hey everybody Don Georgevich here and
today i'm going to show you how to
answer behavioral questions
not just any behavioral questions but
the top ten
because employers are going to ask you
questions like this or ones that are
very similar
because they use behavioral questions to
help them
determine whether you can do the job or
not it's a measure of your competencies
and it helps them dig a little bit
deeper into your experience
to find out what kind of things you've
done and to help
them predict whether you're going to be
able to work out in this position
whether you're going to be able to do
the job
whether you're going to be a good
long-term
solution to their problems that's why
employers ask behavioral questions so
in this video i'm going to show you the
best way to answer these questions
using the star method now star stands
for situation or task
action and result for each question i'm
first going to describe the situation
which is part one
then i'm going to talk about the action
that i took
which is part two and then i'm going to
wrap up my answer which is the result
of what happened and that is part three
and that's all there is to it
you need to describe the situation talk
about the action that you took
and then you wrap it up with the result
of what happened pretty easy right
now it's up to you to gather up your
stories and experiences
and format them using the star method
now as we go through this you'll notice
all of my answers
are short and sweet i don't use long
paragraphs
to explain how i did things instead i
prefer
short statements to get right to the
point so if your interviewer wants to
know
more about your experiences then you can
elaborate
but there's no need to overwhelm them
initially with
all kinds of details that they aren't
looking for i mean that makes sense
right
now i also have a pdf version of these
questions
and you can download that at job
interview tools dot com slash
star i'm also going to put that link um
below this video
all you have to do is just put in your
email address and tell me where to send
that pdf to
and i'll get it right out to you all
right so let's dig into the first
behavioral question
number one tell us about a time that you
had to go above and beyond the call of
duty
in order to get a job done so the first
thing we want to do is talk about the
situation
i was working as a social worker at
touch of life which is a support center
for disabled children
now most of the children were either
blind or deaf
and communication was a huge barrier in
my work performance and
meeting their needs was difficult
the second thing we're going to do is
we're going to talk about the action
this is what we did
so i requested the organization to
employ a sign
language interpreter to help me with the
children but
they could not afford the extra manpower
so i enrolled for sign language classes
with my own resources to enable me to
communicate better with the children
and then the last thing we're going to
do is we're going to talk about the
result this is what happened this is
what we did to solve the problem
so after three months into the course i
was able to communicate with 90
of the children and better serve their
needs with better communication
we were able to give donors specific
requests
and donor funds increased by 20
later when the organization got funds
they refunded me the entire tuition cost
i had spent to educate myself on sign
language
okay so let's look at another example of
how to do a behavior question
what is the most competitive work
situation you have experienced
how did you handle it and what was the
result so the first thing i'm going to
do is i'm going to talk about the
situation
so while working as a sales
representative for a car dealership
there was a rule that whoever sold the
most cars that year
would have 50 percent of their mortgage
paid off and
have the latest car model given to them
most of my colleagues became
so obsessed with winning the competition
that they started sabotaging each
other's efforts
to make the sales the next thing we're
going to do is we're going to talk about
the action that we took
i remained friendly to my colleagues not
letting the huge reward get to my
character
i encouraged my workmates that it was
better if we worked together
than against each other we called for a
meeting with the head of sales
and we told him what the competition was
doing to us
and then we're going to wrap up our
answer with the result this is what
happened
the huge reward was removed and in place
groups were formed and a new reward was
set up
working in groups created a more
hospitable work environment
and enhanced teamwork and made the gold
more attainable
all right i think that was a great
follow-up to that question let's go on
to the next one number three
when you have a lot of work to do how do
you get it all done
give me an example first thing you want
to do is talk about the situation
when i was working as the head manager
for a bank of chicago
i used to have a hard time finishing my
work on time i hardly had extra time to
bond and supervise
my juniors or even take proper lunch
breaks
i realized that most of the work and
decision making was left to me
while my assistant didn't have much on
his plate
the second thing you want to do you want
to go in and talk about the action this
is what we did
so i decided to divide my work into
different categories
urgent moderate and least urgent i also
divided the task
into those which needed my individual
attention and
general tasks i delegated all of the
least
demanding and least sensitive tasks to
my subordinate staff
and then you want to wrap up your answer
tell them what happened this is the
result
i learned that delegation helped me
reduce my workload by
70 this gave me enough time to finish
all of my other pending tasks so i could
get all my work done on time
it also made me appreciate the efforts
of my staff and even more than i did
before
all right let's do another one number
four give me a specific
