PINOY STREETJOB: Behavioral Interview Questions

So you’ve been searching for a job, submitting your applications, your resumes, and writing your cover letters, and viola, you’ve gotten a job interview!

Lots of friends and family might congratulate you as if you already got the job or something, but you still have that damn interview to go to!

Now I know they’re necessary for the employer, but that doesn’t mean we need to like them! While you may have the best experience, education, and kills, nowadays it can all come down the the dreaded behavioral interview questions.

These are those questions where employers try to find if you’re a right fit for their company based on your accomplishments and personality. You may be the perfect representation of what they want in person (in terms of years, education, but if you don’t blend with their culture, and can’t show them that you’re the right PERSON for the job then you’re out!

Take these tips and see if they work for you. Don’t got to an interview unprepared, that’s just going to be a waste of time for both you and the interviewers (who already are annoyed to have to interview you).

1. Read the Job Description!

It’s amazing how many people fail to do this. They glance at the title of a job, look at the requirements, skim through the description, apply and go interview. Do you actually know what the job is about? Do you know what they expect you to do? Can you picture the exact kind of person they’re looking for? It’s like an actor walking into an audition without knowing for sure who the character is. If an actor walks in playing a confident, British actor when the role is really for a shy Italian, it’s likely they’ll be some issues.

Just take some time and read the thing, usually it’s only 1-2 paragraphs, that’s not very much at all! Go read now! If there are spots on that description you don’t know about, go read about them to polish up (if you don’t understand half of the stuff on the description, then you should probably go get another job). Get ready for those behavioral interview questions!

2. It’s all about results!

So they ask you what you accomplished in a role, or how well you worked with your team. Don’t spout off what you wrote on your resume or cover letter. Remember, interviewers go through multiple people a day, they don’t want to hear your life story or what kind of role you had or what you did during that role. Tell them what they want = results. So you managed to get a team of annoying people to work together? Great, but what did it accomplish?

Thats what they wanted to know. “Because I did <blank>, we completed <blank> more sales than before!” Relate that to what the company does, and you just dominated that question! Yeah! Woo!

3. Be Proud!

You know those questions where they ask you to explain one time when you overcame an issue or some other silly situation? Usually people will just BS is this because of the chances of you having the ‘perfect’ situation happen to you in the past in pretty tiny. Instead, think of a moment in your career, or even your personal life, where you felt proud of what you accomplished. It could be just about anything, but apply that time to the role you’re going after.

Don’t go an gloat about your experience, it’s likely they don’t care, but at least they can feel enthusiasm when you tell them how rewarding it was to get whatever it was that you did done! That enthusiasm could be the best answer they want, they may even forget what the original intent of their question is. Whatever you do, don’t lie during a behavioral interview questions, interviewers know how to read a bunch of BS.

4. Always be relevant

Regardless of the question, you can alway relate something you did in the past with what they’re asking. Fresh out of college and they ask you about leadership? Mention how you worked on that assy project with a group of strangers during sophomore year, even if the project sucked. Focus on the team work, dealing with diverse backgrounds, and how you worked together to accomplish a task (just like everyone does every day on every role in the business world [except a few of those weirdos...]. Whatever the situation, you can always find something to relate with. Be honest about it, be relevant, and you just might impress them with your savvy wit.

5. Don’t be a downer, be cool

What’s your worst quality? Don’t tell them that you suck, or that you can’t learn! Find a way to be positive about everything, even if you get put in a tight spot. You want to be the wonderful light of happiness and frolicking when you walk into the room. They want someone who will come in every day and be happy. An unhappy person, or a negative person, can spread a sad sad virus around the office with their negativity and recruiters hate this. Always smile, chuckle, act like you already have the job!

Even if they ask you about a bad experience, act like it didn’t phase you (you want to show them that you’ll be happy at work!).

Follow these easy steps, and you should be on your way to completely dominating those behavioral interview questions! Woo!