker." But what the interviewer needs is a concrete example of this, proof really, that the person they are interviewing has done what they say they can do.

An interviewer might ask a behavioral question along the lines of, "Give me an example of a time when working hard or going above and beyond the call of duty led to a success."

Is this technique new?

No, it's been around since the 70's when industrial psychologists developed a way of "accurately" predicting whether a person would succeed in a job. They concluded if candidates were asked questions that requested examples of past behavior it would be an indicator of their future behavior - good or bad.

What is the difference between a behavioral question and other questions? A behavioral question will be very specific. For example when asked, "Tell me about a time when you solved a problem," the key words are "a time." This calls for a "specific" example.

"What if" questions encourage you to use your imagination to come up with an answer. In, "What would you do if you had a problem to solve?" the word "if," should be a clue that the interviewer wants to hear about your thought process - the path you take when thinking through a problem. Here, an example of a past experience is not required.

Is it possible to prepare for behavioral interviews?

While preparation is important for every interview, it is essential to prepare for the behavioral interview. You must have examples or stories for anything you have claimed on your resume or that you say during the interview.

An example would be if you claimed you were "very organized" on your resume or in your "Tell me about yourself" statement, the interviewer might ask you, "Tell me about a time when you organized a project." It is now your task to let the interviewer know that you are a very organized person and have had success when organizing a project or event.

Behavioral Interviewing Technique

There are several methods and acronyms that work well for story telling or listening, but the main point you will want to remember is that any story has three key elements:

Luckily you learned all about them in grade school. There's a Beginning. "There was a time when I faced the following challenge...." A Middle - "These are the steps I took to solve it..." and an End - "The problem was solved and.."

On way to think about story telling is to thinking about going to a movie.

Arriving 10 minutes late to a movie can cause you spend the rest of the time trying to figure out what it is you missed. This is because it's in the beginning of the story, the first 10-20 %, that the whole movie is set up or "framed" for the audience. In the interview, if you don't "frame" your story the interviewer will be just as confused.

The middle of the movie is the "plot" which should be a good 60-70% of your story. This is where the action is. And as the "star" of the movie, you should make sure that you are "on screen" most of the time. Some people tend to use the words "we" and "us" too much and it is difficult to see the "star." The word "I' lets the interviewer know it's about you. If you do use the word "we" in the story, make sure the listener, in this case the interviewer, is aware of who "we" is. For example, "My partner and I," or "I worked with a team of four people."

Returning to the movie analogy. If you left the theater 10 minutes before the movie was over, you wouldn't know the outcome. An ending is essential to your story. Without one, don't be surprised if the interviewer asks "And what was the result?"

In order to have a successful story - it should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

What are there secrets of telling a good story?

To be interesting and memorable, stories should full of action and detail. This is the problem for most people - their stories lacks detail. Detail gives the interviewer something concrete to remember about you. A good interviewer will assess your skills from the stories and judge your behavior from your past actions, but to make the strongest impression, let them hear the steps you took to solve the problem. The more details and skills you can work into your story, the more convincing it will be.

Preparing your example stories before the interview may take time, but it's vital in order to remove fear and anxiety from the behavioral interview process. It will allow you to tell your success stories the interviewer wants to hear. It's through your examples that the interviewer will get a clear picture of who you are whether you are the right person for the job!

Article Source: http://www.search4allinfo.com

Carole Martin is America's top interview coach as well as a renowned author,mentor,and frequent contributor to Monster.com. Carole can give you interviewing tips like no one else can. To get your own copy of Carole's FREE 9-part "Interview Success Tips" visit her on the web at The Interview Grab a totally unique version of this article from the Uber Article Directory

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