time when you had to address an angry
customer
what was the problem and what was the
outcome if you're in any kind of
customer service position
employers are going to ask you questions
about how you handled
an angry customer so what you want to do
is look back to a time when you dealt
with an angry customer
and tell them what happened so first
i'll talk about the situation
now when i worked at a clothing store we
had a policy
that if a customer wanted to return
something that they had purchased online
they had to present the printed invoice
as well so one type of customer had
forgotten her invoice
and was frustrated by our policy now she
lived far away and she rarely came into
the store
the computer cannot perform an online
return without the invoice
but i just felt bad for the customer
second thing you want to do is you want
to talk about what you did this is the
action part two of the behavioral
question
from experience i knew that she would
feel better being helped by a manager so
i asked my manager
to help the customer they discussed her
situation
and my manager decided to return the
items by
overriding the system and gave the
customer store credit which is something
i couldn't do myself
and the last thing we want to do is talk
about the result this is what happened
she was able to pick out items to
replace her return and
left a satisfied customer now when i
realized i didn't have the ability to
change the situation
and diffuse the customer's frustration i
knew my manager
would be able to and she successfully
helped make that customer's experience
with us
a positive one all right so let's go on
to the next question
number five now this one is about
building relationships
so you can almost expect to get a
similar
question on your interview because
building relationships whether it's with
other departments
whether it's with customers whether it's
with vendors third party it doesn't
matter
this type of question can be used in
almost any kind of interview
so here's the question number five it's
very important to build good
relationships at work
but sometimes it doesn't always work can
you tell me about a time
when you were not able to build a
successful relationship
with a difficult person this is a great
question i love it
so first we're going to talk about the
situation i was assigned to work on a
project with someone
outside of my department who i had never
met initially we were able to work
alongside each other just fine
but as we spent more time together he
consistently missed work
he wouldn't complete his portion of the
project and he just got frustrated with
me for
not picking up the slack at first i was
furious
i was new to my position and i wanted to
make a good impression
but he made it difficult to be a
positive force in the workplace
all right second let's talk about the
action this is this is what we did
i worked with my boss to facilitate
inter-department communication
which resulted in less face time with my
co-worker
to complete a project okay and last
let's talk about the result this is what
happened
the time we worked together was reduced
to meeting once a week to follow up with
each other
on how our portion of the project was
progressing
anything that was not completed was up
to that workers department to finish
we ended up finishing a few weeks later
than we expected
i'm sure we would have finished the
project sooner if we had kept working
together but
i'm also sure i would have done most of
the work
but the extra three weeks it took to
complete the project
was not an issue for the company so
even in this case the project took
longer than expected
and there were issues of working with
people but you know what in the end
the project got completed and that's the
most important thing
and when you can when you can use an
answer like this you can show
that you're able to work through
situations now it would it would have
been bad
if you weren't able to complete the
project at all but in this case
you found a way to work through the
project even though it meant
not working together but you're able to
split apart
and separately work on different
angles of the project to meet at the end
and complete it which is a success even
though it took longer
it's still a success and when you can
present a solution
like that to an employer it shows that
you are resourceful
it shows that you persevere and you just
don't quit
okay so let's do another one number six
have you ever worked in a situation
where the rules
and the guidelines were not clear tell
me about it
this happens all the time so first let's
talk about the situation
i work best with clear instruction and
expectations
so when i stepped into a new role which
had neither
it was very stressful the company had
just created the position
to augment the workload for a similar
position but
had not taken the time to sit down and
get into all the details of what my
tasks would be
i felt anxious and frustrated because i
wanted to perform well
as a newcomer but i was unaware of what
my measurable goals were
now let's talk about the action i asked
my boss for some direction
which she gave me but i soon realized
she was too busy with her own work to
spontaneously
talk about my performance i scheduled a
meeting with her
and until that point i set about
creating my own goals
i had previously gotten the job and i
knew the basic requirements
so i knew i was qualified to produce the
work that they were looking for
i set long-term goals to be accomplished
in six months
and i worked backwards from there and
last let's talk about the result
this is what happened through this
process i was able to come up with daily
measurable goals to guide my work and i
felt reassured
that i would be successful in my new
role when i had
the meeting with my boss i reviewed my
goals with her and she was very
impressed with my ability to work
independently
now if you're interviewing for any kind
of position where you would have to
present things like in a meeting room or
