Careers

Behavioral interviews are becoming more and more common in today’s employment interviews. What is a behavioral interview? Behavioral interviews focus on your actions. Mostly these interviews focus on your past behavior to determine your future success. If the interviewer asks a question beginning with “Tell me about a time when,” or “Can you give me an example?” you should immedately think: “Story.” Your stories and the way you relate them will be the key to convincing the interviewer that you are the right person for the job. Your story should include three elements: what the problem was, what you did about the problem, how it turned out. The following is a sample of a poorly told story and a well tell told story. Hopefully this will help you in putting together potential stories for common behavioral interview questions.

A Poorly Told Story

Interviewer’s Question: “Tell me about a time when you dealt with a dissatisfied customer.”

Beginning: That is the nature of my job: dealing with dissatisfied customers. I probably get an average of 25 calls each day from people who aren’t satisfied with the products, have a broken part, want information on how to return the product, or need information about how to operate the product. They call and yell at us, thinking it is our responsibility. It’s like they think we are empowered to do something about the problem. We have a policy at ABC to always try to satisfy the customer.

Middle: No action.

End: We even go as far as to refund money in some cases. Other companies would not be so generous, but our company really cares about its reputation.

Obviously, this story has problems with proportions and as a result lacks order and effectiveness:

• To much emphasis is on the problem/situation (more than 20% of the story)
• No identifiable skills are given (no action).
• The end is focused on what the company does, not on the skills and knowledge you possess.

A Well-Told Story

Interviewer’s Question: “Tell me about a time when you dealt with a dissatisfied customer.”

Beginning: A female customer called one day with a complaint about an order we had shipped incorrectly. She was upset and started yelling at me.

Middle: The first thing I did was listen very carefully and let her vent. I talked to her in a quiet tone, making sure I was polite but not condescending. When she had calmed down, I asked her to explain the details of the situation. I repeated the problem back to her to make sure I understood. I assured her I would call her back that same day. I did some research and after I had some facts, I discussed them with my supervisor. I made a recommendation to my supervisor on how to fix the problem and he agreed.

End: I called the woman back that day, and told her what we could do. She was very receptive of our offer and felt satisfied with the adjustment. She asked to speak to my supervisor and told her about my excellent and prefessional customer service.

You don’t have to be a trained interviewer to see the difference between these two stories. The first story is very vague and incomplete, with too much emphasis on the problem. This type of story really doesn’t show what you have to offer.

The second story is very specific and points out several qualities an interviewer is looking for in an employee who will be dealing with customers. This story is easy to follow and has appropriate proportions: 20% for the beginning, 60% for the middle and 20% for the end.

I hope this is a helpful model and when you are preparing for behavioral story questions be sure and use the second example given. In almost any interview you participate in, there is a 75% chance you will be asked a story question.