Employers are looking for individuals who are problem solvers. They are looking for individuals who are able to find issues that may be detrimental to the employer’s success. These individuals should not only find issues, but also be active in finding the solutions to those issues. Many organizations have developed behavioral base questions to determine how a job candidate has resolved issues in the past. These questions are normally asked during a phone interview or a fact-to-face interview. To be able to answer any behavioral base question, one must simply state the following: 1) what was the problem that needed to be solved? 2) what actions did one take? 3) what was the result?
Let’s discuss what problems a person might need to solve. According to dictionary.com, a problem is “any question or matter involving doubt, uncertainty, or difficulty.” In other words, a problem that you will discuss during an interview should not be considered easy to solve. The problem can be very specific and can usually be a time when you helped out an individual, team or an organization solve a issue that seemed implausible to solve effectively without your assistance. Problems are bound to happen in life and in business. Employers want to know that you have encountered challenges that test your abilities.
Another important part of answering behavioral questions is being able to state the action. The actions have to show that you, the problem solver, took a positive step to solve a problem. State at least one or more actions that have been taken, as a result of making an effort to solve the action at hand. The key here is to use strong action verbs: led, conducted, scheduled, initiated, advertised, build, created. Saying these action words is crucial, because employers do not want to hire people who are laid back and are not active participants in solving issues. They want individuals who are able to grab the bull by the horns and are able to be the solution to the problem.
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The last step in answering the behavioral question is results. The results should always end in a positive note. It must show that you had positive results: increased awareness, increase business by 10%, average 25% more contacts, learned from a mistake etc. There are times you might be asked about a time when you had failed on a project or had to deal with a difficult person. This is not a time to be negative and say that you failed at this project or you did not like a specific person. Even if you had difficulty solving a problem, you can always state what you have learned from having those difficulties that were not solved and how that experience will help you in the job that you are applying for. Let’s face it. We are all human and as human beings, we all make mistakes. Employers hire people and not droids. However, Always remember to end the results portion on a positive note.
Behavioral based questions are a way that employers can see whether you are able to solve problems. It is a crucial time for the candidate to display to the interviewer that he/she has encountered problems that caused the candidate to act, and that those actions had results that were either positive or that there was something to learn from those results. If you want to be successful at interviewing, answer all behavioral questions this way.
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