present ideas powerpoints whatever
you can probably expect to get a
question like this which is number seven
describe the most significant
presentation you
had to give first as always we're going
to talk about the situation
in my last semester of college i had to
present my final project
which counted for 50 percent of my grade
if i did poorly on the presentation
i would have had to retake the class
thereby putting off my graduation
another semester
i felt the pressure of the situation and
i prepared for weeks
to make sure i performed well second
let's talk about the action that i took
students were required to have a visual
aid
to accompany their presentation so i
took that opportunity to go above and
beyond
i worked with a designer friend to come
up with an amazing poster
and i had it professionally printed i
brought in candy and i tossed it to the
audience as people participated
in the presentation and i had
personalized business cards made up
to show how seriously i understood the
importance of networking
the last thing we want to do as always
we want to talk about the result this is
what happened
my hard work paid off the presentation
went very well
and i passed the class graduating on
time my teacher was
very impressed with my effort and even
asked me
to keep the poster as an example for
future classes
all right for this next question you can
almost expect to see this
on any interview because it's a question
that you can use
for almost any kind of profession and it
has to do
with how you present complex ideas
in a simple form so here it is number
eight how do you
go about explaining complex technical
problems to a person
who does not understand technical jargon
so for this example i'm going to use a
medical example and first we're going to
talk about the situation
the hospital i used to work for used a
pixis machine
to dispense medications for patients as
a doctor
it was my job to pass meds on the floor
when the new staff came on i had to
train them to use the system
now by medical standards the pixis is a
bit antiquated and it could be difficult
to use if you're not familiar with it
and if you're not used to the terms you
know to keep it functioning properly
second talk about the action after
dozens of attempts to train the new
staff to use it
i made a decision to create a roadmap to
help the staff
understand how it operated and how it
connected
to the house hospital pharmacy and what
steps to take to ensure
that all of the functions worked
properly
we eliminated all of the technical
jargon and we used
a numbered system so that all the staff
would have to do is
count from one to eight to ensure that
they had completed everything
with their medication passes
the last thing we want to do talk about
the result what happened
the elimination of the technical jargon
made things easier for everyone
it gave the staff a check and balance
system that helped to ensure
the right medications were being
dispensed to the right patient
and that all the steps were completely
error-free
now as with all the answers in these
questions they're all somewhat specific
to an industry like you know for the
last couple we talked about
college in a college presentation we
talked about
medical example but the point
is not for you to use this answer the
point for you
is to see how these answers are
delivered and then
to understand that framework and then
take that framework
and apply it to your own experience
so that way you can go in and you can
answer any type of behavioral question
based on your experiences make sense
okay so we got two more to go number
nine and ten so here's number nine
describe a recent unpopular decision you
made
and what the result was first let's talk
about the situation
there was this guy his name was tim he
worked for me and he was stationed
in a big office with his co-workers and
he was speaking to a client on the phone
now while he was on the phone his
co-workers were very loud
they made it difficult for him to hear
the client even after flashing a hand
gesture to his co-workers
they still wouldn't lower the voice
second i'm going to talk about the
action that we took now tim came to me
to complain
about the incident later i held the
meeting and i addressed the issue
and i instituted a new policy that
everyone needed to be quiet
all the time in the sales area even if
no one was on the phone
now last thing we do we sum it up this
is the result this is what we did
even though everyone knew it was tim who
had reported the matter
i took the heat because of the new
policy but everyone eventually realized
they had to respect their working hours
and their co-workers
they also realized that they were there
to take care of clients
and not goof around so are you getting a
hang for answering behavioral questions
it's not too hard right you just talk
about your experiences
you talk about a problem that you had
how you dealt with it and what the
result was
that's all there is to it there's no
right or wrong answer
to behavioral questions you're just
using a framework the star
method framework to take in your
information
your experiences and format them in a
way
that tells a story that's all you have
to do you're just telling a story
about your experiences and that's it
anyone can do this
you can do this too so let's do the last
one
number 10. sometimes we need to remain
calm on the outside
when we are really upset on the inside
give an example
of a time that this happened to you
first let's talk about the situation i
worked as a server in a busy
restaurant one day i was very busy with
a large amount of tables
i had a customer whose order came out
wrong
and she got very upset and proceeded to
berate me
in the middle of the dining room and
walk out on a bill
second let's talk about the action i was
extremely upset
but i knew that i had many other
customers who needed my attention
i took a minute in the kitchen just to
get away from the site and the lines of
customers and to collect myself
and then i resumed working i reminded
