Linda Bonanno's Weblog

Recently I found the article “Distinguishing Yourself as a True Leader During Behavioral Competency Interviews” on the Korn Ferry website. This article is specifically geared toward senior leaders and executives, but there still is a lot of good information in there for anyone.

Back when I worked at Nortel Networks we made a point of using behavioral interviews for positions at all levels in our group. Frankly, I am surprised by how few organizations do this. As an interviewer you can get a much better view into how people really are, and how they will fit into your culture when you ask them to describe specific events in their career. It is crystal clear when people aren’t actually speaking from experience but are merely trying to spoon feed you what they think you want to hear. Personal and specific experiences are sometimes very difficult to talk about. Candidates who talk about them honestly come across with integrity.

Some of my favorite behavioral interview questions include:

• Tell me about the biggest disappointment that you have had in your career.
• Tell me about a time when you had to work with an unproductive person. How did you handle it?
• Tell me about a time when you had to put an employee on a performance improvement plan or had to terminate them.(for managers)
• Tell me about the project that you are most proud of. What do you consider your biggest career success?

It’s always great idea to ask followup questions. Some of mine are:

• What was the most important thing you learned from the situation?
• Were you happy with the result?
• If you had another chance, what would you have done differently?

As an interviewee I’ve found that even when your interviewer is not using the behavioral style of interviewing you can use behavioral responses to your advantage. Telling a story about your actual experiences allows the interview to better get to know you and how you actually work. It also allows them to see how you learn both from your successes and from your mistakes. Personally I have learned a lot more from my mistakes than I have from any successes that came easily.