What is Behavioral Interviewing? #
Behavioral interviewing is a type of employment interview where interviewers ask questions about the applicant’s past work behavior in order to get a better understanding of how they would behave in the workplace.
The STAR method in Behavioral Interviewing #
The behavioral interview uses the star method to gather the details required to predict future work behaviour. The star method involves:
1. Situation
2. Task
3. Action
4. Result
The candidate is first asked to outline a previous work situation which demonstrates the required job competency. For example, if assessing time management, we would ask the candidate to outline a situation from their past where they were required to manage time well, then tell us what they were tasked to do, what action (or behaviors) they took and what the final result or outcome was.
Behavioral Interviewing Example Question #
“Can you give me an example of a time when you had to deal with a difficult customer?”
It’s important to plan these questions well in advance of the interview. The interviewer should be aware of the job requirements and competencies. This then enables them to prepare questions for the interview which ensure each candidate receives a standardized job interview and has the same opportunity to demonstrate their competencies.
Difference between Situational Interviews and Behavioral Interviews #
Overall, research shows that Behavioral Interviewing has greater validity than Situational Interviewing. Situational Interviewing differs from behavioral interviewing in that situational interviews are focused on what a job candidate would do in a given situation, rather than what they actually did.
An example Situational Interview question may be:
What would you do if you had a customer who was angry and yelling at you?
Scoring Responses from Behavioral Interviews #
It is important to prepare a scoring key prior to the interview. This is because we need to ensure the reliability and validity of behavioral interviewing, and one way to do that, in addition to understanding the job, being well prepared in terms of interview questions and giving all candidates the same standardized interview, is to score responses in a meaningful and standardised way. We suggest attending a training course in Behavioural Interviewing to learn to do this competently.
Behavioural Interview Training Course #
To ensure that you interview in a scientific, reliable and valid way, we recommend attending our Behavioral Interviewing Training Course. We offer an online Behavioral Interviewing course, as well as in-person Behavioral Interview courses in Singapore and Hong Kong. All courses adopt highly experiential learning wherein learners interact and experience the training from the beginning. With multiple small group practice interview sessions, as well as bite sized learning of each of the steps from job analysis to question preparation and scoring, learners give excellent reviews of their enhanced ability to undertake effective Behavioral Interviewing at work.