myself that one
unpleasant experience shouldn't affect
and ruin
the remainder of my shift as it would
detract you know from the other customer
experience for everyone
else and the last thing
the result this is what happened this is
what we did so for the rest of my shift
passed without incident the manager
adjusted my sales
to compensate for the patron who walked
out as it was a kitchen error
my other tables were very grateful for
my service and many of them
commended me on my professional handling
of the situation
so in a case like that all you're really
doing is showing
how you dealt with a customer you're
showing your result you're
showing that you are able to push
through in difficult situations
and that the actions of other people
are not affecting you from doing your
job you
are staying the course and you can use
that style of answer for like i said
in any type of question it's always good
to show how you
pull through and how other people don't
derail you from the job
so that's it that's all i have for you
today i hope you enjoyed
the top 10 behavioral questions here
and if you want to download a copy of
the pdf document you can go to job
interview tools.com
star also put a link below this video
where you can go there just put in your
email address
you can download the pdf now if you want
to go farther
in this if you want to get more examples
to more behavioral questions and just to
dig deeper
than i can in this video i would
strongly suggest
picking up a copy of the complete
interview answer guide i have over
40 different behavioral questions using
the star method in this guide
and then i also have an additional uh
i don't even know how many uh maybe or
20 or 30 more behavior questions
that don't really use the star method
but they use more of a conversational
style
so it's not like you're breaking
breaking up the answer
into these individual components that
you don't like with the star method
you don't have to do the situation first
you can start with the result and you
can work backwards
so it really just depends on how you
want to tell the story
you could start off with the action and
then the result and then
and then maybe the situation but that
probably wouldn't work as good um
i like to start off with the situation
just explain
what happens because it just makes sense
but sometimes you might want us
you might want to start with the result
and then go back and start with the
situation
and then the action either way whatever
you're more comfortable with
but in the complete interview answer
guide i'm going to give you about 40
different ways using the structured
star method and then i'm going to give
you several other ways
to answer behavioral questions in a more
conversational style
a little bit more natural where you
don't follow the star method exactly
but that you're hitting on all the key
elements
of the star method and it kind of makes
your answers come out
just more natural and more genuine like
like you're sitting down
and having a cup of coffee and telling
somebody a real story
rather than you know using that
framework but you
i think it's good i think it's good to
use a little bit of both
use a little bit of the star method and
and then for other questions you know
maybe you know put your own spin on it
tell it your own way
and it'll be easier for you that way
because you're not trying to create a
structure around it you're trying to
tell a story
in maybe the way it unfolded and not
necessarily
and maybe that doesn't really fit with
the star method so
whatever you want to do either follow
the structure of the star method
or put your own spin on it the complete
interview answer guide
is going to help you go farther it's
going to show you more
about the questions that you can expect
to get
on any interview i mean i tell you i
even get
i get employers purchasing this guy
because
they don't know how to interview
candidates so and they don't know what
the right answers are they don't know
what answers to look for
so a lot of employers even purchase this
guide and they
use it as a template to
to create their interview plan to to ask
you questions so
if you have this guide you have a
blueprint of everything that
they're going to ask you and i've had
some people
tell me that don i i went on interview
and because i had your guide
you know they asked me 90 of the
questions
that were in your guide some people have
told me you know 50
of the questions that they asked me were
in your guide
so this book hits interviews from all
different angles
it goes into detail more detail than i
can on behavioral interviews here
i dig deeper into how to craft your
answers
and then i cover all the other questions
like you know why do you want to work
here
tell me about yourself why should we
hire you
i mean all those questions and answers
are in here just just great
answers genuine answers and not that you
want to use
my answers verbatim you don't my answers
are just
examples you want to come up with your
own answers and that's what this guide
is designed to do it's designed to help
you
come up with your own answers your own
natural genuine answers
about the way you feel about the way you
feel about the job and yourself and your
experiences
and it's gonna help you articulate your
experiences
in a way to an employer that's going to
help them understand who you are what
you're capable of
and and hopefully hopefully land that
job
all right that's all i have for you
today good luck
on your next interview and i will see
you in the next video
bye now if you're ready to ace your next
interview then don't leave anything to
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that
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answer guide
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questions the right way
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interviewing and hiring experience
and i'll teach you what you need to say
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