Some of you may encounter behavioral interviews as you start your internship/job search. These are most common on the client-side for large, more-traditional clients.
Behavioral interviews are usually conducted after an initial “traditional” interview and they are focused on how you have responded to certain situations in the workplace in the past. The premise behind these interviews is that a person’s past performance is the best predictor of future success.
EXAMPLES OF BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
* Give me an example of a goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it.
* Have you ever worked with a difficult teammate? How did you handle that?
- Tell me about a project that went “off the rails” – off schedule and over budget…how did you course correct/ get things back on track?
More examples here.
FRAMEWORK FOR ANSWERING THESE QUESTIONS:
It’s recommended that you use the “CAR” or “STAR” technique…They’re both the same. CAR stands for Context + Action + Result and STAR stand for Situation/Task + Action + Result so if you hear those terms, that’s what they mean. …It’s essentially a framework for your answers.
Again – behavioral interviews are questions about how you handled a specific situation in the workplace (or in grad school). Using this framework will help you formulate your answers more effectively (and hopefully prevent rambling.) It’ll help you provide the interviewer w/ clear, concise info.
C – Context
Make sure the interviewer has a good idea of the situation in which the action takes place. Your ability to explain the critical nature or pressure of the situation will help the interviewer understand the results you achieved.
Typical: “I was the president of student government.”
Preferred: “As president of the student government association, I wanted to ensure that we were actively involved in all activities that affected student life.”
A – Action
Make sure the interviewer knows the steps you took to make the situation a success.
Typical: “I developed a plan to help raise money by selling refreshments.”
Preferred: “I developed a plan to bring in local radio personalities prior to football games for pre-game activities. I was able to convince the other officers that this would be popular with the student body and that it was also a way for us to raise funds by selling refreshments.”
R – Result
Make sure the interviewer understands what you achieved or made happen. It’s ideal if you can quantify the results of your action (i.e. increased sales, increased awareness, etc.) That’s sometimes hard to do w/ student projects but some of you had jobs before coming to the BC so quantify the results if you can!
Typical: “This became one of our biggest fundraisers.”
Preferred: “After the first home game everyone saw how successful it was and how much fun everyone had. We had a big increase in our attendance at home games because of this. It also became one of our biggest fundraisers by raising close to $5000 by the end of the season.”