Practicing Your Behavioral Interviewing Skills

Reading books and looking at website's are a great way to learn more about behavioral interviewing, but how about creating answers ahead of time?  This is something interviewees often don't think about, and then suffer the inevitable inability to answer several simple behavioral questions in an interview.  You know these questions well - they start with the following:

"Tell me about a time when..."

"Give me an example of..."

"Describe a time when..."

Try developing some scenarios of how you have handled issues or created successes in the past within the workplace.  From increasing profit and revenue, developing new business, and cutting expenses to supervising staff, managing inventory, and participating in project teams, you have many examples to offer that typically haven't been considered.  Start by looking at your resume and determining if you can supply more detail within the interview about specifics cited in each position’s bullet points.  Utilizing existing lists of behavioral questions available online and in books and those you have already been asked in interviews can help you create an entire collection of answers.  Here are 12 typical questions to get your started:

--Describe a time when you worked under a great deal of pressure or tight deadline?

--Tell me about a time when you were a member of a great team. What role did you play in making the team great?

--Tell me about a time you had to multitask?

--Tell me about a time when you were creative in solving a problem?

--Give me an example of a time when you had a disagreement with a coworker and how you resolved it?

--Tell me about a time when you suggested a better way to do something at work?

--Describe how you handle crises? Describe a particular crisis that you handled well?

--What would your last boss/manager say about you?

--Give me an example of when you were given a task to accomplish without any real direction from your manager?

--Describe what motivates you?

--Tell me what you know about our company?

--Why should we hire you?

Why come up with these examples in the middle of an interview.  Preparing 20 or more answers ahead of an interview will allow you to concentrate on questions that you truly cannot anticipate.  To your interview success!