What is behavioral interviewing

Learn more about motivational fit. One of the most important things an interviewer can do to prepare for an interview is become aware of the common mistakes made by interviewers. For better interviews, providing better feedback, or more effective performance discussions, you need to ask, "What is the STAR format?

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Conduct Better Interviews. Hire Better People. What Difference Does Interviewing Make? What Is Behavioral Interviewing? What Are Behavioral Interviewing Questions? Time management. Tell me about a goal you set and reached and how you achieved it. Tell me about the last time your workday ended before you were able to get everything done. Give me an example of a time you had to prioritize certain tasks or projects over others.

Give me an example of a time when you had to handle multiple responsibilities at once. How did you prioritize your time? Can you share about a time you had to be flexible or adaptable? Tell me about a time when you had to be creative to solve a problem. Tell me about a time you had to learn quickly.

Tell me about a time you made a difficult decision. Tell me about how you work under pressure. Overcoming challenges. Tell me about a time when you handled a challenging situation. Tell me about a time when you made a mistake. What did you do to correct it? Give me an example of a time you made a decision that was unpopular and explain how you handled implementing it. Tell me about a goal you failed to achieve. Motivation and values. Give me an example of how you set goals.

Tell me about the proudest moment in your professional career why it was meaningful to you. Can you give me an example of a time when you felt dissatisfied with your work?

Tell me about a body of work you felt was most impactful for you or your company. Tell me about a time when you had to explain a complex topic to people with less subject knowledge.

How did you make sure everyone could understand you? Tell me about a time when you collaborated with others who were different than you. Why was it good? Tell me about a time when you felt like a good leader. Conflict resolution. Tell me about a time you disagreed with a supervisor. Tell me about a time you had to stand up for your beliefs. Tell me about a time when you were in conflict with a peer and how the situation was resolved. Behavioral interview example answers. Tips for answering behavioral interview questions.

Prepare ahead of time: While you may be asked a few uncommon questions, most interviewers ask many of the same interview questions, which is why it's helpful to review common behavioral interview questions in advance and practice your responses.

This will ensure you have thoughtful anecdotes ready in advance. Prepare specific examples: Another way to feel fully prepared with anecdotes is to think of examples for every responsibility or challenge listed on the job description. Keep in mind that they don't have to be direct examples. For example, if you're applying for a manager job but have never been a supervisor, talk about how you were the go-to person on your team for training new employees and were widely known as a problem-solver.

Draw from the job description: Carefully review and use the job description to craft your answers. For example, if the job description explains that the role requires a person who can handle conflict, you should prepare a specific example of a time you handled conflict well—and then relate it back to the job.

Take your time answering: After a question is asked, give yourself a moment to think of an appropriate story before answering. Take a breath, pause or even take a drink of water to calm any nerves before responding. Be positive: While behavioral interview questions require you to think of a failure or problem at work, don't focus on that part of your story.

Describe the background enough so that the interviewer understands the situation and then quickly move on to how you solved the problem and the results you achieved. Read More 10 Helpful Interview Strategies. For each question, identify the key behaviours that would separate an excellent candidate from a poor one.

The interviewee can then be scored against each competency. A typical rating scale would be where 4 or 5 was an excellent demonstration of that competency, 2 or 3 was adequate and 1 was extremely poor.

Make sure your list of desired behaviours is actually reflected in the job description and person specification that you use to advertise the role, or you will end up with unsuitable candidates for interview. Make sure candidates know it will be a behavioural interview when they are invited, giving them a chance to prepare their answers.

Giving a candidate the chance to prepare will get you better interview answers and should help you judge their responses more easily. If you are using a recruitment agency like TPP Not for Profit, they should be able to help you put your list of desirable competencies together and help you construct behavioural interview questions.

Top Ten Behavioral Interview Questions. More Info 6 common interview mistakes employers make Lack of interview feedback can damage your donations How to reject candidates without turning them off your brand Interview questions you should avoid and what to ask instead How many candidates should you interview? What was your role in this situation? What did you do? This cemented an important level of trust between us. I also had regular one-on-ones with each person on the team, both to assess how they were handling the change and to make sure we would meet our deadlines.

What did your actions lead to? It was incredibly rewarding to navigate a lot of change and succeed under pressure. Read the job description carefully. Make a list of the top skills or qualifications it calls for. Think of a story that demonstrates your ability in each area. Following the STAR technique, write your stories down, including the situation, task, action and result.

Then, practice saying them out loud several times, either by yourself or with a friend. As you include each of the elements, try to be succinct. You should get comfortable with these stories. Here are several examples of questions you might be asked in your next behavioral interview.

Take some time to prepare sample answers for each both to practice and plan so you will be prepared for future interviews.

Using the above techniques, here is an example of how you might answer a behavioral interview question:. Question: Tell me about a time when you overcame a conflict at work. We made a mistake in their campaign that resulted in poor overall performance.