Let's face it, we all dread behavioral interview questions. They tend to put you
on the spot and they can be very difficult to answer.
However, interviewers love to ask them. That's why in today's video, you'll learn
two simple strategies that will help you answer almost any behavioral interview
question and if you stay until the end I have an exact response that you can use
and tailor for your next job interview. Hey there, if we've never met before
I'm Heather Austin from ProfessorAustin.com and The Career Club on Facebook and
on this channel I provide simple solutions to help you build a business
or launch a career you love so if you're new here consider subscribing and
hitting the bell notification down below so you don't miss a thing. Before we jump
into the two simple strategies to help you answer almost any behavioral
interview question, remember that interviewers ask this question because
they want to evaluate your past problem-solving experience so that they
can see how you might perform or how you might solve problems in the future. The
good thing about these questions though is that they make your interview more of
a conversation so rather than answering yes or no to an interview question you
have the opportunity to provide more detailed responses. You'll know you're
being asked a behavioral interview question when the question starts with
something like, 'tell me a time when..." or "give me an example of..." or "describe a
situation where..." So let's look at how to answer a behavioral interview question.
Tip number one is to tell a compelling story. The key to answering this type of
question well is to paint a picture of the past problem you solved and the
results you achieved. To do this properly, you need to tell an engaging story that
captivates your audience or the interviewer. This will help validate your
competencies and make you more likable. So think back to specific situations
that showcase your greatest accomplishments and demonstrate some of
the biggest problems that you've solved. These problems should be situations that
resulted in some type of promotion or maybe you secured a
large contract or maybe you resolved a problem that could have been detrimental
to your company. Either way, you want to tell a really good story about how you
solved a problem in the past. With your stories in mind you are now ready to
move on to step 2 which is to structure your story using the STAR method. We know
that all good stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. The STAR approach is a
very common interview technique that will help you organize your story in a
very meaningful way. Now comment down below with the word STAR if you've ever
heard of this technique before or if you've ever used it in an interview. So
the S stands for situation and the T stands for task. This makes up the
beginning of your story. This is where you want to set the scene for the
problem that you solved. You want to describe the event or the challenge you
faced by giving as much context and background as you can, but don't go too
overboard with the details. The key to doing well with this approach is to get
specific with your examples. You don't want to provide a general overview or a
general story. The A stands for action. This is going to be the middle of your
story. You want to talk about the action steps that you took to solve the problem.
Make sure you're using words like I or me and stay away from words like we or
our. The hiring manager and the interviewer want to know what you
did to solve the problem, not what your team did and R stands for results. This
is the end of your story. This is where you want to talk about the results you
achieved from solving the problem. Make sure you get as quantifiable as possible
and don't be afraid to share something that you learned from the process. So
let's go ahead and look at an example of how you can put the STAR method to work
for you. Now the example I'm going to share is going to be something based on
a question like "tell me about a time that you handled a difficult situation?"
"While working as an advertising manager, I was tasked with developing an
advertising campaign for one of our large clients. The
campaign targeted an event that would host important business and community
leaders. We have a very strict timeline and a limited budget. So I got to work
straightaway. Well, halfway into the project, the department director informed
me that he miscalculated the project deadline. Unfortunately, we needed to
complete the project 30% faster than planned. Given our existing processes and
systems, I didn't believe we could get the project done in time while meeting
all of the clients expectations. Well, rather than risk losing this client, I
saw this as a good opportunity to implement a new strategy I had been
thinking about that would streamline our advertising campaign process. I was
thrilled with result. Because of the new systems I put in place, we got the
project done on time and under budget. I was then later recognized at our annual
banquet dinner for my hard work and dedication to this account."
Wow that was a mouthful but as you can see the STAR method was used to tell a
compelling story that shows how the candidate solved a problem and the
results the candidate received from solving that particular problem. So I
have a question for you. What are some of the stumbling blocks you've had to
overcome when it comes to the interview process? Feel free to comment and connect
with others below and if you liked this video don't forget to hit the like
button below and be sure to subscribe for more videos just like this and I'll
see you guys next time.