Behavioral Based

☛ Focus on the key competencies that are important to the interviewer, not what you feel is important.

☛ Pause for a nanosecond and think carefully and choose wisely the story you will use to make your point.

☛ Answer using the S.T.A.R. Technique (Situation/Task, Action, Result).

☛ Give them a brief overview of the specific situation/task, what action you took specifically and the end result.

☛ Describe in detail the actions you took to deal with the situation or to complete the task.

☛ Be sure the story has a beginning middle and a clear end. Tell your story chronologically.

☛ Provide practical examples, events and challenges from your recent past.

☛ Say stories that are important to you.

☛ Avoid being too general.

☛ State stories that have a degree of drama where you had to overcome an obstacle or temporary setback.

☛ Describe a major change or adjustment to your job and your reactions to the change?

☛ Tell me about a time when you encountered conflict in the workplace and how you handled the conflict?

☛ Provide an example of when you had to go above and beyond your normal duties in order to get the job done?

☛ Describe a time when you put the needs of your workmates before your own when completing a task?

☛ Provide an example of a problem you had with a co-worker or boss and how you resolved it?

☛ Provide an example of a time when you felt you were able to motivate?

☛ Describe a time when you did not put in 100% into your job or performance and what you did about it?

☛ Remember, the four probes: "What did you think?" "What did you feel?" "What did you say?" and "What did you do?"

☛ Answer how you did behave instead of how you would or should behave (traditional interview approach) in a situation.

☛ Avoid saying, "What we did…" and instead tell them, "What I did…" The interviewer wants you to say "I" a lot.

☛ Steer clear of saying, "What I would do..", but recall "What I did…"

☛ Expect to talk about 80 percent of the time during the interview and persuade them why they should hire you.

☛ Remember that ABC reduces the risk that the interviewer will talk too much and dominate the conversation.

☛ Remember, these are situational questions that are open-ended, non-directional and concrete.

☛ Share a clear memory of the situation so interviewer feels as if they were present at the time the event actually happened.

☛ Use of examples will make you confident in your responses because you will feel like you are reliving it from direct experience.

☛ Anticipate the interviewer probing further after the initial question to gain more in-depth information.

☛ Remember, follow-up questions can include: "So what did you do?" and "What happened next?"

☛ Act as if you were digging a well at key interactions or decision points to provide evidence of competencies.

☛ Be prepared to discuss failures and what you learned from them.

☛ Be sure the result reflects positively on you even if the result itself was not positive.

☛ Be honest. Your stories have to be true and authentic. Skilled interviewers can see through a weak foundation.

☛ Master the art of storytelling and make your impression to the recruiter is a positive, clear and a memorable one.

☛ Absorb yourself in telling the story, don't just relate the facts. Put some enthusiasm in it.

☛ Go beyond merely describing the situation/task and talk about the outcomes.

☛ Demonstrate that you are thorough and you understand how your role fits into the goals of the larger organization.

☛ Expect that the interviewer will be listening intently and taking notes during the process.

☛ Match your answers to the question completely in order to score numerical full points.

☛ Rambling is a no-no and canned responses are out! Stay focused and exceed the interviewer's expectations.

☛ Remember, ABC interviews are carried out in a consistent and systematic fashion for all the candidates.

☛ Prove that you are capable of meeting and possibly exceeding their expectations.

☛ Expect the interviewer's questions to be short and non-leading. Be accomplishment oriented in your responses.

☛ Remember, Gov. has been shown to distinguish an outstanding from average performer.

☛ Ask yourself if the core competencies they are seeking are the ones that you want to use in your next job.

☛ Ask open-end questions that prompt more than a yes/no answer when it's appropriate.

☛ Set up a video-taped Mock Interview with a trained Career Counselor to enhance your Gov. skills.

☛ Remember, it is hard to fake the "right" answers so Practice, Practice, Practice!