What Exactly Is a Behavioral Interview and How Can It Affect Your Job Search?

Hi all,

What is a behavioral interview? Behavioral-based interviewing is interviewing based on discovering how the interviewee acted in specific employment-related situations. The logic is that how you behaved in the past will predict how you will behave in the future, i.e., past performance predicts future performance.

In a traditional interview, you will be asked a series of questions which typically have straightforward answers like "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" or "What major challenges and problems did you face? How did you handle them?" or "Describe a typical work week."

In a behavioral interview, an employer has decided what skills are needed in the person they hire and will ask questions to find out if the candidate has those skills. Instead of asking how you would behave, they will ask how you did behave.

Questions in a Behavioral Interview

Behavioral interview questions will be more pointed, more probing, and more specific:

- Give an example of an occasion when you used logic to solve a problem.
- Give an example of a goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it.
- Describe a decision you made that was unpopular and how you handled implementing it.
- Have you gone above and beyond the call of duty? If so, how?
- What do you do when your schedule is interrupted? Give an example of how you handle it.
- Have you had to convince a team to work on a project they weren't thrilled about? How did you do it?
- Have you handled a difficult situation with a co-worker? How?
- Tell me about how you worked effectively under pressure.

Follow-up questions will also be detailed. You may be

Hi AtomLeaf,

The knowledge about the *Behavioural Interview* was really appreciable! I was just wondering if Behavioural Interview could be of help to control the growing Attrition Rate in IT & ITES Industries. Is it possible through Behavioural Interview to figure out, to some extent, what's running in the candidate's mind? Is the candidate really willing to put in the effort or just wants to draw out some money and move on?

Regards,

Mayuri.

Hi Mayuri,

It's not directly related to attrition, ya sort of... it's a prediction, another option for an employer to have a clearer evaluation of an applying candidate. For that matter, if you see Microsoft's attrition rate, a few months back, it rose to 17%. As I said:

"In a behavioral interview, an employer has decided what skills are needed in the person they hire."

The primary concern of the employer is to have an ideal candidate. You can figure out a candidate's basic qualities, strengths, determination, and so on. Sometimes you think you know about an employee, but all of a sudden, he quits the job. You can find more points on attrition in my previous posts. Also, feel free to go through the staff and selection section for more attrition and retention topics. 😄 😄 😄

Regards

Hi Atomleaf,

As you said, there are no right or wrong answers. Then how can a person be judged based only on a qualitative interview?

In a Behavioral Interview, equal importance should also be given to the interviewer, who should know exactly what skills or personalities are required for the job. Since no interviewee can exactly match the expected answers of an interviewer, I am skeptical of the effectiveness of these sorts of interviews.

Durga

Hi Durga,

B.I. is totally different from usual ones. It's a kind of psychological test to find out the candidates' reactions at various levels. For example, when stressed, how does he/she react? It gives an employer a clear picture of the candidate's attitude and behavioral patterns. I would not say you can judge 100% with B.I., however, it's one step forward in interviewing methods. Recently, few employers are giving importance to B.I. Employees' answers don't have to match, or it seldom matches, with employers' answers. Still, more points are given for the way of answering rather than the answer itself.

I hope I gave you a bit of info. 😄

Regards

Hi guys,

BI is an effective tool/technique that can be used in various processes. Not just for selection, but during appraisal discussions, compensation issues, and exit interviews. However, the interviewer needs to be trained and well-equipped with psychological and behavioral aspects to handle sessions.

Cheers,
Kanishka
New Delhi

I'm sorry to say, but this is a situational interview. You are only targeting the process, not the specific reason that triggered this type of behavior.

Please let me know if you need further assistance or clarification.

What is a behavioral interview?

Behavioral-based interviewing is interviewing based on discovering how the interviewee acted in specific employment-related situations. The logic is that how you behaved in the past will predict how you will behave in the future, i.e., past performance predicts future performance.

In a traditional interview, you will be asked a series of questions which typically have straightforward answers like "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" or "What major challenges and problems did you face? How did you handle them?" or "Describe a typical work week."

In a behavioral interview, an employer has decided what skills are needed in the person they hire and will ask questions to find out if the candidate has those skills. Instead of asking how you would behave, they will ask how you did behave.

Questions in a Behavioral Interview

Behavioral interview questions will be more pointed, more probing, and more specific:

- Give an example of an occasion when you used logic to solve a problem.
- Give an example of a goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it.
- Describe a decision you made that was unpopular and how you handled implementing it.
- Have you gone above and beyond the call of duty? If so, how?
- What do you do when your schedule is interrupted? Give an example of how you handle it.
- Have you had to convince a team to work on a project they weren't thrilled about? How did you do it?
- Have you handled a difficult situation with a co-worker? How?
- Tell me about how