Hello boys and girls and people of non-determined gender!
Today I wanted to go back to my roots (which are not grey yet!) and remove the dust on the concept of Behavioural Interviews:
After applying for a job and being invited for an interview, it is very likely that the format will follow a Behavioural Interview format. They might even tell you in the invitation that this will be the type of interview.
But what the heck is a Behavioural interview?!?! Well as the name suggests the aim of these types of interviews is to test how you would behave in certain situations.
Ok, I will stop beating around the bush, let’s get into some sample questions:
Tell me about a challenge or conflict that you had with someone and how did you sort it.
They want you to give them an example of when you had a minor challenge with someone, do not go full force battle where someone lost a tooth.
The best answer structure is:
- Give background on the situation (role, company, year…).
- Explain a task you were trying to do.
- Give details of the person because of which the task could not be completed (role, department,… but do not be shady, keep it professional).
- Explain what you did to solve the situation.
- Explain the result (which OF COURSE has to be positive).
Tell me about a time you did a mistake and you did you address it
Now, a mistake is not something significant which got you fired or which drove a company to the ground. It is also not something that not a single person would notice. So basically, it is something that can be addressed and of which you learnt something.
You want another answer structure? Ok, another one just for you:
- Give background on the situation (just like before)
- Explain the mistake (and own it!)
- Detail how you addressed it (and mistakes are addressed not brushed under the carpet!)
- Explain who you informed about the mistake and how you sorted it (your boss, your colleagues so they don’t make the same mistake…).
- Explain what you learnt from the mistake and what you did so that it did not happen again.
Do these make sense for you? There are many other questions I could list and these two I would say are the most common ones.
If you have any questions feel free to contact me or if you want to book a session to practice these type of interviews just drop me a line J
