Behavioral Interviewing

1. Behavioral Interviewing The Right (and Wrong) Way to Prepare For and Conduct Them

2. About Mimi Darmstadter Owner: My Life’s Work - Coaching & Consulting Executive/leadership and career transition coaching Working MAMA Coaching Groups Human Resources consulting 20+ years in Human Resources Education BA University of Michigan MA University of Chicago PCC Coaching Certification - Georgetown University Fitness instructor (fun fact!)

3. The Behavioral Based Interview • Approach assumes one’s past performance is an accurate predictor of his/her future performance • The interviewer frames questions in a way that requires the candidate to recount his/her handling of a problem or task or other situation. • The interviewer may actually be “certified” in behavioral interviewing. • Candidates give specific examples of experiences that demonstrate his/her use of desired competencies. • Other questions address candidate’s job “motivation.”

4. Implications for the Organizations and Hiring Managers

5. Knowing Your Organization • What behaviors and other competencies does the organization value among its leadership and/or workforce? • What are the behaviors and other competencies that the job(s) for which you’re hiring depend? • In the role of hiring manager, are there specific behaviors or competencies on which you place particular and special emphasis in response to position or team needs? • Does the organization/job require unique set of interests/values (e.g. travel, bonus) that support (or not) job success and satisfaction?

6. Hiring Manager Prep- Formal Actions/Considerations • Leveraging buy-in among organizational leadership • Profiling jobs by desired behaviors, other competencies, “motivational” attributes • Providing training/certification opportunities to staff • Approaching actual interviews strategically: • Who will interview? • What competencies to address, the specific behavioral interview questions to pose, and by whom? • Consistent process for evaluating responses and hiring?

7. Hiring Manager Prep- Informal Opportunities • Meeting with position stakeholders to determine job behavioral/competency and “value” requirements • In advance of interview, identifying different questions to pose (and by whom) that align with these requirements and “expose” candidate experiences • Basing hiring decisions, at least in part, on candidates’ past experiences as leveraged during interview and his/her effectiveness at describing those experiences

8. Implications for the Job Candidate

9. Interviewing Yourself-Knowing Your Most Powerful, Authentic Self • What do you know? (head) • What can you do? (hands) • What do you feel? (heart)

10. What do you know? • Technical Knowledge • Knowledge that equips you to perform the technical requirements of the job? (e.g. tax code, chemistry formulas?) • Professional Knowledge • Knowledge that that equips you to meet functional requirements? (e.g. leader, team member) • Knowledge of industry (e.g. contacts, standard practices, vendors, regulations) • Organizational Knowledge • Knowledge about the organization? • Basics (history, products/services, revenue, size, geographic footprint, governance) • Culture (values, code of conduct, employee competency expectations) • Job (its history, performance expectations reporting relationships, team structure)

11. What can you do? • Technical Ability • Skills/behaviors that equip you to perform the technical requirements of the job? (e.g. reconciling expenditures, lab experiments) • Professional Ability • Skills/behaviors that that equip you to perform in the role? (e.g. leader, team member, customer service role, communications role) • Organizational Ability • Ability to effectively navigate this particular organization/job structure • Virtual/remote • Fast/slow paced • Matrixed environment • Individual contributor/Exempt employee

12. How do you feel? • Technical Purpose/Motivation: • The desire/passion for the technical work? (I love number crunching.) • Professional Purpose/Motivation • The desire/passion for the role? (I love serving clients.) • Organizational Purpose/Motivation • The desire/passion for the organization/job (The mission/vision of this company speak to me.) REMEMBER During challenging times, we often dismiss our interests/feelings. Long-term job satisfaction/success depends on being true to yourself.

13. Preparing for Behavioral-Based Interviews • The way you answer behavioral-based questions is critical to your success in the interview. • Generally, to get ready: • Identify the skills the employer is seeking, recalling the outcomes of your research about the position • Job description, posting, conversations with existing staff/recruiters • Formulate examples from work, internships, classes, team involvement, volunteer/community service, extracurricular activities • Pick examples that demonstrate the competencies/behaviors the job requires REMEMBER Even if an interview process does not employ behavioral-based interviewing, your prepared responses can be woven into your conversation.

14. Answering Behavioral BasedQuestions • The behavioral based interview supports your efforts to convey what you know and can do in the position. • Trained behavioral-based interviewers may look for STAR responses: • The SPECIFIC situation or task (ST) • An action you took (A) • The result or outcome (R) REMEMBER A “negative” outcome or result that you can explain is better than a general or irrelevant example.

15. A Behavioral-Based Example – Customer Service Competency Describe a time when you took steps to make sure an internal/external customer was satisfied. .

16. Other Examples • Customer Service • Tell me about a difficult internal/external customer you've had to deal with? Why was he/she difficult? What did you do? • Adaptability • Tell me about a situation when you had to adjust quickly to change in organizational/departmental, or team priorities. How did the change affect you? • Teamwork • Tell me about one of the toughest teams/groups you’ve had to work with. What made it difficult? What did you do? • Written Communication • Have you written proposals for external customers? Tell me about the best one you ever wrote. Why was it the best? How did you know that it was good? • Problem Solving • Describe a complicated problem you have had to deal with on the job. How did you identify or gain a better understanding of that problem?

17. Motivational Fit Questions • Behavioral based interviewers will often pose motivational fit questions. • Motivational fit questions assess your interest/desire in the job rather than your knowledge or ability. • Examples: • Tell me about a time when you had to travel a great deal for your job. How did that go? • Tell me about a job you’ve had that didn’t involve many promotion opportunities? Tell me about that experience? • Tell me about a job that in which you worked remotely? How would you describe that experience for you? REMEMBER A coach and/or values assessments and/or self-awareness can help you explore your motivation for particular positions.

18. To Prepare: Surface Your Head, Hands, Heart…And Voice • Identify: • What you know. • What you can do. • How you feel about your work, potential jobs. What interests/motivates. What are the non-negotiables? • Write your answers down and support them with specific “STAR” examples • Practice articulating them to a family member, friend, colleague, coach. • The authentic YOU • The compelling YOU • The clear and concise YOU

19. Resources • Google is your friend! • So is the hiring organization! • LinkedIn Profiles of Interviewers

20. THANK YOU! Mimi Darmstadter www.mylifesworkcoaching.com www.workingmamagroup.com mimi@mylifesworkcoaching.com 301.728.6487