A Look at Behavioral Interviews

I have spent many previous postings looking at various issue and questions you may encounter when going to an interview in different areas of customer service, but would like to focus a bit more direction on the behavioral section of the interview process. If you have been on interviews recently, you are probably aware that more and more companies are including a type behavioral section to the interview process. These sections have become more common and while they are used with most any type of interview and not just customer service positions, they are usually written and directed toward situations relating to the type of position being applied for.

The behavioral sections are meant to focus on problem salving, and situation ethics. How would you handle problem X? In the past, how have you handled such-and-such type of problem? To better prepare for what might be asked of you in this area, be sure to really study the job description and have a good feel for what the position requires and then begin to think of areas of your past experience that relate. If you have had experience with problem solving in areas that are listed in the job description, then focus on preparing what type of scenario you would explain if asked.

Be prepared to give details of what the issue was, and then be able to give step by step details on the steps you took to resolve the issue. If you know what the overall outcome was, then discuss that too. It is also a good idea to include what you learned from the whole situation. This may be just listing the experience you gained from it, but may also be a time to highlight what you thought would have been a better way to have dealt with it. This type of response will show that you are able to see potential mistake and learn from the situation.

Be prepared for follow up questions that may seek to probe deeper into understanding why you did what was done, or how you feel you might improve your handling of such an issue in the future.

You may find that some interviews present these type of behavioral sections as simply a large series of questions to answer. They will present you with ethical questions and ask for the best response; you will choose from a multiple choice of answers. You need to be as honest as you can here, and do not try to anticipate or guess at what they would want to hear. You will find that often these questions start to sound similar, with similar things being asked, but with slightly different twists. These tests tend to be designed so that they test your consistency. If you answer a certain way on one question, you may end up answering differently on a question further down the line that was asked from a different angle. This can provide them with seeing that you are not consistent in your responses, because if you are "guessing" at their desired response, you may not always answer the same to a question when it appears in a different format. So, always answer honestly to provide a consistent testing. Inconsistent response may be reason for you to be passed over for the position.