Behavioral Interviewing: What It Is and How to Ace It
Behavioral interviewing is a popular technique used by hiring managers and recruiters in order to evaluate a candidate’s potential job performance based on past experiences in their career. Traditional interview questions tend to lean into hypothetical situations; behavioral interviewing instead asks candidates to reflect on real life situations they’ve experienced and describe how they handled them. For example, a traditional interview question might be: “What would you do if you found yourself in a disagreement with a team member? How would you resolve the problem?” By contrast, a behavioral interview question might ask: “Describe a time when you had a disagreement with a team member. How did you resolve the problem?”
The belief behind behavioral interviewing is the idea that past behavior is a predictor of future behavior. Many hiring managers use this technique to get a sense of whether a candidate possesses the skills and qualities required to be successful in a role. Essentially, they’ve adopted the mindset of, “If they’ve done it and done it well in the past, they will do the same here in the future.”
To successfully navigate this type of questioning technique, it’s extremely important to prepare in advance of your interview. Here are a few ways to ensure you’ve nailed it.
Do your research. Make sure you familiarize yourself not only with the job description, but also with the company as a whole. Focus on what the company values, as well as what key skills are required to be successful in this position. Reflect on your own skillset, how it aligns, and when in your past roles you’ve used that expertise to solve problems, take on leadership responsibilities, collaborate effectively, et cetera.
Use the STAR Method: The STAR method is an effective way to structure your responses to behavioral interview questions. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. Begin by describing the situation or task, explain the action you took to address the situation or task, and then describe the result or outcome. This method ensures that you’ve answered the questions fully.
Practice, practice, and practice. Simply put, by practicing your responses with friends or family, you’ll feel more confident when in the interview.
Behavioral interviewing is an effective and mutually beneficial questioning technique for both employer and candidate. It provides potential employers a strong sense of a candidate’s potential job performance, and also offers space for a candidate to display and boast their capabilities using real-life situations they’ve navigated in the past. By preparing well in advance, using the STAR method, and being honest and specific in your responses, you can navigate a behavioral interview successfully and increase your chances of landing your dream job.
