How to excel in a Behavioral Interview

Intro:

Interview Prep varies widely between industries, positions, and levels. This article is targeted at current college students as well as recent graduates. I will be going over behavioral interview tips that will be helpful across industries/positions. I will go over the best ways to practice for behavioral interviews (my next article will focus on case/technical interviews). I have been the interviewee at many consulting firms over the last few years and have also interviewed hundreds of students across multiple clubs on my college campus. As I went over in my previous articles, getting the 1st round interview is often the hardest part of getting a job. Once you have an interview, it is up to you to how much you prepare and research for the interview. No one is expecting you to be fully ready for the job -- they are just expecting you to show potential to learn the material.

Behavioral Interview:

The best way to practice behavioral interviews is to create a long list of common behavioral interview questions (whether from online or questions you have been asked previously) and run through what you would say if you were asked these questions. It is best if you can do a mock interview where someone is asking you these questions in an interview setting. However, you can still practice these questions alone. Example questions are below. It is important to put yourself in the interviewer's shoes. They want to work with someone who they feel like they can get along with, who will learn fast and is excited about the role. These are all items that you should prioritize demonstrating during the interview.

The interview is not just about your competence for the role. Especially if your role is client-facing (like many consulting roles are), it is crucial that you show that you can communicate and be friendly. This may seem daunting to many introverts who absolutely hate interviewing, however, this is a skill like any other that can be practiced through mock interviews. Researching the firm and the position you are interviewing for before you interview is especially important to set yourself apart. If possible, you should read articles posted by the firm, read as much as you can about the role, and understand the values of the company and why they consider themselves unique. These are the characteristics that you should try to highlight in your story and answers. They must believe that you are a fit for the company’s values. If you are able to demonstrate that you are a fit and that you researched more in-depth than other candidates, it will surely set you apart. All of your answers should tie together in one cohesive story. They should not be conflicting with each other and they should not seem like they are disconnected. The questions should meld together to show your experiences and values and how they are a great match for both the firm and the position.

While answering each question, it is important that you are listening carefully to exactly what is being asked. This is important because you must be concise with your answers and not go on tangents answering irrelevant questions. This can be extremely annoying to interviewers and leads the interviewer to stop listening to what you are saying because it is not relevant to the question they asked. As a person that struggles with this, it is important for me to practice being concise during mock interviews. I have seen many people that do not know when to stop answering the questions. This is a skill that you will only develop with practice but definitely sets apart candidates.

Possibly even more important than answering questions is your ability to ask great questions at the end of the interview. You MUST ask questions at the end of your interview – ideally questions that you have prepared and are targeted to the interviewer. Sometimes you may not have information on the interviewer ahead of time, and in that case, you can ask questions about their experiences, about the role, or about the industry. Remember to ask questions you really want to know the answer to and that you cannot find online. Asking a very generic question about the role will not set you apart from other candidates. Each of these tips holds true for a zoom interview, a phone interview, and an in-person interview. Even in a phone interview, it is important to smile. Although this sounds silly, many times a smile can show through even a phone while someone is talking. After the interview is done, you should send a thank-you note to the interviewer within 24 hours. Make sure that you ask for their email at the end of the interview if you don’t have it.

Example Behavioral Questions you may be asked: ?

1.????Why are you interested in firm x?

2.????Tell me about a time you encountered a challenging situation and how you overcame that challenge?

3.????Tell me about a time that your ideas or opinion was challenged and how you reacted?

4.????Describe a role where you changed the direction of a team. How did you do it?

5.????What skills do you have that will help you excel at this position and how do you plan to implement them?

Example Questions to ask an interviewer:

1.????What types of skills and experiences are you looking for in a strong candidate?

2.????I read article x that you wrote, and I had a question about …

3.????You noticed that you have been working at firm x for a long time, what has been your favorite part about the company?

Conclusion:

I hope everyone was able to learn a little bit more about behavioral interviewing and is excited about getting that next job. Remember getting the interview is often the hardest part, and getting the role from the interview is up to the research and preparation you conduct. Please let me know if you have any feedback or questions about this material. I will be writing about consulting case interviews in my next article.