Behavioral Interview Questions - A must read for every job hunter
Submitted by: Kimi
My toes used to curl at the thought of this type of questioning during interviews. These are the real probing ones…the ones that try to get inside the real you, past the calm, professional exterior that we all try to aspire to during that all important job interview. Interviewers do this simply because they are aware of the rules of the game; they’ve all have played the game before, to get the very job they’re sitting in right now. They know that their candidates are going to sit, and try to charm them into believing everything they tell them. Well, that’s the way it used to work…but not today!
If they’re any good, they’re going to throw you a fast ball, a curved ball and every other ball they can think of to see how you cope with it. The behavioural type of question is designed to find out about you, the person. Your skills have already been matched to the job requirements before you were invited to the interview, so that’s not under scrutiny here. It’s more about, what are your interpersonal skills like? How do you cope with something outside your normal remit? How have you dealt with awkward situations in the past? (Toes curling yet?).
I’m going to tell you how to make sure that this seemingly huge fence - is sailed over smoothly and efficiently, and your heading for a winner!
The answer is nothing clever, no new phenomenon, no wonder secret you have to pay a fortune to obtain. It is quite simply…preparation, preparation, preparation!
There are only so many behavioural questions that can be asked by interviewers; in fact a search on the net will probably even give you a Top 10! Let’s look at an example:
“Have you ever made an error at work? What did you do about it?”
This is a classic.
If you say that you’ve never made a mistake at work, you are unlikely to be believed. Therefore you need to give an example. So, think of an occasion when this has happened and imagine what it is that the interviewer wants to find out. Did you overreact? Who did you inform? Did you inform everyone you needed to? What action did you take? How did you ensure it would never happen again? Now that you’ve done that, think carefully about the answers. Here’s some more:
“Did you ever work with someone you disliked? How did you cope with that?
“Have you ever had to carry out a procedure that you though was wrong? What did you do?”
“What do you do if you disagree with your boss?”
The theme that runs through them all is …who are you? What are you made of? Study these types of posers, ask yourself – what are they asking here? Prepare (remember prepare?), and get that one step ahead of the interviewer and your rivals for your next job!
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Word Count: 554 Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 Time: 2:47 PM
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