Behavioral Interviews

So many people hear about Behavioral Interviews, know little about them, and are terrified they are asked any at an interview.

Don't be scared. Once you know how to answer, they are really simple enough.

Behavioral Interviews can also be called Behavioral Descriptive Interviews and they ask you to recall from you past a time when you did a particular thing, or faced a particular challenge.

For example: Tell me a time when you exhibited excellent customer service under difficult conditions.

or

Describe a time you had to meet a particularly tight deadline.

Your goal, obviously, is to come up with a story from your past that answers the question, but that is not all. You also want to add information that shows you did it well, and that the result was a benefit to your employer.

That's what your potential employers is looking for: "What's in it for me."

Before an interview it's a good idea to think back over your work history and come up with some stories of times you felt good about what you did, or when you overcame a challenge of some kind.

You don't have to write them down, just having them fresh in your mind is enough. Then when the interviewer asks you about a tight deadline, for example, you have a story ready and can answer something like:

"There was a time in my last job when we had to get a proposal in by Monday at 9 am, although the call for proposals had only come out the previous Tuesday. By Friday we were still working on it, so I worked all Saturday and Sunday morning on it, and phoned the director to tell him it was ready for his approval at Sunday lunch time. He approved, I finished off the package and e-mailed it in around midnight on Sunday. We got the contract so it was all worth it."

All the information, nothing unnecessary, and the employer benefit "We got the contract" right at the end where it will be noticed.

So don't sweat Behavioral Interviews, just come up with some great stories beforehand, and enjoy telling the tale of how well you did!

More help to ace the interview can be found here.

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