Behavior-based Interviews

Since a Memphis psychologist coined the term 20 years ago, this form of interviewing has become enormously popular. The term refers to any interview that focuses on a person’s specific past performances and experiences rather than one that asks general, hypothetical questions. This type of interview seeks to avoid generic, "canned" answers by asking for anecdotes from past work experiences that illustrate your competence. Behavior-based interviews also ferret out lies pretty quickly. It’s almost impossible to produce little convincing details about a nonexistent experience.

Some career centers urge the "STAR" system in answering behavior-based questions. STAR stands for Situation/Task, Action, and Result and serves as an organizing framework for work-experience narratives.

How popular is the use of behavioral interviews?

Multiculturalism in the Workplace

White males no longer take up all the slots on management rosters. Increasingly, women and people of color are earning positions of power, bringing to the table their unique perspectives and drawing from their experiences. Working harmoniously with people from a variety of cultural backgrounds has become a necessity in most corporate settings. More and more, if you’re unable to tolerate (and preferably embrace), people from a variety of backgrounds, you’re going to have trouble thriving rofessionally.

Many companies no longer limit their thinking to one nation or world region. Along with traditional international outposts in Western Europe and Japan, booming markets are emerging in South America, throughout the rest of the Far East, and Russia. In the higher levels of company management, conference calls or video conferencing between people in several different countries have become common occurrences.

This new global perspective means three things for the interview.

1) You should highlight the ability to speak a foreign language, even if it doesn’t seem immediately relevant to the job.

2) If the company has international interests, tell them if you’re willing to work abroad, give reasons why you’re interested, and explain why you’d be a strong international worker.

3) You need an understanding of the global marketplace and what this means for your company.

Post-Hierarchy Companies

Many of the corporations that once organized their managers in a pyramid hierarchy now set their managers in a pattern resembling athletes on a playing field. Since employees are more likely to leave the company sometime during your career, they’re now expected to perform a wider variety of tasks.

As an interviewee, you should demonstrate an implicit understanding of this new structure. Let the interviewer know you’re more concerned with your job duties than in moving up the ladder. And indicate your willingness to sacrifice some of your individual aspirations and glory for the good of the team.