How To Nail A Behavioural Interview: Master The Art Of Getting Hired

Everyone knows that behavioural interviews can be highly challenging. However, employers often conduct these interviews to ensure that they hire someone who will thrive in their new role.

The goal: Hire someone who shares similar values and beliefs, can handle pressure well, has strong interpersonal skills, demonstrates high levels of engagement/motivation for their job role/company culture, takes direction easily from managers, is adaptable, and can think outside the box.

But how do you handle this type of interview effectively?

Here are some tips on how to nail a behavioural interview:

What is a Behavioural Interview?

A behavioural interview is when the interviewer asks questions regarding how you have behaved in previous professional settings. Contextual questions, which encourage applicants to give their opinions on what they would do in specific situations, are common in this type of interview.

Behavioural interview questions are becoming increasingly popular in the job interview process, so it is important to always be prepared should you ever need to face one.

Common Behavioural Interview Questions

Conflict is a natural aspect of life, and it frequently occurs in businesses. That's why employers want to know if you can work well with others and resolve specific issues if they arise.

So, when answering behavioural interview questions, you must highlight how you positively dealt with a situation.

Common behavioural interview questions include:

"Tell us of a time when you took a risky decision and it didn't pay off"

"Describe a time when your team or company was undergoing some change. How did that impact you, and how did you adapt?"

"Tell me about a time when you had to work with someone completely different from you. How did you adapt to collaborate better?"

What If This Is My First Job?

Even if you have no prior work experience, you can still answer behavioural interview questions by describing events that occurred during your time at university.

Suppose the interviewer asks you about a time when you had to collaborate with someone who had an entirely different personality than you. You may cite a time when you had to work on a team project at university and how you dealt with conflict.

Tips for Answering Behavioural Interview Questions

Being prepared and practising your responses as much as possible is the best strategy you can use to face behavioural interviews.

When answering the questions, make sure you provide specific, relevant examples of times when you have demonstrated the qualities they are looking for.

Other useful tips include:

●      Speak at a natural speed and pause to allow the interviewer to process what you're saying

●      Convey emotion - joy, excitement, eagerness, and so on

●      Refrain from sounding robotic. Instead of memorising your story, you should keep the main points in mind and express them naturally.

Make Use of The STAR Technique

The STAR technique helps you answer behavioural interview questions in an organised, clear, and structured way.

STAR stands for:

●      Situation: Describe the situation you were in

●      Task: Describe the tasks you were given

●      Action: Describe what you did to solve the situation

●      Results: Detail the results of your actions

With the help of the STAR interview technique, you'll be able to offer a focused solution to the interviewer's problem while also delivering captivating stories of your accomplishments.

Conclusion

Being honest and straightforward with your responses is the best way to ace a behavioural interview, and that is why preparation is vital. Stay away from clichés. You want to be as unique as possible!

Be prepared to answer questions that seem out of place or unrelated to the position you're applying for. If this happens, take a deep breath and answer them with confidence.

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