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How to Shine in the Behavioral Interview

By: Carole Martin, America's #1 Interview Coach 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.

What exactly is this technique called Behavioral Interviewing?

It's a method of determining whether you are a good fit for a job by asking questions related to your past behavior.

When being interviewed, anybody can say they are a "great problem solver," or a "hard worker." But when the person is asked for an example showing how he or she solved a problem or worked hard in past jobs, then the interviewer wants proof that they have done what they say they can do.

As an example, a behavioral question might be: "Tell me about a success you had that stemmed from working hard or going beyond your assigned duties."

How long has this technique been used?

Industrial psychologists developed it in the 70's as a way of predicting whether a person would succeed in a job. They concluded that if interviewers asked their subjects questions about past behavior they could get a good an indication 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?

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.

For example, if you claimed you were "very organized" on your resume, the interviewer might ask you to tell them about a time when you organized a project or event. This gives you a great opportunity prove your claim by relating a story about a successful project that required you to be organized.

Behavioral Interviewing Technique

While there are many methods that inform good story telling, the main thing to remember is that every story has three crucial elements:

A beginning - "There was a time." A middle - "The action steps I took were" An Ending - "The problem was solved and.."

One way to stay focused when telling a story is to think 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 main plot and it should be a good 60-70% of the story. This is where the action happens. Remember that you're the star of the story you're telling, so you should make sure that you're "on screen" most of the time. Avoid using words like "we" or"us" too much. Use "I". Remember, this is about you. If you need to use "we" in the story, make sure the interviewer is aware of who the "we" is, your partner, team, etc.

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.

How can you become a good storyteller?

The pitfall for most people is that their story lacks detail. A savvy interviewer will be able pick out your skills from the stories and judge your behavior from your past actions, but you also want them to see the steps you took to solve the problem. The more details you can work into your story, the more skills the interviewer will see and the more convincing your story will be.

Preparing your stories before the interview will take time and preparation, but it will take the mystique out of behavioral interviewing. It will also allow you to tell the success stories you want your interviewer to hear. Through your examples the interviewer will begin to get a clear picture of who you are and whether you have done what you claim to have done. Whether you are the right person for the job!

Article Source: http://www.lifeweightloss.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. Get a copy of her FREE 9-part "Interview Success Tips" by visiting Carole on the web at The Interview Coach (www.interviewcoach.com) Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service

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