Said earlier, employers are sensitive to their most valuable asset – time. While interviewing, employers will use many questioning or probing techniques to learn about your values, your thinking processes, your skills and your experience and will do it quickly.
Faced with specific situations in your past or hypothetically, employers want to know what happened and what you learned, or how you would respond. Today, I am going to cover two ways in which this is done.
The Behavioural Interview:
The employer’s goal here is to focus on your past experience. They want to learn more about how you have already behaved in past at-work situations. The employer will then use this information to predict for themselves how you will respond to future situations. Employers will want to know about how you handled yourself in tough situations and whether you did the right thing.
Employers will also want to know about past mistakes and what you did to correct them. Employers are very aware of those job seekers who claim not to have made mistakes. If this is you, think again. Mistakes are to be expected. It’s all about what you did to recover.
Ultimately, the employer uses the behavioural interview to determine whether you are one who is steadily increasing your competence. They also want to now about “lessons learned” from what didn’t go well in your past. They want clear and concise thinkers.
The Situational Interview:
The employer will present you with hypothetical situations that may occur on the job you are applying for. The employer will measure you through your words and your body language. It is hard to prepare for such a question. Be calm and focussed and your true abilities will respond. The employer is looking for real experience and “on your feet” thinking and creativity. It is okay to ask questions for further clarification if the hypothetical situation is stated vaguely. Too many questions and the employer will realize you don’t have a good answer. Take a moment and think before responding – a few seconds of silence could make all the difference. A good employer will create hypothetical situations designed to identify people who don’t reach out to team members for help.
The situational interview identifies job seekers who can pause, consider alternatives and choose the best course of action. Employers want job seekers who contribute effectively and are self motivated and willing to be a member of the team.
Your resume and cover letter got you your interview. Your first interview got you your next interviews. You may now have several to attend. In each of these interviews you can expect the techniques outlined above and techniques that will be outlined in the weeks to follow.
Always be focussed on what is present and what is next. You know the end point. You got the job or you didn’t get the job. It is very important to spend more energy on what is present and what is next.
You’ve all read this before. The odds are stacked against you. You can still come out the winner by paying close attention to the details of interest of your prospective employer. On the other hand, hearing “no” is one step closer to “yes” – in moments of frustration, remember this. If an organization has a requirement, someone has to get the job. It may as well be you.
