by Carole Martin

Over the years many techniques and strategies has been tried to improve on the hiring of new employees. Some have been more successful that others but “behavioral interviewing” techniques seem to have stood the test of time. They are being used more often as the best way to weed-out the truly qualified candidate from the “best sales person” in the interview.

But what is Behavioral Interviewing?

It’s a technique employers use to determine whether you are a good fit for the job by asking questions that pertain to your past behavior.

All interviewers know that it’s easy for candidates to say they are “great problem solvers,” or “hard workers.” What an interviewer needs to do is separate fact from fiction. They do this by asking candidates for concrete examples of times they solved a particularly difficult problem, or worked especially hard.

An example of a behavioral question would be: “Tell me about a time when you were successful because you worked hard and went above and beyond the assigned duties of the job.”

Is this a new technique?

Industrial psychologists developed it in the 70’s as a way of predicting whether a person would succeed in a job. They concluded that if interviewers asked their subjects questions about past behavior they could get a good an indication of their future behavior - good or bad.

A key trait of a behavioral question is that it is highly specific. You may be asked to “Tell me about a time when you succeeded in a group,” the key words are “a time.” This calls for the candidate to tell a specific story about this quality rather than to talk in general terms about their qualities.

“What if” questions encourage you to use your imagination to come up with an answer. In, “What would you do if you had a problem to solve?” the word “if,” should be a clue that the interviewer wants to hear about your thought process - the path you take when thinking through a problem. Here, an example of a past experience is not required.

What preparation is necessary for behavioral interviews?

While preparation is important for every interview, it is essential to prepare for the behavioral interview. You must have examples or stories for anything you have claimed on your resume or that you say during the interview.

Let’s look at an example. Say you claimed to be “very organized” on your resume or in your personal statement, the interviewer might then ask you, “Tell me about a time when you organized a project.” This is your opening to tell them about a project you organized, including the challenges you faced and how you dealt with them and ultimately succeeded. Doing this gives the interviewer solid evidence of your organizational skills. It’s not longer your opinion that you’re organized, it’s proven!

The technique to succeed

Various methods work well for story telling, but the main point to remember is that any story has three main parts:

A beginning - “There was a time.” A middle - “The action steps I took were” An Ending - “The problem was solved and..”

One way to stay focused when telling a story is to think about going to a movie.

If you arrive 10 minutes late you will spend the rest of the movie trying to figure out what you missed. This is the beginning of the story and should be about 10-20% of your story. In the interview, if you do not “frame” your story the interviewer will be confused from the beginning.

The middle of the movie is the “plot” which should be a good 60-70% of your story. This is where the action is. And as the “star” of the movie, you should make sure that you are “on screen” most of the time. Some people tend to use the words “we” and “us” too much and it is difficult to see the “star.” The word “I’ lets the interviewer know it’s about you. If you do use the word “we” in the story, make sure the listener, in this case the interviewer, is aware of who “we” is. For example, “My partner and I,” or “I worked with a team of four people.”

Returning to the movie analogy. If you left the theater 10 minutes before the movie was over, you wouldn’t know the outcome. An ending is essential to your story. Without one, don’t be surprised if the interviewer asks “And what was the result?”

In order to have a successful story - it should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

So what are there secrets to good storytelling?

Stories should be interesting and full of action. This is the pitfall for most people - the story lacks detail. Give the interviewer something to remember about you. A savvy interviewer will be able to hear skills from the stories and judge your behavior from your past actions, but you must let them hear the steps you took to solve the problem. The more details and skills you can work into your story, the more convincing your story will be. The biggest fault are examples/stories where there is no “action” or detail.

Succeeding in the behavioral interview will take time and preparation, but it will allow you to tell the success stories your interviewer needs to hear with confidence. Your examples will allow the interviewer to get a clear picture of who you are and if you’re the right person for the job!

Carole Martin is America’s top interview coach as well as a renowned author,mentor,and frequent contributor to Monster.com. Carole can give you interviewing tips like no one else can. Get a copy of her FREE 9-part “Interview Success Tips” by visiting Carole on the web at The Interview Coach (http://www.interviewcoach.com) Click here to get your own unique version of this article with free reprint rights.