When was the last time you went to an interview? If it was within the last few years, then odds are, you were probably asked some behavioral interview questions. Many people struggle with behavioral interview questions and answers because they are different from a standard interview.
A lot of executives and professionals are overconfident with their interviewing skills in general. They assume that once they “get in the room” with a recruiter or hiring manager, everything will go their way. This is a false belief that we see affect the majority of people, who don’t get the job offer or land a client.
In this episode, you will learn more about the essentials of behavioral interviewing. Our host and CEO Porschia, alongside our guest, Wynter Love, will share their insight on behavioral interview questions and answers to help you get prepared!
Wynter Love is our Career Services Manager and Lead Interview Coach. With 15 years of experience in Employment Consulting and Transition Coaching, Wynter is the current member of the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches, and a previous member of the National Resume Writers Association. In addition, Wynter holds certificates in Human Resources Management, Motivational Interviewing, Mediation and Teaching with Technology, and Distance Learning.
What you’ll learn:
- Why interviewing skills are important, even if you are not looking for a job
- The fundamentals of behavioral interviewing
- Key behavioral interviewing questions you should prepare for
- Tips on how to respond to behavioral interview questions with answers
- How your resume can help you during an interview
- What the STAR Method is and how to use it during behavioral interviews
As a thank you for listening to this episode of the Career 101 Podcast, we are sharing our FREE master class – Career 911: Solving the Top 5 Challenges Executives and Professionals Have! It’s a training based on solving the common problems our clients have experienced to reach their goals. You can get access to the master class here!
Episode Transcript
Porschia: [00:00:00] Today we are talking about Interviews 102 Behavioral Interview Questions and Answers with Winter Love. Winter Love is our Career Services Manager and Lead Interview Coach. She is a current member of the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches. and a previous member of the National Resume Writers Association.
In addition, [00:01:00] Winter holds certificates in human resources management, motivational interviewing, mediation, and teaching with technology and distance learning. She has 15 years of experience in employment, consulting and transition coaching. Winter attained a Bachelor of Family and Consumer Science from the University of Georgia and a Master of Education with a concentration in Adult Education and Training from Colorado State University.
Hi Winter, how are you today?
Wynter: Hi, I’m doing well. That introduction is always so lengthy and I’m just like, wow, did I do all that?
Porschia: You are! You’re very accomplished, Winter, if I may say so myself. We are excited to have you on the show again with us to discuss behavioral interview questions and answers.
But we’ve had you on the show before, so for anyone who wants. [00:02:00] More background about Winter and her career. Please check out episode 2 on Resumes 101. Winter and I also discussed interview questions to be prepared for during episode 12, which was Interviews 101. So if you haven’t listened to that episode, you definitely want to check that out.
But today we are going to focus on behavioral interviews. But first, before we jump into that Winter, why do you think interviewing skills are important for executives and professionals?
Wynter: Interview skills are an extension of your presentation skills, right? So a lot of our executives are entrepreneurs.
That is a skill that you definitely want to take a closer look at and hone in, you want to be able to know about your industry, about the company that you’re connected to future [00:03:00] goals all that good stuff. And then convey that in a way that is understood and simplified. That’s the meat of it.
How are you communicating ideas, goals, processes, and even forecasting to a wide range of audiences. And that comes with practice.
Porschia: Yeah. Yeah. You said a lot of really good information. And one thing that I talked to a lot of our clients about to your point is being able to convey their message succinctly and in a compelling way, right?
To where people believe them and really are engaged or like. The feeling of being around that person because those intangibles of just how you are in an interview, a lot of times those can be like the determining factors in terms of who gets hired. Or who doesn’t another point that you mentioned that I think is so important to [00:04:00] think about too, is that, interviewing is important for entrepreneurs as well for, the entrepreneurs that are out there selling their services, their products, whether it be to other businesses or individuals a sales meeting or a proposal meeting or a sales call demonstration, really all of that is like an interview.
Thank you. You are presenting yourself. Interviewing skills are imperative, for a wide variety of different scenarios. Yeah,
Wynter: it’s definitely like an easy pipeline to confidence. That practice, that repetition, you have that ability to, at will, just, Speak about something or just present on a topic and have that know how.
That’s a confidence booster, being able to have that skill. So yeah, definitely take a closer look. I know it’s not at the top of the list for a lot of people until they’re searching for new opportunities, but stay ready. So you don’t have to get ready.
Porschia: I love it. I love it. And I wrote down what I [00:05:00] think is definitely a quotable from you, Winter, easy pipeline to confidence.
I think that is a great way to think about interviewing skills. So Winter, what is behavioral interviewing?
Wynter: Behavioral interviewing is just one of the many types of interviewing that are out there. So it is essentially A way for hiring coaches and supervisors to see how you’ll perform if you’re hired.
