Behavioral Interviews Explained

Behavioral interviews are commonly seen as part of the job interview process these days.

But few candidates prepare adequately for such interviews and many come unstuck when faced with behavioral questioning.

In this job interview article we'll explain more about behavioral or situational interviews and give you some tips to help you give winning answers!

What Are Behavioral Interviews?
This part of the job interview is one which many jobseekers look forward to with unalloyed dread.

Behavioral interviews are nonetheless something to which jobseekers will have to become accustomed, so commonplace are these questions in the job interview process now.

In a behavioral or situational interview, you can expect to be tested on your relevant skills as well as your knowledge and the way that you react to the situations which arise commonly in the workplace.

You'll have to provide detailed examples from your work history of how you have dealt with these sorts of issues in the past.

Your interviewers will have criteria in mind for the job and will have used this criteria to create the questions to ask interviewees. Your interview answers will tell them whether or not you are a good fit for the job opening.

It goes on the assumption that if someone worked well in given situations in the past, they will be able to do so again in the future.

Keep reading to discover some of the job interview questions you are likely to be asked in a behavioral-type job interview.

Common Questions in Behavioral Interviews
A behavioral or situational interview actually presents jobseekers with the opportunity to sell themselves to the interviewer. There will be questions along the lines of "Give me an example of a time when you..." or "Tell me about a time when you had to handle a situation like... How did you resolve the issue?"

You will more than likely have several different situations you can use from your work history. Maybe there was an instance where you simply did not get along with a colleague or worked with two people who did not get on with each other. Perhaps you've had to pull all-nighters to meet deadlines or have had to deal with a displeased customer and address their concerns in order to retain their business.

If this is your first ever job interview, you will not have any work experience to draw from to give good answers but you can always use examples from your academic career or personal life if they will work to illustrate the point you are trying to make to the interviewer. For instance, you can use academic deadlines to make a point about work-related ones, working on group projects in school in the place of group projects in the workplace and so on.

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