Entrevista De Trabajo

ARE YOU READY FOR A BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEW?

"Tell me about a time when you were on a team, and one of the members wasn't carrying his or her weight." If this is one of the leading questions in your job interview, you could be in for a behavioral interview. Based on the premise that the best way to predict future behavior is to determine past behavior, this style of interviewing is gainingwide acceptance among recruiters.

Today, more than ever, every hiring decision is critical. Behavioral interviewing is designed to minimize personal impressions that can affect the hiring decision. By focusing on the applicant's actions and behaviors, rather than subjective impressions that can sometimes be misleading, interviewers can make more accurate hiring decisions.

James F. Reder,manager of staff planning and college relations for Occidental Chemical Corporation in Dallas, says, "Although we have not conducted any formal studies to determine whether retention or success on the job here has been affected, I feel our move to behavioral interviewing has been successful. It helps concentrate recruiters' questions on areas important to our candidates' success withinOccidental." The company introduced behavioral interviewing in 1986 at several sites and has since implemented it company wide.

Behavioral vs. Traditional Interviews

If you have training or experience with traditional interviewing techniques, you may find the behavioral interview quite different in several ways:

Instead of asking how you would behave in a particular situation, theinterviewer will ask you to describe how you did behave.
Expect the interviewer to question and probe (think of "peeling the layers from an onion").
The interviewer will ask you to provide details, and will not allow you to theorize or generalize about several events.
The interview will be a more structured process that will concentrate on areas that are important to theinterviewer, rather than allowing you to concentrate on areas that you may feel are important.
You may not get a chance to deliver any prepared stories.
Most interviewers will be taking copious notes throughout the interview.

The behavioral interviewer has been trained to objectively collect and evaluate information, and works from a profile of desired behaviors thatare needed for success on the job. Because the behaviors a candidate has demonstrated in previous similar positions are likely to be repeated, you will be asked to share situations in which you may or may not have exhibited these behaviors. Your answers will be tested for accuracy and consistency.

If you are an entry-level candidate with no previous related experience, the interviewer willlook for behaviors in situations similar to those of the target position:

"Describe a major problem you have faced and how you dealt with it."
"Give an example of when you had to work with your hands to accomplish a task or project."
"What class did you like the most? What did you like about it?"

Follow-up questions will test for consistency and determine if youexhibited the desired behavior in that situation:

"Can you give me an example?"
"What did you do?"
"What did you say?"
"What were you thinking?"
"How did you feel?
"What was your role?"
"What was the result?"

You will notice an absence of such questions as, "Tell me about your strengths and weaknesses."

How to Prepare fora Behavioral Interview

Recall recent situations that show favorable behaviors or actions, especially involving course work, work experience, leadership, teamwork, initiative, planning, and customer service.
Prepare short descriptions of each situation; be ready to give details if asked.
Be sure each story has a beginning, a middle, and an end, i.e., be ready to...