So can you walk the walk? You can talk the talk, obviously, you’re here, you’re in front of us, but can you walk the walk? Tell me what it looks like to solve a problem from your perspective. That’s really what the meat of behavior interview questioning is all
Porschia: about. Yeah, and I bring up behavioral interviewing with a lot of our clients because it really is the most common, I think, interviewing technique that is used today.
[00:06:00] And if you are not familiar with behavioral interviewing or you aren’t really comfortable with it, it’s definitely going to show up and You’re not going to put your best foot forward. Most of the large corporations and companies out there use behavioral interviewing. So you definitely want to be familiar with it.
As we’re going to talk about today so winter, how do you think behavioral interviewing is different than other types of interviewing?
Wynter: Behavior interviewing gives you the opportunity to tell a story, right? To create a narrative and to show the progress of your decision making and to really have an opportunity to show what your potential is in the future.
A lot of times, like you mentioned, Candidates, clients that we have will prepare for your strength, strengths and weaknesses right? That’s everywhere on the internet. That’s the top interview question to prepare for, [00:07:00] but that’s talking the talk, right? So what does walking the walk look like from the actual tactical perspective, so you may say that you can organize with sticky notes.
Tell me about a time that you had to prioritize is slightly different. So you want to prepare yourself with different scenarios and different stories that you have accumulated across your career, excuse me, so that you can be prepared for a myriad of situations that may be thrown your way during the interview process.
Porschia: I really liked your emphasis on walking the walk. I think that’s a great way to think about behavioral interviewing. What I say to a lot of people is that, during this type of conversation, so during a behavioral interview, your interviewer is looking for examples of your past behavior. And they are thinking that will predict your future success in a role.
[00:08:00] To Winter’s comment about, storytelling sometimes behavioral interviews are called storytelling interviews because they can require you to tell a story about a specific circumstance and how you performed at that time. So often they are looking for you to explain your thought process and the actions that you took to achieve positive results.
Wynter: Yeah, definitely. And to highlight those relevant qualifications and experience because sometimes those transferable skills that you may not be able to convey on your resume or that they’re interested in learning about how you’ll be able to make that transition to a different industry or a different process.
You have the opportunity to explain, how are their similarities and how you can use that experience to your benefit.
Porschia: Exactly. And the explanation that walking the walk is behavioral interviewing actually comes from psychology [00:09:00] as well. And people adapted. The technique because surprise, candidates lie, right?
So when someone says, once you’re made a point about deadlines, if you just ask most candidates, are you good with deadlines? They’re all going to say, yes, I’m great with deadlines, right? Even if they can’t wake up on time in the morning and, be to work on time to save their life, right?
They’re going to just say yes. And then how can a hiring manager or a recruiter? Really screen out who’s walking the walk to winter’s point. And so asking about actual behaviors, actual circumstances helps that recruiter or that hiring manager to, really make a I think more informed decision about someone.
Wynter: Yeah, and that psychology piece is juicy too because, if you ask a candidate, how did you handle making a mistake that tells you a lot about a person and, how they [00:10:00] handle challenges and work under pressure and take criticism. So it can be nuanced, especially for our higher level executives who have may have multiple interviews or may have interviews with the panel and their behavior type questions.
Yeah.
Porschia: So Winter, we covered the basics regarding interviewing questions in episode 12, but from your perspective, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve seen professionals or executives have with behavioral interviewing?
Wynter: I think the biggest question or the biggest concern that executives have is what to highlight.
I’ve been doing this for 25 years. What do I tell them about a specific situation or my day to day is that situation? I don’t know what scenario is the best to lead with to show my full capabilities. That’s the number one is helping candidates like refine. What the answers will be [00:11:00] in, creating a Rolodex, if you will, of situations that you can call on at any time.
I think another part of it is explaining how you set goals, right? That in itself plays in with the having the different situations. But a lot of times executives don’t have goals for themselves Or have connected the goals that they have with their company organization with the impact that they’ve made.
So that combination and that balance has been the majority of the concerns from
Porschia: executives. I would agree. I would agree. Figuring out what to talk about, what to say is, can be very challenging with behavioral interviewing, especially if you haven’t prepared fully before the interview. What are some behavioral interview questions that people should be prepared for?[00:12:00]
Wynter: Oh, there’s so many, right? It can be guised as little things. Most recently I think a client said that they had a question that was, what type of supervisor works best for you? And that is an open ended question that can lead to so many things, right? So that tells us about how you manage your time.
That tells you about how you relate to your supervisors and work in cross functional teams, maybe. So I would say be prepared for relationship focus questions about how you interact with teams, but also like how you motivate. I think motivation is a huge key question or in the theme of behavior interview questions.
