The Behavioral Interview - How to prepare
by Robin Ogden
Preparing for behavioral based interviews is critical to your interview success because most organizations will use this type of interviewing to determine if you have the competencies needed to be a good addition to their team. But, how can you prepare for behavioral questions if you do not know what will be asked?
It’s actually not that tough – it is the preparation that will be your biggest asset here. If you let this part slide by using ‘lack of knowing the question’ as an excuse, you may be very sorry when you are sitting in the interview.
One of the ways you can prepare is to get the job description and pay special attention to the exact requirements the employer needs. For example – are they seeking an individual who is “self motivated”, or who has “excellent organizational skills”, or can “work effectively as part of a team”? These are all competencies the decision makers will then be searching for via behavioral questioning in the interview. But they aren’t just going to ask you “How do you work in a team”? That’s way too easy and they know it. So, they will formulate questions that elicit answers on how you have done this in the past, such as… "Tell me about a time when you worked on a project with a team"? – this is where you’ll want to have a story prepared around a successful team project. Encapsulate your success story into a few short minutes and then ask the interviewer if he/she would like more information. Or you may be asked, “Tell me about a time when you were working on a team effort and there was a conflict – describe how you handled the conflict”. These are the types of questions that will tell the hiring manager how you will work in their team environment and how you will handle conflicts within their company, because you're telling them how you have done it in the past.
So, grab the description and highlight the employer requirements – that is a good start to preparing for the behavioral questions that may be asked. And, if you’re wondering how to create stories based around your competencies – download FiredUP Interviewing and get more great interview advice.
