Ace your next HR interview
We as an individual at any point of time will face a situation where we need to attend an interview. The interview might be with a small company or a big multinational company, but the way they are looking for candidates has remapped to hire people only based on their potential.
Generally, your Hiring manager (your direct supervisor) will have a different set of approaches while conducting the interview which mainly focuses on Technical competencies and ask questions related to your skill, position, role, and responsibilities.
But the HR, on the other hand, will try to get a broader perspective by analyzing your Behavioral competencies and traits such as your personality, interests, values, and check if these competencies are coming in line with the organization’s culture or not, by conducting a Behavioral event interview.
What is a Behavioral event interview?
Behavioral event interview (BEI) is a dynamic form of interview technique that is designed to uncover the actions (behaviors) behind an outcome or a duty. In particular, interviewers want to gain information about how the applicant has behaved in certain work/life situations. As they always believe that applicants past behavior often predicts, how He/She will respond in similar future situations.
How BEI Matters for everyone?
In the interview, HR doesn’t want to rely just on the candidate’s word for analyzing their capability in the role. Hence as an applicant, you need to prove your worth by showcasing some evidence on how you handled the work-situations in the past, this gets them an understanding of your real potential.
Even If you’re a graduate or a new entrant to the workforce, there’s still a good chance that you will be asked behavioral questions; however, they will be limited in scope. Thus the Interviewers might ask for study- or life-related incidences.
For example, HR may want to know how well you function under deadlines within the team, so they may ask you about the last time you had to complete a group project.
FRAMEWORK TO TACKLE BEHAVIOURAL INTERVIEW
1. ANALYZE THE JOB:-
The very first step involves analyzing the job/role which you are applying for. This includes focusing on the areas about the duties and responsibilities of the job. It can be done by analyzing the job description, every job posting will have a job description that outlooks upon the various duties.
Skim the Job description and get an insight into the particular role you are applying for.
2. FIND BEHAVIOURAL ATTRIBUTES
The second step is the core of the whole framework which involves writing down the behavioral attributes for the duties specified in step1.
To make it more practical, envision yourself in the job and think of the behaviors and traits you need to have to make that work successful and exceptional.
For example, the Behavioural attributes for the position of Design Engineer are as follows
● Teamwork/cooperation.
● Leadership/Initiative.
● Conflict management.
● Time management.
Tip Avoid writing long broad-ranging answers here.
3. PREPARE CONTEXT
Once you’ve listed what behaviors are needed in step 2. It is important to give context to the situation without context your answers will sound half empty. To prepare the right context the candidates are expected to shape their response in the STAR approach.
· Situation — Introduce the brief backstory of the situation to the interviewer. Try to be specific.
· Task — Explain the objective of what you are trying to achieve and what task have you taken
· Action — This is the longest part of the story as it involves explaining the steps you have taken to clear the roadblocks in the project. Give a detailed picture by highlighting your unique contributions.
· Result — Explain the results of the actions you have taken. I.e. whether you were successful in completing the task or not.
4. PORTRAY OUTCOMES
This is the final step which involves portraying your accomplishments and learnings from the situations you faced.
Outcomes and achievements are the most important aspects of your work as they create a valuable impression about yourself.
When explaining outcomes it is good to separate personal outcomes from organizational outcomes.
· Organizational outcomes
This includes the improvements that occurred in -your organizations from your result of work. Always quantify your outcomes.
Example:-
Productivity rose by 5%.
Increased customer satisfaction rate by 12%.
· Personal outcomes
In their rush to talk about organizational outcomes candidates often neglect to talk about their outcomes. It is important to highlight your personal outcomes as they act as evidence of the learnings you have got from doing a particular job.
Example:-
“One of the good things about working with the project team was that I discovered that I was highly effective working as part of a team. (skills-based and relating to teamwork)”.
Your resume can get you through the main door but alone, it won’t land you the job, the success of clearing the interview is purely relied on how well you performed. One thing to note is that performing well at interviews is a learned process. The highly effective interviewees are not born with interview skills; rather they teach themselves what to say, how to say, and how to behave during an interview.
So, do your groundwork for the position which you are applying for and Ace your interview.
All the best for your next HR interview.
Akshay Bharadwaj
Human Resources
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