How did you motivate the team or how did you influence a decision from your point of view? So those are the main ones that I would prepare for hands down all the time. And one other
Porschia: point that I like to bring up about behavioral interviewing questions specifically is sometimes [00:13:00] they aren’t even questions.
Sometimes they are statements. They’re prompts for you to talk about a scenario. For example one is, tell me about a time when you had a task to complete with a tight deadline. Technically, that’s not a question, right? It’s a statement. It’s prompting you for more information. Another one that I think people should be prepared for is tell me about a time when you went above and beyond what was asked of you.
Again, a prompt, but requires some thought there. Another behavioral interviewing question I like is what do you do when a team member drops the ball and doesn’t complete their work?
Wynter: Yeah. A lot of middle management positions have this question, right? So what do you do to stand in the gap essentially?
And you should have scenarios for that. I think a lot of our clients are in the [00:14:00] position where. If they were to talk through their experience on a day to day, they will have a lot more situations and scenarios than you would think about just on the fly. So that preparation is key. Agreed.
Porschia: Agreed.
And another one to your point about setting goals that you mentioned earlier how do you handle setting goals? Can you give me an example? Digging deep into the how of setting goals. So I think those are some other good behavioral interviewing questions to just think about and jot down your own answers to as you are reflecting on all of this.
[00:15:00] So Winter, from your perspective, how can someone come up with good answers? to those behavioral interviewing questions.
Wynter: Oh, good answers come with preparation. You gotta take notes. Take a look at your resume. Your resume should also be a guide because it’s all a package, right? The resume, your cover letter, your LinkedIn profile, and your interview preparation should all mirror each other.
They should all have the same type of notes. So your resume can be a guide if you are really nervous and you’re not sure. What to highlight or what to bump out. So use your resume as a resource. Prepare ahead of time. Keep a ongoing document of different scenarios that you had going on at work.
Practice in the mirror because writing it down is one thing, [00:16:00] but saying it out loud is another. So practice is. is comprehensive. It’s not just a matter of doing the head down computer copy paste work, in your notes section, but it’s also like actually speaking it out loud because it is in a way learning a new language, right?
You wouldn’t start a new language by just reading all the time. You have to practice out loud.
Porschia: Yeah. Great points. I really like what you said about the resume. And I sometimes talk to clients and prospective clients about the resume and the interview, going hand in hand. And the way that we write our resumes for our clients is that we generally Bring attention to their accomplishments, achievements, special projects in a very easy and scannable way on the resume.
And I’ve told some of our clients before winter to just look at the resume, look at those areas or [00:17:00] bullet points, and then all of those should be able to help you to answer some behavioral interview questions. Yeah.
Wynter: And sometimes it’s just about recall in the moment, your mind goes blank.
Have that resume on you because it helps more than it will hurt.
Porschia: Yeah. And to what you said earlier about taking notes, another thing that I’ve told our clients to do is to look at their previous performance reviews. If they don’t have notes, typed up about, what they’ve done, just pull that out.
And we generally, you can find a goldmine of information in your previous performance reviews too.
Wynter: Yeah. I especially like the military clients because you get their performance evaluations and their whole career. And you’re just like, Oh, we got so much to work with.
Porschia: Yes. Yes. Great point. And winter is [00:18:00] our military transition specialist on the fly high coaching team as well. So she helps with a lot of our clients who are transitioning military members. So Winter, what are some other tips that you would give to people just about behavioral interviewing in general?
Wynter: This would be like a perfect opportunity to give you like a strategy that’s actually useful, right? I would say use the STAR method. I think that is a fairly common technique that has been floating around a while. So STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Results. And it’s just a way to standardize your responses, right?
So if you encounter that question, what do you do, what have you done with a difficult a team member, then you know, then you need to have that situation. The team member and I were partnered to create a analysis on this project. And as you describe the task, you’re setting the [00:19:00] context and you’re getting into that more storytelling, right?
So What problem are you going to solve and what was the action that you needed to take to solve the problem and to make sure that going forward that there is no issue, which leads into the results. So that quick little ooh, what’s it called? You’re gonna have to help me. My brain went. What do you call abbreviations?
What do you call those? Acronyms. Yes. Acronyms. I knew it was an A word. But that acronym is perfect because you want to have that star quality in your interviews. So you can transfer that STAR methodology to your question answer.
Porschia: I love it. Yes. So to recap that for everyone. I like to say that the STAR method is a great way to help you provide the who, what, where, when, and how of an experience.
So as Winter said, S stands for situation. So this is you [00:20:00] describing the context of what is going on with, the project or the challenge. T is for the tasks. So what was your responsibility or your objective in that situation? Also with tasks, I think that this is a great place where you can mention any challenges that you had along the way.
