Behavioral Interview Tips
Behavioral interview skills are critical to develop, prepare and practice to be successful in the MBA job search process. You must know yourself well enough that you are able to succinctly describe your achievements that pertain to the needs of the position. Currently, most organizations you will meet are using behavioral interviewing to some degree.
Behavioral interviewing emphasizes past performance and behaviors. Behavioral interviews are based on the notion that past behavior is the best indication of future behavior. You are being assessed on your soft skill set (such as leadership, problem solving, initiative, communication, and teamwork), as well as your accomplishments and “technical” skills.
Candidates who prepare for behavioral interviews are better prepared for the traditional conversational questions as well (i.e. You will know how to respond to “Tell me about yourself.”). Companies that invest the time and energy in developing behavioral interviews are attracted to candidates who are prepared to answer these types of interview questions.
STAR Format
The appropriate response framework to use when answering behavioral questions is the "STAR" format. It's common for interviewers to have an interview sheet with spaces labeled for each section of the star as they await your answers, so it's important you master this framework.
STAR stands for:
Star DO's
Teamwork
Initiative
Creativity/Innovation
Analytical Ability
Problem Solving
Customer/Client Relations
Star DON'Ts
Example a strong STAR response
Weak Answer
Q: Give an example of when you had to persuade others to your point of view.
A: “I was part of the negotiating team for my department when we negotiated our last contract. Let me tell you, the bargaining on this one was tough; no one wanted to give an inch. But in the end we got them to agree to most of our demands.”
Stronger Answer: You can develop a stronger answer by providing a little bit more detail about your specific actions and using the STAR framework:
Situation: “I was part of the negotiating team for my department.
Task: The supplier wanted a large increase of 8%.
Action: I listened carefully to the supplier’s needs and collected data to support my argument on why 8% was unreasonable. I presented analytical data to support our position for only a 4% versus 8% increase. Then I worked with management to change some requirements, so less costly for supplier.
Result: The final agreement was for only a 5% increase, saving us $500,000. I learned the importance of listening to the supplier, collecting data and getting management support to the plan.”
How to prepare?
Behavioral interviewing emphasizes past performance and behaviors. Behavioral interviews are based on the notion that past behavior is the best indication of future behavior. You are being assessed on your soft skill set (such as leadership, problem solving, initiative, communication, and teamwork), as well as your accomplishments and “technical” skills.
Candidates who prepare for behavioral interviews are better prepared for the traditional conversational questions as well (i.e. You will know how to respond to “Tell me about yourself.”). Companies that invest the time and energy in developing behavioral interviews are attracted to candidates who are prepared to answer these types of interview questions.
STAR Format
The appropriate response framework to use when answering behavioral questions is the "STAR" format. It's common for interviewers to have an interview sheet with spaces labeled for each section of the star as they await your answers, so it's important you master this framework.
STAR stands for:
- Situation: Briefly, concisely explain the context or circumstance for the event. Only provide as much as needed.
- Task: Describe the solution to the problem.
- Actions: What did you do to accomplish the task?
- Result: Describe the outcome of your actions
Star DO's
- DO be brief in your response. A typical STAR answer should be somewhere between two and three minutes, with three minutes being the max.
- DO make sure you hit on every part of STAR in a way that's easy to understand for the interviewer. Remember, when you're going through your answer, it will of course make sense to you because you lived that particular experience. You have to make sure it's easily understood by someone who was not there.
- DO make sure your results are powerful and, if possible, quantifiable. Whenever possible, quantify your results - it can make the difference between a very strong example and a nice example that lacks a takeaway.
- DO use examples in which you accomplished something, and not your group. Interviewers want to know what you did individually.
- DO develop extremely strong responses (at least one, but preferably multiple) for each of the behavioral interview buckets:
Teamwork
Initiative
Creativity/Innovation
Analytical Ability
Problem Solving
Customer/Client Relations
- DO remain calm, confident and energetic. Take pride in your examples and your accomplishments, but be careful of appearing over confident or boastful.
- DO tailor your responses and examples to fit your interviewer. You should pick examples of past experiences that would best resonate with the job, company, or industry you're interviewing for.
- DO practice, practice, practice. The first few times you practice the STAR format, it will seem a bit awkward, forced, and you'll feel like you don't have enough time to adequately answer the question. However, the more you practice, the better you'll become at being succinct yet easily understandable.
Star DON'Ts
- DON'T take longer than three minutes to answer a behavioral question. You'll surely lose your interviewer.
- DON'T forget the results! Even though it's the last part of your response, it is the most important and where most people fall short! Results anchor your response - without it, your example provides no weight.
- DON'T get flustered. Every once in a while you'll get a question you didn't exactly prepare for. Take a second, breathe, find a good example, and then calmly proceed through the STAR framework.
- DON'T forget to smile and be light-hearted. While employers do want to hear great examples of past behavior with significant results, they also want someone who's a human being.
- DON'T rush through your response. It's better to cut out areas of your response than to talk fast and lose your interviewer. Fast talking conveys nervousness and unpreparedness.
- DON'T spend all your time on the "Situation." This is a common mistake; it is impossible to truly describe the situation, especially for an example that spans months or even years. However, succinctly describe the part of the situation that is truly pertinent to the action and results, and move on. Interviewers are much less interested in the context and more interested in what you did.
- DON'T be cliche when asked about a time in which you failed by describing a time in which "You cared too much" or "Worked too hard." Be truthful in a failure, but be sure to deliver what you did to rectify the situation and what you learned.
Example a strong STAR response
Weak Answer
Q: Give an example of when you had to persuade others to your point of view.
A: “I was part of the negotiating team for my department when we negotiated our last contract. Let me tell you, the bargaining on this one was tough; no one wanted to give an inch. But in the end we got them to agree to most of our demands.”
Stronger Answer: You can develop a stronger answer by providing a little bit more detail about your specific actions and using the STAR framework:
Situation: “I was part of the negotiating team for my department.
Task: The supplier wanted a large increase of 8%.
Action: I listened carefully to the supplier’s needs and collected data to support my argument on why 8% was unreasonable. I presented analytical data to support our position for only a 4% versus 8% increase. Then I worked with management to change some requirements, so less costly for supplier.
Result: The final agreement was for only a 5% increase, saving us $500,000. I learned the importance of listening to the supplier, collecting data and getting management support to the plan.”
How to prepare?
- Practice, practice, practice. And just when you think you're ready to go, practice again! Interviewers at OP will expect you to be masters of the STAR format, and those that don't meet their expectation fall short of making it to the next round and/or receiving offers.
- Research the job, function, company and/or industry you're interviewing for in order to know what they value in a candidate and tailor your responses to fit their criteria.
- Use your second year mentors and the CMC to help craft your examples and choose the most powerful ones.