BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEWING: What it is and How To Prepare

Training Objectives  Define what a behavioral interview is  Know how to prepare for a behavioral interview

Ice Breaker Activity

What is Behavioral Interviewing?  Definition  Why it is used  Statistics

Definition  Behavioral interviews are based on the theory that a person's past performance on the job is the best predictor of future performance. When a company uses behavioral interviewing they want to know how you act and react in certain circumstances. They also want you to give specific "real life" examples of how you behaved in situations relating to the questions.

Why is it used?  In a behavioral interview, an employer has decided what knowledge, skills, attributes and other characteristics (KSAOs) they need for the job and the questions you will be asked will be geared to finding out if you have those KSAOs The interviewer wants to know how you handled a situation, rather than just gathering information about you.

Basic vs. Behavioral Interviews Basic Interview Questions  Tell me about yourself.  What are your strengths?  What are your weaknesses? Behavioral Interview Questions  Tell me about a time you accomplished a goal successfully.  Tell me about a time that you had to make a difficult decision at work.

8 Steps to Prepare for a Behavioral Interview

Step 1  Study the job description for the position for which you're interviewing.

Step 2  Visit the organization’s website to gain an understanding of what type of candidate the organization is hiring.

Step 3  List the knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics (KSAOs) of the ideal candidate for the job.

Step 4  Think about which of your experiences can be used to illustrate you have these KSAOs.

Step 5  Make up questions that demonstrate you have each of these attributes. Behavioral questions usually start with phrases like "Describe a time" and "Tell me about a situation" which force the interviewee to talk about specific experiences.  You can also visit glassdoor.com to research questions specific companies have asked for various positions.

Step 6  Develop two or three stories for each KSAO, using experiences from your past to show you have each KSAO.

Step 7  Use the STAR technique to tell these stories. Describe the Situation you were in or problem you were facing at the start of the story. Describe the Task at hand. Describe the Action you took or took part in as a result. Then describe the Result of your actions. Spend less time on the Situation and more time on Action and Results. This is what the interviewer cares about.

What is the S.T.A.R. Method  Situation - Describe the SPECIFIC situation you were in.  Task - What task or goal were you trying to accomplish?  Action - Specific actions you took to complete the task. Use “I” not “We”.  Result - What was the positive outcome?

Example  Situation: I was working at Saddlebrook Apartments as an Asst. Manager and although we were located close to a University, we were not seeing the benefit of this as very few students visited our property and traffic was very low.  Task: I was asked to develop a strategy to increase traffic and bring in more students to rent from us.

Example (cont.)  Action: After some thought, I decided the best way to reach college students was to put our flyers on something they loved: Pizza boxes. I worked out a deal with one of our local pizza places where we bought 100 gift certificates at a discounted rate and in return they agreed to put our flyers on all boxes delivered to campus for a month with a notice that if they came to tour our property, they would receive a free pizza.  Result: Our traffic increased by 40% over the next 3 months and continued to increase exponentially as our name was now out there and students were talking about us.

Step 8  Practice, practice, practice. Practice answering the behavioral interview questions you invented or found, using the stories you created, so your stories become second nature.

Develop Your Own S.T.A.R.’s  Handout?

S.T.A.R. Method Activity  After completing your review of this presentation you will be given the opportunity to practice what you’ve learned in a mock interview.

Round Up…  What we’ve learned  Survey for trainees