What is and Why should I care about Behavioral Interviewing?

Throughout the years, hiring manages have used all types of techniques to eliminate candidates in an attempt to decide who is best competent for a job. A great deal has changed from the days when the job interviewers could ask anything they wanted to. With changes in laws regarding inequity, etc, new types were developed to form an opinion on candidates. One of those techniques is called “Behavioral Style” interviewing and the truth is that candidates may not even know when behavioral interviewing is being used.

The question you may be asking yourself is “What is behavioral interviewing and should I really care about it?” This method of interviewing uncovers pertinent information about the candidate’s past work performance and behavior. The keyword is “pertinent”, meaning, how you reacted to particular past work situations as the same situations may occur in the job that you are interviewing for. This method provides insight for the job interviewers on your past behaviors as they can assume that this will be your same behavior in the future. Most job interviewers will have a list of questions prepared that will involve the necessary skills needed for the job and will use behavioral style questions to give them the best understanding of your traits and how they related to the position. One of the best ways an interviewer will use this method is by asking you about a situation, asking you what actions you took and what the outcome was because of your actions.

For an example, candidates may be asked “Have you ever had a situation where a co-worker wasn’t doing their share of work, If so, did you ever do anything about it, and was the result of your actions?” Compare to “Tell me how you would resolve a conflict with a co-worker if it was affecting your share of the work?” Do you see the difference? In one situation candidates are asked very specifically what they did in a particular situation where the other question simply asked the candidate to describe what they might do. We all have the best intentions, so whatever you say might you would do is not essentially what you might do in reality.

How do candidates prepare for this style of interview, now that we know what behavioral interviewing is?

Like all job interviews, candidates need to prepare. As always, the basics still apply, conducting research on the company’s financial outlook, products and of course corporate culture. Most of this information is available on the company’s website and/or yahoo finance. When you get the hiring manager’s name, conduct an internet search on them as well. Sites such as LinkedIn.com and Facebook.com can provide vital information about them. Information like education and previous employers will help you learn a lot of the interviewer beforehand. Since it is so easy to conduct an internet search on people today, it’s very likely that the job interviewer will do the same search on you. You may want to make sure there isn’t any information or images on the internet that could damage your image.

With all of the information above, candidates must remember no matter what job interview style, you need to know as much information as possible before a job interview. Behavioral style interviewing is something you need to prepare strongly for. Remember that in a behavioral interview that you should have rock-solid examples of your past work experiences and demonstrate how they relate to the open position in the job interview. The majority of behavioral style questions are identical to questions that have been used for years except with the wording tailored to extract detailed responses from you of genuine past behavioral work experiences. You can go to InstantJobInterviewTools.com/Behavioral-Interview-Answer.html for examples of how to answer behavioral style interview questions. You can also go to any search engine and type in behavioral interview questions for more practicing answering these questions. Remember, the job interviewer is assuming that past behavioral is a sign of future behavioral. Just remember when answering interview questions, be specific and to the point. Good Luck!

Interview Answers, Interview Questions, Job Interview Answers, Interview Job Answers