Behavioral Questions

This Issue's FEATURE

A Commentary by C’Mone Collins

So in the previous article entitled “GPA’S and Brainteasers: New Insights From Google On Recruiting and Hiring,” we found out that Google’s senior vice president believed that brainteasers were “a complete waste of time” and that GPAs “don’t predict [who] is going to be a successful employee.”  He believed that behavioral questions should be used during the interviewing process instead of hypothetical’s.

So I took the liberty to do some research on “Behavioral Questions” and to find out what is the purpose of these questions? Well, in the article “Behavior Interview Questions” by Allison Doyle, it states that companies utilize behavioral questions to “find out if the candidate has those [certain] skills” that are required for a particular job. I also came across “Top Ten Behavioral Interview Questions.” It compiled a list of questions that you are most likely to be asked during an interview. Check these out to see how you would respond.

  1. Tell me about how you worked effectively under pressure.
  2. How do you handle a challenge? Give me an example.
  3. Have you ever made a mistake? How did you handle it?
  4. Give an example of a goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it.
  5. Describe a decision you made that wasn’t popular and how you handled implementing it.
  6. Give an example of how you set goals and how you achieve them.
  7. Give an example of how you worked on a team project.
  8. What do you do if you disagree with someone at work?
  9. Share an example of how you were able to motivate employees or co-workers.
  10. Have you handled a difficult situation? How?

Now, at some point during our quest to find a job, I’m sure we have all come across one or more of these behavioral questions. But what is the correct way to answer them? In the article “How to Answer Behavioral Interview Questions,” it touches on the fact that behavioral questions ask you to “describe how you really did approach something”, so they’ll ask you to “give an example” or “tell about a time when…” So when answering the questions, it is important to be detailed with your response because the interviewer will more than likely dig deeper with questions like “What did you do then? What happened after that? What was the result? How did you handle X?”

Be prepared with your answers — concise, yet abundant enough to satisfy the whole context of the question. △

 

Doyle, Allison. “Behavioral Interview Questions.” About.com Job Searching. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 June 2013.

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/behavorialinterviews/a/behavioral-interview-questions.htm

Green, Alison. “How to Answer Behavioral Interview Questions.” US News RSS. N.p., 26 Sept. 2011. Web. 24 June 2013.

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2011/09/26/how-to-answer-behavorial-interview-questions

 

Doyle, Allison. “Top Ten Behavioral Interview Questions.” About.com Job Searching. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 June 2013

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/behavorialinterviews/a/-top-behavioral-interview-questions.htm