CHAMPION STRATEGIES – PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP – DECEMBER 22, 2021-1
How to Prepare for a Behavioral Job Interview
What is a behavioral interview? Candidates for employment often ask what the difference is between a regular job interview and a behavioral interview. What should you do to get ready if the employer is going to ask you behavioral based interview questions?
In many ways, a behavioral interview resembles other types of job interviews. There isn’t a difference in the actual format of the job interview. You will still meet with an interviewer and respond to interview questions. The difference is in the type of interview questions that they will ask you.
Review information on the difference between behavioral and traditional job interviews, examples of questions, and how to handle a behavioral interview.
What is a Behavioral Job Interview?
Behavioral based interviewing is interviewing based on discovering how the interviewee acted in specific employment-related situations. The logic is that how you behaved in the past will predict how you will behave in the future, i.e., past behavior predicts future performance.1
Behavioral vs. Traditional Interviews
In a traditional interview, you will be asked a series of questions which typically have straightforward answers like “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” or “How do you handle a challenge?” or “Describe a typical workweek.”
In a behavioral interview, an employer has decided what skills are needed in the person they hire and will ask questions to find out if the candidate has those skills. Instead of asking how you would behave, they will ask how you did behave.
The interviewer will want to know how you handled a situation, instead of what you might do in the future.
Behavioral Interview Questions
Behavioral interview questions will be more pointed, more probing, and more specific than traditional interview questions:
- Give an example of an occasion when you used logic to solve a problem.
- Give an example of a goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it.
- Describe a decision you made that was unpopular and how you handled implementing it.
- Have you gone above and beyond the call of duty? If so, how?
- What do you do when your schedule is interrupted? Give an example of how you handle it.
- Have you had to convince a team to work on a project they weren’t thrilled about? How did you do it?
- Have you handled a difficult situation with a co-worker? How?
- Tell me about how you worked effectively under pressure.
Follow-up questions will also be detailed. You may be asked what you did, what you said, how you reacted or how you felt during the situation you shared with the hiring manager.