A is for action. So what did you actually do to fix the problem, right? What was that behavior to the point of behavioral interviewing that you exhibited? To help the project be successful. And with actions, not only do you want to talk about behavior, but you want to mention specific skills and qualities that you possess that made a significant difference.
And then are for result, as she mentioned, what was the outcome? How did your particular contributions influence that overall outcome? If you can quantify the outcome with numbers, [00:21:00] percentages Dollar amounts, right? That can be really helpful. And then also part of the result you want to slip in.
What did you learn? What did you take from this? What did your team take from that whole kind of experience? And then finally, with results. I think that’s a great place to talk about accomplishments. Definitely. Recap
Wynter: there. No, definitely good. I think what goes hand in hand or is a good indicator that you may need to look into more situations to add to your interview repertoire or to your resume.
If like, if you describe your experience as efforts, right? We see that often efforts resulted in 1 million savings. But what are the efforts? That’s a trigger word for me as a writer. What are the effort efforts? What does that mean? So take a look at your documents and see if that’s how you’re describing certain roles and responsibilities that you had, and then see if you can expound on [00:22:00] that in a different way to help you with your interviewing.
Porschia: Great point. Great point. So Winter, who should an executive or a professional work with to help with behavioral interviewing?
Wynter: Completely not biased interview coach. Because They’re not biased. I promise. This is going to be your first resource for just industry knowledge and what are common trends in the question asking with the hiring managers with the HR personnel.
A lot of changes have been made over the past year, especially what covid with the line of questioning. It is a lot more behavior focused because we want to know what you’ve done and how you’re able to move the needle. Interview coaches have that 3 60 view of the industry, the candidate, the hiring professional and all of those in between.
After that, I would say find your mentor. Someone who is in a position hired. [00:23:00] than you who has seen a wider range of candidates. And of course that’s take it with a grain of salt. And especially if you decide to talk with your peers, that is like low on a totem pole, no disrespect, a lot of times that’s where the most bias comes into play.
That’s where, All of the extra narrative, and I would do this differently from my point of view, isn’t necessarily helpful because you want something customized for you specifically.
Porschia: Yes. To all of what Winter said. To the 1st, 1 of the 1st points, I think, just an overarching point.
It’s about your support system. So an interview coach sometimes. The executive coaches on our team, our career coaches and interview coaches. Sometimes there are career coaches. that don’t help with interviews and whatnot. But I like to talk about a career support system. So if you’ve listened to quite a few episodes of the podcast, that, [00:24:00] and I encourage you to check out episode 19, which is on support system 101 building a support system for your career.
And as winter mentioned, the support system is. Very different than just your colleagues, peers at work on the same kind of quote unquote level or job as you and your friends and family. Generally, those people are biased and can be very biased and Part of the bias, quite frankly, is sometimes they don’t have the same goals for you that you have for yourself.
Sometimes they don’t have the same motivation, they see you in a certain way. And, we’ve had clients where they told their co workers about what they were doing and they shot it down and. It was mostly shot down because they didn’t believe in them. They didn’t want to see that person move on and progress in their career.
So I don’t generally recommend those people in your career support [00:25:00] system. Coaches like winter said, professional coaches mentors are great. We have an episode on mentoring and also an episode on peer mentoring, which is. different than a peer at your job. So check that episode out as well.
You want professionals who are unbiased to Winter’s point about, what you want to help with your behavioral interviewing. So of course, it’s obvious we can help you with that. We’d love to help you with that but if not us, someone in a solid career support system. Yes. Yes. Yes. Winter how do you think that, executives or professionals can get a positive edge with their behavioral interviews?
Wynter: Oh, positive edge. We talked a lot about practicing. We talked about that pipeline to confidence, right? So you want to be able to give those simplified, those succinct responses. To [00:26:00] give you the edge, I say go a step further and what are you doing with your professional associations? Where your industry experts there that can give you more advice and even give you scenarios, you can do a behavioral interview on them so that you can see, what is the trajectory for your industry and what is the common themes of what may be hiring managers are looking for.
In that regard, so open up your network a little bit more, I would say will help with your interview skills because inherently you’re going to be talking about yourself, you’re going to be talking about the skills that you’ve acquired and your goals going forward. Huge tip, wear your professional associations, no excuses.
Porschia: I love it. I love it. And joining those professional associations also forces you to get out of your comfort zone, right? And get out of your comfort zone and talk about what you do, like Winter said. So I think that is a Great way to get a positive edge. So Winter, [00:27:00] you have shared a lot of tips with us today, and I’m sure that our listeners can use it to be more confident in their interviews.
We appreciate you being with us.
Wynter: Thank you so much for having me. [00:28:00]
