A Chorus Line of Interviews by Type: Mastering Interviews by Technique

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One of the funniest movie reviews ever was for the 1960s film Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang.

The entire review read: "It went bang bang and it was chitty!"

The film's director, who here shall remain nameless, couldn't have been happy about that review. No happier than a job interviewer bearing responsibility for the hiring of a candidate who disappoints.

Much as a film director calls the shots on a movie set, placing actors and cameras to best advantage, a job interviewer sets the technique and tone of the interview, whether it be behavior-based, tightly or loosely controlled, intentionally stressful, or loaded with brain-crunching puzzles.

Behavior-based interview

Behavior-based interviewing relies on storytelling — examples of what you've done that support your claims. Premised on the belief that the past predicts the future, behavior-based interviewing techniques are used to ask the candidate how they have handled specific situations — what kinds of behaviors they used to solve problems.

The presumption is that if you were a good problem solver in the past, you'll be a good problem solver in the future. Behavior-based interviewing emphasizes "What did you do when," not "What would you do if?"

Interview questions are designed to draw out clues to a candidate's workplace DNA. All candidates are asked virtually the same questions. The tip-off that you've just been handed a behavior-based question, which should be answered with a demonstrated skill or trait, is when the question begins with such words as these:

• Tell me about a time when —
• Give me an example of your skills in —
• Describe a time when you —
• Why did you —

A few fleshed-out examples illustrate the behavior-based technique more fully:

Think back to a time when you were on the verge of making a huge sale, and the customer balked at the last minute, promised to get back to you, but didn't. What action did you take?
Remember a time when you improved inventory turns; how big an improvement did you make?
Tell me about an on-the-job disaster that you turned around, making lemonade from lemons.
Describe the types of risks you have allowed your direct reports to take.
Can you give me an example of when you were able to implement a vision for your organization?
Why did you decide to major in sociology at the San Marcos State University rather than at a small private college?

Companies using behavior-based interviewing first must identify the behaviors important to the job. If leadership, for instance, is one of the valued behaviors, several questions asking for stories of demonstrated leadership will be asked:

Tell me about the last time you had to take charge of a project but were lacking in clear direction. How did you carry forward the project?

Because the behavioral style of interviewing attempts to measure predictable behavior rather than pure paid work experience, it can help level the playing field for rookies competing against seasoned candidates.

In mining your past for anecdotes, you can draw from virtually any part of your past behavior — education, school projects, paid work experience, volunteer work, activities, hobbies, family life.

As you sift through your memories, be on the lookout for a theme, the motif that runs through your choices of education, jobs, and activities. Put at least half a dozen anecdotes that illustrate your theme in your pocket and pull them out when you need them. Examples of themes are

• Leadership
• Problem solving
• Negotiating
• Initiative
• Overcoming adversity
• Succeeding
• Dealing with stress
• Sacrificing to achieve an important work goal
• Dealing with someone who disagrees with you
• Commitment
• Work ethic
• Task orientation
• Communications skills

Here are several more suggestions for best answering behavior-based questions:

• Tell a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end using the PAR technique — problem, action, result.

  Here's an example: Problem: An e-commerce company was operating at a substantial loss. Action: I outsourced technical support and added seven new product lines. Result: We cut our expenses by 8 percent, increased our revenues by 14 percent, and had our first profitable year with expectations of higher profits next year.

• Rookies: Don't simply cite the subject of your classes " —I couldn't solve my accounting problem and so I asked my professor." No! Look back at your student class projects, previous work experience, and extra-curricular activities. Reach into real life for your success stories.
• Try not to sound as though you memorized every syllable and inflection, or like a machine with all the answers. Admitting that your example was a complex problem and that you experimented until you found its best solution humanizes you.

Realize that the interviewer is more interested in the process than in the details of your success stories. What was the reasoning behind your actions? Why did you behave the way you did? What skills did you use?

Behavior-based interviewing, which arrived more than 40 years ago, is popular today because employers are trying to snatch clues from history to project the future. The underlying rationale is that people tend to play the same roles in life over and over.

Theatrical insiders call this tendency "typecasting." In explaining a shift away from action films, film star Bruce Willis quipped, "I've saved the world so many times, they've given me an 800 number."

Storytelling your way to a job

Prepare for all your interviews — not just behavior-based interviews " by recalling anecdotes from your past experience that back up your claims of skills and other qualifications. Work on these stories as though you're going to present them in a speech before hundreds of people. Make them fun, interesting — even exciting! Few of us are natural-born storytellers, but do your best to tell a good story.

Experts claim the way to ace behavior-based interviews is to prepare, rehearse, and deliver one- to two-minute stories about your skills, experience, and accomplishments that relate directly to the job. Your commitment to meeting their interests shows as you recognize their goals and pay your respects in full with relevant stories.