Sunday, July 04, 2010

Learn About and Prepare for a Behavioral Job Interview

Learn About and Prepare for a 
Behavioral Job Interview
Typical job interview questions—like "What are your strengths?"—are relatively easy to answer. The behavioral job interview takes a different approach, requiring, for example, concrete answers exemplifying your strengths. Without the right preparation, they can catch you off guard.
On the other hand, behavioral job interviews also also give you the opportunity to knock the interview out of the park. "Manly" blog The Art of Manliness breaks down the difference between those regular what-are-your-strengths questions and their behavioral counterparts. A behavioral counterpart to the softball question above might look like this:
"This job requires the ability to make quick decisions in pressure-filled situations. Can you give me an example from your past when you had to make a quick decision under lots of pressure?"
When faced with a behavioral question, the author suggests using the STAR process, which simply lays out how to fully respond to an interview question of this type, prompting you to include:
1. The Situation or Task you were in

2. Action that you took

3. Result of that action
Hit up the full post over at Art of Manliness for a thoughtful and detailed discussion of the behavioral interview process, and if you're a master of the behavioral interview, share your tips in the comments. Photo by quinn.anya.

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