How to Prepare for a Behavioral Interview

How to Prepare for a Behavioral Interview Image via Isorepublic.com More generally, you can think about qualities you have that make you stand out, and then remember a specific occasion when you demonstrated this quality. Practice telling this story. Although there is no way to tell exactly what questions they will ask you during a behavioral interview, you can still prepare by thinking of answers to common questions. How to Respond to Behavioral Interview Questions There is a technique you can use  to make sure you give good, complete answers during behavioral interviews. This technique is called the STAR method, an acronym for Situation, Task, Action, and Results. •First, introduce the situation. Set the stage for your amazing act. What caused the problem you are trying to solve? •Second, tell the interviewers about the task you were asked to complete. What problems were you trying to solve? What were you trying to accomplish? •Third, bring in your action. What exactly did you do to solve this problem? Did you face any difficulties? If so, talk about how you overcame them. •Finally, get into the results of your action. Did you resolve a conflict? Did you boost the company’s sales? Did you come up with an amazing new idea? Tell your interviewers about how you were able to contribute to the company. If you have specific numbers or statistics you can tell them, even better! One More Tip During a behavioral interview, you will often be asked to talk about a problem or a failure you have faced. It’s easy to focus on the problem or failure itself, but don’t do this! Shift the focus from the negative situation to the positive solution. Keep the focus on how you were able to solve the problem. The interviewers don’t want to hear about the problem, they want to hear about how you used your awesome skills to solve it. As young college students, we are bombarded with information on how to succeed in traditional interviews. This is great, but there is not much out there about behavioral interviews. All in all, just be honest and focus on the positives, and you should do well. Good luck with your interview!