Behavioral Interviews and How to Ace Them!

Behavioral interviews are a common part of the job interview process these days. During a behavioral interview, you will be tested on your skills, knowledge, abilities and the way you deal with certain situations and events that can occur in almost any work environment.

You will need to give detailed descriptions of things that you have dealt with in the past and how you were able to deal with tough circumstances. The interviewer will have a list of requirements for the open job and he or she will know by the answers you give whether or not you will be right for the position.

Upon making a list of requirements for the position, the interviewer will create a list of job interview questions that he or she will ask during the interviewing process. This step has intimidated so many people and has become one of the most dreaded parts of the interview process. However, despite the dread it causes, behavioral interviews are an integral part of the interviewing process. It uses the basic theory that if someone reacted well in a stressful situation in the past they will do just as well in future stressful events. Below we will go over some questions that you will most likely be asked during this process.

Behavioral interviews are a great opportunity to prove to the interviewer that you are the best person for the job at hand. You will hear questions like "Tell me what you did when ... happened" or "Give me an example of a time that you had to deal with....".

There are a number of situations that you can use to fill in the blanks. Perhaps you can remember a time when you did not get along with a co-worker or you worked with two people that did not get along. Maybe you had to deal with an irate customer or an upcoming deadline that you had to pull an all-nighter just to finish the project on time.

If you are going into employment for the first time and this is your first interview do not fret - you will not be required to talk about work experience if you have none. However, you can talk about things that went on in school or in your personal life. When you are asked about things like getting something done on time, talk about a school project that you had to work really hard on and how you got it in on time and received a good grade for it. You can talk about how you worked well in groups and how your groups always made top grades or anything that would apply to the questions you are being asked.

There’s more information and advice on behavioural interview questions here as well as some behavioral interview tips.