Mrs Kiwi

Hi all

I have an interview on Tuesday and they have pre warned me that they will be asking me what they call "behavioural" type questions ie

"give an example of a time when you experienced conflict and how you handled it" etc

"give an example of a time you had several important priorities and how you juggled these" etc

These two above examples were actually given to me in my first interview as the types of behavioural questions they will ask at my second interview

I do have ideas of what to answer for these questions but my answers sound very generic and boring and I was thinking that I bet someone on here has experienced these interview questions before and has a stock pile of amazing answers that DON"T sound the same as the answers every other candidate will give!

I am extremely nervous so if anyone can help me answer these awful questions in advance I would be eternally grateful! The interview is with a bank by the way

knockoff nige

No harm in making something up. Just put a spin on it to turn into a positive. A conflict can be a difference of opinion. If you say that you respect the opinions of others and asked for the chance to explain why you think differently, then you show yourself as being cool headed and fair. You could also say that you dont expect to be write all the time but like to know why you are wrong when you are.

When you have to prioritise, you have to be clear as to what your boss wants done first. Then, you have to be able to weigh up how long these shoudl take. That involves knowledge of the task ahead (which you ensure you always have) and professionalism in seeing it done the right way. I always say that, as I have a passion about my job, being efficient and 'on the ball' comes naturally.

Billabong

This sounds like one of those psychometric tests/interviews to me that the yanks invented. Basically, they ask you the same question a few times throughout the interview but phrased quite differently. They are looking to weed out the bullshit answers. It doesn't matter if your answer sounds boring, tell the truth and stay consistent - that's all you can do!!

knockoff nige

You can be 'too' honest for questions like this. If you talk about a time that you and a colleague had a yelling match and still not on talking terms, you wont get the job.

Deancm

You can't really give stock answers to behavioural interview questions as they only relate to things that you have done in the past.

Can you give me an example of when you were under pressure and how did you cope with the situation?

Can you give me an example on of a time in your life when you were unsuccessful in achieving a task and how you handled the situation?

All airy fairy psycho-babble questions. They love this shit in Australia.

Deancm

No, that's a psychometric interview. Behavioural interview is different.

JKV1

These types of questions are marked on a generic grid, we had these as part of our Midwifery application process. Just think of varied answers where you can prove you are diplomatic, able to work with different departments (interprofessinally) where you can work under pressure, and they often ask for a situation where there was a communication barrier...for instance heard of hearing, language differences etc...so just think of different ways of communicating, drawing, simple signing, body language, communicating by listening and watching and not just verbal is what they like to hear too.

Hope that helps a little

alipally

Competency based questions are very 'in fashion' the moment.

the best way is to get a whole bunch of situations where you solved a problem. write them down in STAR model style, 5 examples are usually sufficient for most interviews (Situation, task, Actions and Results)

You will find when they ask
'think of a time when....' you can adopt one of your prepared situations and slant it to highlight the answer that they are looking for.

Practice your vignettes so that you don't really have to 'think' too much about the background but can concentrate on what, specifically they're looking for.

You can google this too and find some really good examples if you're still worried.

homewardbound

Yep they love those questions here... its your opportunity to practice your bullshitting skills... at least you have the questions - i have never had them before hand just get them dumped on me when in the middle of the interview.

Mrs Kiwi

Thanks guys, appreciate the replies.
I did try googling "interview questions" but nothing related to these "behavioural type" interview questions came up. I'll give it another go.