Behavioral interviews have a lot of great things to offer to make your interview experience so much better. They use a technique, when used correctly, can convincingly capture the interviewer’s attention. All you need is a little practice, and preparation to succeed.
Read on for our complete guide to behavioral interviews.
How is a behavioral interview different from a traditional interview?
The first thing to know is that you will still be meeting with an interviewer. Quite simply, it’s just the style of the interview questions that will be different.
In a traditional interview, you might be asked “tell me about yourself,” or “what is your greatest strength?” These types of questions are not very interactive and don’t demonstrate by past examples.
What is a behavioral interview?
A behavioral interview arises because the prospective employer has already decided thinks you have the skills to succeed, but they need to know how you have behaved in employment-related situations.
As a result, they aren’t looking for answers on how you would behave; they’re looking for examples of how you have behaved in the past and can apply that experience in a new role.
The theory is that your past behavior is indicative of your future behavior. It’s more specific to how you have dealt with situations, historically speaking. The goal is to make sure you are a good match, as a candidate, to their company needs.
Common behavioral qualities
It’s important to think about all the common behavioral qualities that apply to the job you’re interviewing for. For example, if you were interviewing for a news reporter position, some people might want someone who is:
- Adaptable
- Accountable
- Confident
- Calm in stressful environments
- Self-directed
- Listener
- High-energy
Look at the job description to see what the prospective employer is looking for and might question you about.
Know the formula
Now that you’re familiar with the skills you might be tested on you need to present a scenario demonstrating those attributes by using a special interview-answering formula called the STAR method.
STAR stands for:
Situation: Describe a time when you had to deal with a challenging situation.
Task: Describe your responsibility in that situation. Think of when, where, and who.
Action: How did you complete the task or meet the demands of the challenge? The key here is to focus on the actions you took, skills you might have used, behaviors, qualities, and characteristics. Think about teamwork, leadership, and dedication.
Result: Lastly, explain the outcome of the action taken. Elaborate on what you learned and specifically what you contributed to the outcome and tie it back to the question you were asked.
An example behavioral interview question and answer
Question
“Tell me about a time when you had to remain calm in a stressful environment?”
This question is testing your adaptability and problem-solving skills.
Example answer
Situation: It was two hours until we had to air a piece that we had been working on for days when suddenly the computer system crashed, and we thought we lost all of our video clips for a news story.
Task: We needed to replace the video interview of a key witness who saw a crime occur with other video content so that we wouldn’t be left with blank airtime.
Action: I pulled a camera crew and filmed people on the street to give their opinion on the case instead. Then I worked with the digital team to cut it to the appropriate time.
Result: We had our story up and running on time for the 6 o’clock news, with no blank airtime, and moved our original interview that we lost to the Sunday night special which saw a 12% increase in viewership for the special.
Top 4 behavioral interview tips
1. Practice examples
Practice the top designated skills you think you might need until it flows easily. In doing so, you will have a well-paced and controlled answer.
2. Short and sweet
Keep your response to under two minutes. It’s important not to tell a story that distracts from the key facts. You don’t have to relay dialogue – just a few sentences per key point.
3. Give names to characters
If you want to engage the imagination of the prospective employer, and not leave them confused, then you should add a few names to help them connect more with what you are saying. For example, giving a name to a character helps them create a picture of what is happening.
4. Stay positive
Before you commit to telling a story, you should pause and think it through. You want to tell a story that has a positive ending.
Looking for more interview tips? Check out our complete guide to competency-based interviews.
