>> The behavioral interview is meant to measure your emotional intelligence.
Employers ask questions about how you acted, or reacted to specific situations in your past,
so they can determine how you might behave in the future.
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Among employees who fail to meet expectations during their first 18 months on the job,
23% failed due to low emotional intelligence.
That's the second most prevalent reason new hires fail,
following only a general lack of coachability.
Let's start with some examples of behavioral interview questions.
"Describe a decision you made that was unpopular, and how you handled implementing it."
"Tell me about a time when you worked effectively under pressure," and finally,
"Have you ever made a mistake, and if so, how did you handle it?"
Though you may not know what questions will be asked,
it's important to spend some time preparing for possible behavioral interview questions.
Here's some things you can do.
Think of the top behaviors that employers look for.
For instance, perseverance, conviction, and professionalism, just to name a few.
You may be able to determine the specific behaviors or skills that might fit best
by reviewing the job description or even researching the company.
Come up with 5 - 10 examples from your past where you demonstrated those behaviors.
It might help jog your memory if you consider special situations
or projects you have worked on.
Have positive examples, and examples that may have been negative, but you were able to turn
in to a positive outcome, or make the best of.
Don't take all your behaviors from one example or story.
Use recent examples, things that happened within the last year or two if possible.
The STAR method is a commonly used approach for answering behavioral interview questions.
STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result.
Describe the context of the situation in detail, and who was involved.
What was your role or responsibilities within the situation?
What did you do to handle the situation or complete the task?
What was the outcome and what did you learn from it?
Now that we know the STAR method, let's see if we can use it to answer one
of the sample questions from earlier.
Question: tell me about a time you worked well under pressure.
"At my internship last summer, three fellow interns and myself were tasked
with creating a 1 minute video commercial for a potential client.
We spent 2 weeks on the video, and the day before presentation,
we were told the commercial now had to be 30 seconds, not 1 minute.
As the lead intern on this project, I got right to work delegating assignments.
My coworkers were to rework the message into an abbreviated version, and I was to mobilize
and coordinate with the outside video vendors for a quick re-edit and turnaround.
I believe my calm demeanor under pressure and communication skills helped motivate the team.
We worked until 10pm, but the video came out great and the client loved it."
With an answer like that, an employer can be certain that you have the emotional intelligence
to handle a situation like that in the future.