Preparing for the Behavioral Interview
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by: CaroleMartin,America's#1InterviewCoach
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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 what 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.
All interviewers know that it's easy for candidates to say they are "great problem solvers," or "hard workers." What an interviewer needs to do is separate fact from fiction. They do this by asking candidates for concrete examples of times they solved a particularly difficult problem, or worked especially hard.
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 a new technique?
Not at all. Behavioral Interviewing techniques started to be used in the 70's by industrial psychologists as a way of predicting if a person would succeed in a job. They concluded that if candidates were asked questions that demanded specific examples of past behavior it could be a clear indicator of future behavior - whether good or bad.
You may ask what the difference is between behavioral questions and other ones. The defining characteristic of a behavioral question is its specificity. For example, if asked to "Tell about a time when you solved a problem," the key words are "a time." This calls for a specific example.
A traditional or "what if" question allows you to use your imagination to come up with an answer. If asked, "What would you do if you had a problem to solve?" The word "if," indicates that the interviewer wants to hear how you think through a problem, without necessarily relying on a past experience as an example.
What preparation is necessary for behavioral interviews?
Preparation is important for every interview, and is essential for the behavioral interview. The key is to have examples or stories ready that illustrate any skill or experience you have claimed on your resume or that may reasonably come up in 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
Various methods work well for story telling, but the main point to remember is that any story has three main parts:
A beginning - "There was a time." A middle - "The action steps I took were" An Ending - "The problem was solved and.."
On way to think about story telling is to thinking about going to a movie.
If you arrive 10 minutes late you will spend the rest of the movie trying to figure out what you missed. This is the beginning of the story and should be about 10-20% of your story. In the interview, if you do not "frame" your story the interviewer will be confused from the beginning.
The middle of the movie should be a good 60-70% of the story. It's where our hero, you, overcomes the challenge that was set up in the beginning. Don't be shy here. You're the star of this movie. Be careful of using words like "we" and "us" too much. That just makes it difficult to see the star. Keeping the story focused on you by using "I" statements. If you must use the word "we" in the story, make sure your listener, is aware of who "we" is. For example, "My partner and I," or "I worked with a team of four people."
Now, if you were to leave 10 minutes before the movie was over, you would never know what happened in the end, and would probably be pretty unsatisfied. A strong ending is vital to your story. If you leave it out, the interviewer may ask, "So what was the result?" That's a clue you have left off the ending.
Keep in mind, Beginning, Middle, and End. Every good story has each.
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!
About the Author
Carole Martin is America's top interview coach as well as a renowned author,mentor,and frequent contributor to Monster.com. Carole provides interviewing tips and strategies like no one else. Get a copy of her FREE 9-part "Interview Success Tips" by visiting Carole on the web at The Interview Coach (http://www.interviewcoach.com) Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service
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