Behavioural Interviews

Transcription

1 Behavioural Interviews What is a behavioural interview: A behavioural interview is an interviewing technique employers use to determine whether you are a good fit for the job. This is accomplished by asking questions that relate to your past behaviour in certain situations. The information gained through this technique is used as an indicator of your future success. In other words, the answers you give about your past experiences will be used to predict your future performance - if you did it before you could do it again. Why do employers use behaviour interviews: The theory behind this interview technique is that past performance is the best indicator for future behaviour. Skill Employer wants demonstrated at an Interview Definition of Skill Possible Interview and Follow-up Questions Example of the start of an answer Teamwork Ability to share information, willingness to assist, listen and support team members and work co-operatively. You need to be able to contribute effectively to a work team so that team goals can be achieved. You should also be able to understand team dynamics and factors that can affect the team performance. Can you tell me about a time when you have worked in a team to deliver on a project, and what was your role in the team? Was there any member in the team that did not contribute equally? If you could do the project again, what would you do differently? Sample answer 1: At university as part of our group assignment in economics, we had to.. Sample answer 2: I am currently working at a call centre and am part of a team where.

2 What result did the project achieve? Leadership Capacity or potential to lead and develop individuals and teams. Ability to provide direction and feedback to others. Ability to motivate, influence and engage others in the achievement of goals. Have you had the chance to lead a team or group of people and did you achieve your goals as leader? Was this the first time you have taken on a leadership role? If I was to ask your friends/colleagues what kind of leader you are, what main characteristics would they use to describe you? Sample answer 1: During university, I was on the social committee for a student society called ABZ where I lead Sample answer 2: I am currently supervising 2 new trainees at my workplace Communication The ability to express yourself clearly and logically both orally and in writing. Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of individuals. Recruiters will assess your written communication skills by the clarity and relevance of your response to the selection criteria. Describe a time when you had to work with a difficult person or people. How did you successfully interact with this person? What have you learnt from this experience? Do you think you could have communicated the issue with them in another way? Sample answer 1: As a customer representative at Woolworths, I had a difficult customer come up to me with Sample answer 2: For my marketing group assignment, one of the group members wasn t turning up to meetings or contributing equally, so I. Problem Solving Ability to analyse and synthesise information presented in a variety of forms (eg verbal and quantitative) to assist in problem solving. Ability to identify key issues, trends and Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem. Sample answer 1: I was on the social committee for a student society called AIESEC where we needed to raise funds for.

3 interrelationships between issues. Ability to place information in a broader context and identify likely implications. Was everyone happy with the result? Why did you decide to approach the problem this way? Sample answer 2: A few months ago, the computer system at work crashed but I had an urgent memo to send out to an external client, so I. Commitment to Organisation A genuine interest in and commitment to work for.. An awareness of one s ability to make a contribution to the work of the departments. What attracted you to apply to us? What other organisations have you applied for? Have you always wanted to work in this industry? Sample answer 1: At the graduate recruitment fair, I spoke to one of your representative who Sample answer 2: From reading your website and researching your company, your organisational culture and values meet my Client Focus As clients are seen as the key to the success of an organisation, developing, maintaining and ensuring high quality client service is crucial. Interest in and knowledge of the client s goals, aims and objectives will help you achieve this. Tell me about a time when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done. What made you go the extra mile? Sample answer 1: I am a member of my department s student society. We had a function on for employers, and to ensure that everything was set up, I. Was the client appreciative of your efforts? Sample answer 2: My manager was away ill so I had to Research Skills You need to be able to know where to access relevant information and extract what is useful for the task/project you are assigned. When presented with a new Describe how you approached a project where you have had to do a lot of research. Sample answer 1: In my assignment for ECDO, I had to explore and research

4 task/client, you need to have the skill to undertake background research so that you will be knowledgeable and can identify opportunities and business improvements where appropriate. What other research methods did you look into? What did you do to ensure that the research was accurate? Sample answer 2: Whenever I approach research, I start with Innovation Ability to generate new ideas and creative approaches to issues and practices. Describe a time when you came up with a creative solution/idea/project/report to a problem in your past work. What was the outcome? Was the solution/idea implemented? Sample answer 1: At work, when it got busy, there would be a long line of customers waiting, so I suggested Sample answer 2: Every fortnight we had a team debrief that did not give everyone equal opportunity to contribute, so I put forward Professionalism Clients (internal or external) are key stakeholders, so you need to have the ability to ensure that you deliver the services they require to their standards and beyond. You will need to demonstrate integrity, trust and respect for others. Give examples of how you have acted with integrity in your job/uni relationship. Is this how you always act? On occasion we are confronted by dishonesty in the workplace. How would you react? Sample answer 1: As part of a marketing assignment, we had to survey people and ensure that the information was kept accurate and confidential. Sample answer 2: At my parttime job, I read through home loan applications to enter into our database system. The applications provides a lot of personal details about the applicants which I

5 Organisation & Time -Management To be able to prioritise and complete tasks in order of desired outcomes within allocated time frames. As the environment and occupations evolve, more people are multiskilling or are asked to undertake more responsibility. As an employee, you need to demonstrate that you can handle more than one task/project/client at any one time. Describe a situation that required you to do a number of things at the same time. How did you handle it? What was the result? Is this how you determine priorities in scheduling your time? Sample answer 1: During the last exam period, I was also juggling part-time work, my sporting activities and. Sample answer 2: At work, we sometimes have to work on a number of projects at one time, which involves Have you ever handed in something after the deadline was due? The above is by no means an exhaustive list of skills employers seek, but it s a good start. To ensure you have addressed skills relevant to your particular employer, check their job advertisement or website for more information. More sample Behavioural questions at The STAR Statement and How It Can Help with Interview Answer: Situation Task Action Result Describe the situation you were in Talk about what tasks you needed to accomplish in this situation. Be specific and provide sufficient detail. Describe the action(s) you took in this situation and keep the focus on what you did. What happened? What did you accomplish? What was the positive outcome or what did you learn? Think of it as telling a story that has a beginning, middle, and ending. However, also remember to stick to the question and not go off track. A sample STAR answer: Question: Tell me how you dealt with a situation where you were working with a team and one of the members wasn't contributing as expected. Answer:

6 Situation and Task: "I was assigned to a team in my marketing class to propose a method for increasing revenues for a particular business by 10%. One of the members of my team wasn't attending many meetings and didn't have his assignments prepared." Action: "I decided to talk with him; in private, about how the group needed every member to complete their assigned tasks, and asked what he needed to get back on track. He told me that he was having trouble with one of his other classes and it took up most of his time. With his consent, we talked about this with the other members of the team. The team recommended that he ask the Student Tutorial Centre for help on his other class, and we would help him get caught up with our team project. He agreed." Result: "It took a couple of weeks for him to catch up, but after he did, he completed his assignments on time and our group got a distinction on the project. He also thanked the group during his part of the presentation for helping him do well in both of his classes." Preparing Your Own STAR Statements Review the sample behavioural interview questions provided in the table above Identify five to six questions that seem to fit the closest to the behaviours and skills required for the position you are seeking Think in terms of examples that demonstrate your top strengths Prepare a STAR statement for each using the most recent examples you can Remember, all the examples should end positively, either because of the action, the result, or what you learned The Star Approach Source: